AsterTracks 304: Has my favorite album of all time been topped?
I knew before last year was even over that I wanted the first long form review of this year from me to be Paramore. After Laughter was and maybe still is my favorite record of all time and, for context’s sake, I actually enjoy Riot! least of all. Which I’m only pointing out to say out of the gate that any negativity on this review is not me longing for a sound gone for over a decade. Between that and Hayley Williams’ two solo ventures; Pedals for Armor and Flowers for Vases, one of which was produced by bandmate Taylor York and both of which I enjoy quite a bit, I entered this record with all the faith in the world.
The title track, first single and final song recorded for the record really blew me away on release. I still really love the entire instrumental and the way it progresses from the bass built intro to the promised dance-punk inspired chorus. I do find it intriguing that we ended up at that bridge in a new era, however. Not that I think it’s bad but to me it kind of feels like it's something tried then mastered on After Laughter later on, not the other way away around. It sounds like a part from that record and lyrically lines up, talking about the aftermath of personal tragedy and the destructive effects that can have on your day-to-day reality. Speaking of; I find this one lyrically bold as well. Williams opens this track, the record, with;
“If you have an opinion maybe you should shove it
Or maybe you should scream it
Might be best to keep it to yourself.”
Every time Paramore, or any band from that era of emo for that matter, releases a record we as listeners do the same song and dance. The louder side of the fanbase wants the sound they cherished as children back and will never, in no way, be happy with whatever the new one is. She’s inviting you from the very start of the era to say whatever you’d like to say but letting you know that ultimately the way you perceive it is up to you and doesn’t matter in the grand scheme.
I go a little back and forth on the second track and single “The News.” On one hand I do absolutely love that instrumental; in spite of the fact that it’s basically just one riff, that one riff scales and changes up and down in a way that makes the entire thing sound dynamic. I also like the vocal production overall, especially on the bridge where there’s this system of Williams calling and responding to herself only to come together like some sort of hive mind, visually represented in the music video I might add, right at the end before the final chorus. However this is also the track where the lyrical themes of the entire record begin to waver for me. The chorus itself is sort of a head scratcher;
“Every second every single heart breaks
All together every single head shakes.”
Like, yes, the idea that every second of every day we are all on the edge of our seats because of some new tragedy being pumped in front of our eyes all the while you have your own personal life and your own demons to face, but also; “every single head shakes?” I also don’t know how I feel about the line;
“Far, I’m far, so far from a front line, quite the opposite I’m safe inside
But I worry and I send money and I feel useless behind this computer
And that’s just barely scratched the surface of my mind.”
Yes, Williams is one person and her reach is only so far but at the same time it feels weird that having spoken extensively about staying indoors all the time and considering the reach she does have doesn’t she have more light she can send into the world than the average person? It feels like she’s begging you to relate to it.
I stopped listening to singles in the new year to allow the record to be as new to me as possible but I do pretty much enjoy the third single “C’est Comme Ca.” The song is laced with part changes and different styles of delivery that are all pretty compelling and another really strong bridge, not only as yet another instrumental peak of the record but lyrically as well;
“I hate to admit that getting better is boring
But the high cost of chaos, who can afford it?”
Is such a powerful admittance to just throw out there. Getting better isn’t always exciting or interesting, in fact, as someone who spent the last half of last year in a major stage of recovery it's a lot of sitting around and recharging. I can’t ignore however that there are a lot of lyrical lows here as well:
“I’m off caffeine on doctor’s orders
Said it was gonna help to level out my hormones
Lucky for me I run on spite and sweet revenge
It’s my dependence on the friction that really hinders my progression”
Again, I can resonate with that last bit and it ties into the themes of the overall song but also, like, “spite and sweet revenge?” Is this an e-card? Also, look, I know we said the record was inspired by bands like Turnstile, Bloc Party, Dry Cleaning; I did not think that we’d just write songs with fanfiction parts from imaginary tracks by all those bands and put it on the record and while, as I said, I do enjoy the song it feels derivative enough that I could just go to those bands instead.
“Running Out of Time” was the most predictable choice for a post-release single and honestly the song I vibed the most with on first listen. Sure, I saw a Tweet saying the intro sounded like a SpongeBob SquarePant score and that ruined it for me but it still hits. Williams’ Genius interview about the song sort of broke a lot of the illusion for me however. Saying the backing vocals are supposed to sound like an Oompa Loompa song really made the whole presentation feel off to me but then in the context of the music video with it being presented as actual backing vocals it sort of made more sense. I will say, however, that performance wise this whole thing goes off without a hitch. That chorus is peak Hayley and the boys having a good time and I’m sure will be a setlist staple for years to come. All this and yet again I find myself really critical of the lyrics on this one. I suffer from time-based anxiety and even still I find the lyrics on this one to be much less relatable and more #relatable in a way that, on a Paramore record, I really feel we could do better than. Also she’s trying to reduce all of this to being as relatable as possible while still singing about having a watch that’s just decoration? Feels like there’s a disconnect there.
