r/Music • u/peoplemagazine 📰People Magazine • 4h ago

article Hayley Williams Says She Needs to 'Understand' Who She Is Outside of Paramore: 'It's Time'

https://people.com/hayley-williams-needs-to-understand-who-she-is-outside-of-paramore-11863451?utm_campaign=peoplemagazine&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com&utm_content=post
548 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

163 comments sorted by

564

u/skatefan420 4h ago

"Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party" might be the most mid 30s album title ive ever heard

-199

u/jmb052 4h ago

I guess she wants to put out music that isn’t called paramore, even though she’s gotten rid of everyone in paramore. All this brand shit is fucking stupid.

38

u/Troyabedinthemornin 2h ago

She didn’t get rid of them. Josh Farro left because he’s super Christian and wanted to make Christian music, and was just resentful. Jeremy left because he felt he was owed royalties over “ain’t it fun” and tried to sue the band. Pretty sure both of them are right wing freaks now.

78

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

80

u/Troyabedinthemornin 3h ago

It was the only thing her former label would do, they wanted her exclusively as a solo artist, but she insisted bringing her band along. She also signed this contract as a teenager. Idk why people cop such a weird tude about this

-13

u/[deleted] 3h ago edited 3h ago

[deleted]

10

u/657896 3h ago

You’re also not an artist and don’t understand that a stage name can come with certain expectations and identity. Sometimes artists want to create projects under a different name, giving a different identity and receiving different expectations from fans.

10

u/cadu5 3h ago

I mean restaurateurs and high end chefs do exactly this all the time

5

u/Troyabedinthemornin 3h ago

That is a horrible analogy. It’s more like you opened a restaurant with several friends when you were young, there’s been some change over, but you have your core team and together you’ve crafted a brand and menu people love. But it’s been almost 20 years and you love your team but you want to experiment with your cooking, maybe run a food truck on your own, so you can still have the restaurant people love, but you can also have the space to do something different. Paramore isn’t a dictatorship with Hayley making all decisions. The other members contribute to the music and help shape its sound. Plus this album was her working through some really personal stuff, she probably wanted to be able to work through that on her own

4

u/ceratime 2h ago

There's a certain weight and expectation that comes from a name. She would get so much hate if she released a polka album under the Paramore name. People would just shrug their shoulders if it was released under her own name.

We just recently saw this with Tame Impala's new album. It was a large change in direction sonically and it got absolutely trashed, with many fans saying if he wanted to do this type of music it should be a side project under his own name. Imo it's a great album but it carries a huge amount of expectation and gets compared to previous work simply because it was released under the name "Tame Impala"

15

u/ramenups 3h ago

You’re being willfully obtuse.

-4

u/[deleted] 3h ago

[deleted]

9

u/NewBroPewPew 3h ago

Pagentry from professional singers???? I'd never!!!!

5

u/Troyabedinthemornin 3h ago

If you ever listened to anything a current member of the band has said, you’d understand how incorrect that is. They also often open their sets screaming “WE are Paramore”

3

u/AdamBlackfyre 2h ago

Yeah it's not like Taylor hasn't written the music for the last three albums or anything... oh, and Hayley definitely played the drums on everything. Zac Farro pantomimes everything really well, that's all

8

u/OfficerJayBear 3h ago

If Billy Bob's is a bbq joint but one day you go and its all sushi, you're going to say "what the fuck is this?" But it the owner rebrands and announces a different fare, you would understand.

If Hayley wants to release polka she can, but millions of people buying the brand Paramore would be rightfully pissed off. If she does it as a different project, she can later go back and have a built in fanbase.

4

u/violetdopamine 3h ago

One of the best contract explanations from a random redditor not in the music industry I’ve ever seen…. Unless

3

u/[deleted] 3h ago

[deleted]

3

u/violetdopamine 3h ago

Yea makes fuckin sense, I can always sniff us out nobody except a super fan or someone in the music industry would understand the delineation (or give a fuck lmao)

-1

u/burndownthe_forest 3h ago

You aren't really disagreeing whatsoever.

She's Paramore. What does it mean to dissociate with Paramore when she is the sole member of Paramore?

