Mar 1

Mar 1 Paramore - This Is Why

Paramore
This Is Why
Release Date: February 10th, 2023
Label: Atlantic

Review by Jared Stossel

I’m thoroughly convinced by now that every time Paramore releases a new song that I don’t like, it means that I’m going to end up loving it in a few weeks’ time. I was introduced to Paramore during the Riot! and Brand New Eyes era of the band: pop-punk angst, some of the most aggressive drum tracks I’ve ever heard in rock, all laced with lyrical themes of love and revenge on the mind. As the band started to transition into differing styles on their self-titled record, I found myself not loving the material they were putting forth. Songs like “Still Into You”, “Ain’t It Fun”, and After Laughter tracks like “Hard Times”, “Rose-Colored Boy” and “Fake Happy” would never do it for me upon their initial arrival. As time went on, a switch would flick, and my musical taste buds would change their tune. My inner 2008 Warper Tour kid would be at war with the ever-changing landscape of Paramore’s sound, wishing that the world could be gifted another album like Riot! What’s most impressive about the three-piece act – consisting of vocalist Hayley Williams, drummer Zac Farro, and bassist Taylor York – is their ability to make catchy, memorable tracks that will go on to become anthems of a generation, no matter the rock “subgenre”.

After Laughter found the band embracing a poppier-than-usual style, indicating through the album’s twelve tracks that they were truly becoming comfortable as a band, solidifying their ever-rotating lineup and (musically) going wherever the wind would take them. Touring for their fifth album wrapped in 2018, and two years later, the pandemic would happen. Just close to three years since the world shut down, Paramore emerged with This Is Why, a post-punk indie romp pulling more influence from acts like Bloc Party and Yeah Yeah Yeahs than anything playing on the Smartpunk or Hurley stage on the Vans Warped Tour. The songs are less aggressive in nature while packing a lyrical punch that tackles anxiety, restlessness, and fear of the world going on around us. If After Laughter was the saccharine-sweet caramel iced coffee you’d buy to kickstart your day, then This Is Why is the undiluted, anxiety-driving cold brew pour that takes your paranoia of the ever-changing outside world to new heights.

One of the most common things I’ve heard amidst the pandemic coming to its end is the claim that “everyone is ready to go back outside and into the real world”. As someone with near-crippling anxiety, I’ve found myself at times feeling the opposite way. Clearly, there is a subset of people that feel the same way I do, and Paramore is speaking for them. The opening title track could be the post-pandemic anthem, with lyrics tackling those very fears (“This is why / I don’t leave the house / You say the coast is clear / But you won’t catch me out”) while the third track “Running Out Of Time” could be its sibling. The latter finds Williams the feelings that I can guarantee encompassed many of us over the course of the pandemic, how doing basic everyday tasks felt like running a marathon (“Never mind, I hit the snooze on my alarm twice / But I was just so tired / There was traffic, spilled my coffee, crashed my car, otherwise / Woulda been there on time”). Williams delivers these lines over one of the best-constructed choruses on the album, as crunchy guitar riffs and a groovy bass line float through the speakers.

“The News” is self-explanatory, reflecting the 24/7 cycle of information that we can never seem to escape thanks to the invention of cable television, and further amplified by the smartphone and a seemingly endless supply of rage. “C’est Comme Ça” is a bouncing romp with Williams switching between a repetitive chorus featuring the song’s title – French for “that’s just the way it is” and near-spoken-word verses that make her almost unrecognizable (“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”). The tone of the record becomes almost dreamlike on “Big Man, Little Dignity” with lyrics speaking on what I can only assume is past love (“Don’t you clean up nice? / “Bet it feels good to leave the past behind / Your subscription to redemption has been renewed / You keep your head high / Smooth operator in a shit-stained suit”). These lines are accentuated by the inclusion of a woodwind section.

A glimpse of the old Paramore breaks through on “You First”, with a rhythmic swagger and lyrical prowess reminiscent of the tracks on Brand New Eyes, hypothesizing that we’re all just terrible people and karma will eventually come for all of us. An instrument that sounds vaguely like a synthesized marimba and the breathy exertion of a clarinet signals the beginning of the circular “Figure 8”, recalling the feeling that comes with being stuck in the same motions, staring at the same wall and counting brick by boring brick. What follows is what I believe to be the band’s best love song, rivaling that of “The Only Exception”, with Williams’ coming to grips with admitting that she is truly, irrevocably, head-over-heels in love (“Love is not an easy thing to admit / But I’m not ashamed of it / Love is not a weakening / If you feel it rushing in / Don’t be ashamed of it”).

An echoey, flange-saturated guitar line opens “Crave”, the album’s denouement, contemplating the feelings that come with growing up, embracing the feelings that come with getting older, while realizing you’d never change any of it. Our own collective pasts, as hard as they may be for some of us to reconcile with, get us to where we are today. This Is Whycloses gently with “Thick Skull”; Williams’ speaks so closely to the studio microphone that you can hear every breath and move of her lips before leading into a grandiose chorus. Referring to “damaged people”, she speaks in a hush as the music fades out, “I pick ‘em up and now my fingers are bleeding / And it looks like I’m caught / Red-handed.”

Similar to After Laughter, This Is Why ends on a mellow note, a band no longer needing to prove that they are an explosive powerhouse to be reckoned with; they let the music speak for itself. On This Is Why, Paramore seems to be taking what they found within themselves on previous offerings, turning it on its head, and falling even further away from the need to rebel and speak of revenge. They’ve come a long way from the line “Once a whore, you’re nothing more, I’m sorry that’ll never change.” While this album may not be for everyone that considers themselves a Paramore fan, it’s a daring entry in their catalog and a guarantee that they’ll most definitely continue to reinvent themselves even further.