On “Big Man, Little Dignity” the lyricism is especially hard to get through. It honestly comes off as Williams’ really wanting to write a song about how toxic and exploitative men are, which, yes go off, but she didn’t actually have anything to say about it?
“I memorized all yours lies
I can’t look away
You’re like a movie that I love to hate
I fantasize your demise
I should look away because I know you’re never gonna change.”
Plus vocal performance wise it just sort of sounds like she has a cold and in order to mask that her vocals were recorded through an air conditioning shaft. While whatever she was going for actually did come across in that chorus it just comes off as blatant when paired with the production. The backing vocals on this track however, did work out and accomplish what they’re set out to do. That and a major saving grace, again, is the instrumental. It sounds like it would have fit nicely on Pedals and they even feel free to get a bit different by throwing in some flutes and other production choices to make it all the grander.
I actually have no bone to pick with “You First.” This is more what I expected of a Paramore record that promised to be an untackled genre by the band with its intense intro and constant progression. It's a dance punk track alright but doesn’t sound like just anyone could have pulled it off. Also finally, something on this record hits lyrically. In this one Williams presents the idea that everyone is bad to some degree and the question isn’t who is good or who is evil; it’s who is worse. Also I’ll have to admit defeat because I really wasn’t vibing with the passage;
“Turns out I’m living in a horror film where I’m both the villain and the final girl
So who are you?”
Like my entire feed was but I am totally on board now. She’s suggesting that she’s her own worst enemy, that’s who she is in her story and she begs you to contend with who you might be in your own.
Tracks seven through nine as a stretch of songs are interesting to me because they leave me questioning if everyone on the internet is listening to a completely different band’s discography than me when they talk about the Paramore they enjoy or don’t enjoy. First of all; “Crave” just comes off as a self-titled b-side that was left off for having very little to say and no song to back up saying it. It also just really blends in with “Big Man” in my mind. “The only thing it took to make me cry was being alive?” Really? “Liar” has to be a Pedals b-side and I’m sorry but like, are all of you gaslighting me when you say you hated that album but you love every moment of this? I’m actually totally lost. The biggest of these though is “Figure 8.” Where Paramore does everything possible to appeal to the aforementioned angry ex-high school emos who thought they broke up after Riot! The song itself is a just Riot! or Brand New Eyes song with its dark tones, huge percussion and presentation and even a vocal outro like the old days. The only “new” Paramore present is the intro, which is recycled from “Pool” off of After Laughter, which, sorry to break it to you, is still old Paramore at six years old. I know I keep going back to the lyricism of this record but, for real, are these even lyrics? The words on this one just feel like cliche after cliche strung together begging to have any true meaning. Once again I walked away from a Paramore song having felt like not a thing was said at all.
We get even more remnants of the past on the closing track and first song recorded “Thick Skull.” This time the song is presented in a similar to way to self-titled’s closer; “Future.” Where the song starts very low key and relaxed and then continues exploding as it progresses just in a much more compact form. We actually do end on a high note, not just performance wise, but in the messaging as well. The entire song is about how we feel the need to repeat our own mistakes while they so clearly bite us in the end. And sure, the chorus’ backing vocals just saying “epiphany” and “repeatedly” is a bit lame but it’s a much more interesting presentation than on “Running Out of Time.” But again, isn’t this just an idea we’ve already done on a past record with a less compelling song to accomplish it?
I know I was hard on a lot in this record, especially lyrically, but here’s what I think I walk away with; to me it feels like All We Know is Falling through Brand New Eyes were one band, while self-titled to the present is a different one and while I was hoping for that band’s third record I got their first. That and I find it hard to believe Hayley Williams is writing lyrics this insipid. The ideas utilized feel so amateur and when accomplished don’t even come off as that strong. I heard in another review that the record feels like ten singles and not a body of work and honestly? I feel like what I wrote above are several track reviews because the only loose throughlines are that they stuck songs next to each other in sequence based on even looser sonic similarities. Then even when a song is a single I need a music video to fully appreciate it? On a Paramore record?
I think my biggest disappointment is that this record isn’t even bad. Had this been a debut, had it been an early release by any other band I would think this is a solid album because it is a solid album. It isn’t a great one though, especially when you look at the individual and collective output of everyone involved for the past ten years. It isn’t my new favorite or even second favorite album by this or any other band. Then again, I get it Hayley, you win in the end. This is my opinion and I’m choosing to scream it instead of keeping it to myself, so do with that what you will.
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