Paramore singer Hayley Williams chats with SPIN about where the band is right now and where they’re going.
Paramore is at an interesting point in their career. A lot has happened in the last few years. One of the biggest changes is that in 2010, two of the founding members, Josh and Zac Farro, quit the band, leaving Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis, and guitarist Taylor York behind, but like with everything in life, the show must go on.
Frontwoman Hayley Williams stopped by to chat with SPIN about what the future looks like for the band, and talks a bit about what we can expect from their upcoming, self-title album, due out April 9. The record will be the band’s fourth, and first album since they released their last one almost four years ago.
See some of the interview’s highlights below!
SPIN: Your producer, Justin Meldal-Johnssen, told an interviewer recently that he had been “blessed with a clear mandate” when he went into the studio with you guys. What was the mandate?
Hayley Williams: It felt like our band started from scratch all over again. So we didn’t have any preconceived ideas of what things should be. It was only, how could it be? Or how far can we take this? It became like a bunch of kids throwing around instruments every day. “Oh, let me try this! What does this sound like? What does this do?” The mandate, I guess, if there had to be one, was try everything at least once.
SPIN: I’ve seen some chatter that “Still Into You,” which is kind of a sweet, happy love song, will be the next single. Is that true?
HW: That is true. “Still Into You” is definitely a love song. It’s definitely happy. But to me anyway — and obviously I wrote it so maybe I’m biased, but — it’s not a sappy love song. We wrote “The Only Exception” a while ago, and that song is definitely like a slow love ballad, and this is totally not that song. I’m excited for that! We’ve never done that before, and honestly I don’t have a whole lot of experience writing love songs, or anyways lyrics that are like this. So I’m just ready. Wherever this song goes, whatever it does, I’m just excited for our fans to hear it.
SPIN: So why do you hug the scary beret-wearing guy at the end of the “Now” video?
HW: Our band’s been through a lot, we’ve been through ups and downs, and the video portrays those struggles that we’ve had. And the best way to battle it is not by repeating offenses. It’s sort of like — did you see Looper? Looper was so brilliant, and it took me forever to finally see it, but the way that movie ends and the message behind that is so selfless. If anything, that’s the message that we’re trying to get across, is that you can’t keep doing the same things if you want a different result. And I feel like at the end of the day love always wins.
SPIN: It looks like you and Chad [Gilbert, Williams’ boyfriend and lead guitarist for New Found Glory] are going on separate tours after SXSW. Is that hard? ?
HW: That’s our life. We always, always tour. But honestly it’s great. We both love what we do and we both support each other and love that we’re doing the thing that we enjoy.
SPIN: The very first song on the album, “Fast in My Car,” has you singing about “the three of us” and “second chances.” How much of this record is autobiographical about Paramore’s lineup changes?
HW: The entire album is autobiographical, but it’s not all about the lineup changes or losing two band members. I didn’t want to write another record about being in a band. Not everyone in the world is in a band, so people can’t all relate to that. I really just wanted to write about the things that I felt. And while I think there are shades of those things in the songs — I can’t really stray away from the things that I’ve been through, so obviously it shows up — none of the songs are actually about Zac and Josh leaving the band.
“Fast in My Car” is actually more about people who can’t let go of our past, and the people who can’t see outside of the big, fat shadow of Paramore’s soap opera. It’s about just wanting to be left alone enough to grow and move forward and just enjoy where we are.
SPIN: You’ve mentioned before that Taylor’s been listening to a lot of Alt-J and you’ve been listening to a lot of ’80s goth and synth-pop. Is there anything else that you were listening to while you were working on this record that might’ve seeped into it?
HW: Most recently I heard him listening to that Miguel record, which is amazing. I kind of became addicted to Blondie all over again when we started writing this record, but then throughout the recording process, toward the end, I’ve become re-addicted to Siouxsie and the Banshees. I love those sounds, and that feeling that I get when I listen to those old records. They’ve got so much heart and soul in them that the way that they’re recorded, you can’t really deny it.
She’s got some good taste in music, that girl.
You can read the full interview over at SPIN.
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