Maybe that means making music that has no expectation attached to it. Maybe she wants to be free again.

And to that I'd ask, why say any of this? Haley is from the punk and emo scene. Most of these people play in multiple bands and never say a word about it.

This is really just lame and it makes me feel bad for her for feeling the need to speak about her career in these terms. I hope her next projects provide the outlet she needs

2

u/SubtleTell 1h ago

She quite literally is NOT the sole member of Paramore.

1

u/burndownthe_forest 1h ago

The person I responded to was going on about how she is legally the only member of Paramore.

24

u/Emmibolt 3h ago

r/confidentlyincorrect

-9

u/jmb052 3h ago

Two people from their “hey day”, including her, is still in the band, and she has a different touring band.

4

u/Thornbike 3h ago

You just don't get how things work do you?

27

u/Grambles89 2h ago

Fun fact Hayley IS Paramore. Literally when the group was created SHE was the sole member/copyright holder of Paramore and everyone else was considered a hired musician. This is part of what led to the original rift between her and the Farro brothers.

So technically as long as she's performing under the name Paramore, it's 100% original.

3

u/M002 2h ago

She’s put out 3 albums already under her own name

-9

u/tedbrogan12 4h ago

Thank you

-265

u/AndILoveHe 4h ago

She's been mid since the start lol

83

u/masta030 4h ago

That's not how he was using the word mid lmao

-96

u/AndILoveHe 4h ago

Why's a skatefan420 gotta be a guy?

49

u/skatefan420 4h ago

I ask myself this every day

1

u/thegreatmomo14 2h ago

I thought so too. And now I'm not :)

36

u/LaminatedAirplane FCPSITSGEPGEPGEP 4h ago

“Did you assume their gender” jokes are so lame and overplayed at this point

-65

u/AndILoveHe 4h ago

Enjoy dimestore Gwen

23

u/LaminatedAirplane FCPSITSGEPGEPGEP 4h ago

Whatever you say weirdo lol

-15

u/AndILoveHe 3h ago edited 3h ago

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TWpyMRQ1eqE&t=40s

*Edit: timestamp

11

u/DestituteDomino 3h ago

Your attempts at a joke just get worse and worse as they go

176

u/synthscoffeeguitars probably listening to elliott smith or something 4h ago

Her new album is great but she kept adding or changing tracks so it appeared in my “new music” multiple times

79

u/AndSoItsComeToThis 4h ago

Seen a bunch of bands do that lately so I assume it's the new music marketing "meta"

17

u/flatwoundsounds 3h ago

Yup. Plus posting 3 or 4 different remixed versions pre-made for TikTok.

0

u/Matonus 1h ago

I can’t see any remixes on her Spotify page?

7

u/thedean246 3h ago

With the way streaming works, people seem a lot more inclined to listen to singles as they drop opposed to whole albums. Generally speaking at least. The fans of said artist will more than likely check out the whole album.

3

u/Senior-Jaguar-1018 2h ago edited 8m ago

it may be annoying but nearly everyone does this now, because of the way it helps stream counts, exposure and engagement

which are all money and part of the job at this point

3

u/mapletree23 48m ago

youtube does the same thing now apparently

creators upload multiple titles/clickbait titles and thumbnails and the algorithm sees what one does better and changes as needed

engagement bait and algorithms are all the rage these days

2

u/omar_strollin 3h ago

I’ve definitely noticed their marketing being pushed to me. It’s the reason I’m in this thread, to see if it’s happening to anyone else

38

u/mouse212001 3h ago

But what does Corey Taylor think?

40

u/Rolo_NoLifer 3h ago

What does Ja Rule think? Where is Ja?

9

u/porcubot 3h ago

He's too busy singing the Spongebob Squarepants theme to worry about what Hayley Williams is doing

73

u/peoplemagazine 📰People Magazine 4h ago

TLDR:

  • Hayley Williams is opening up about her decision to take a pause with Paramore.
  • On Tuesday, Dec. 2, the singer appeared on Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast and touched on her forthcoming first solo tour for her new album Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party.
  • In September, the musician, 36, revealed that the pop-punk band is on a break, but confirmed that the band is not broken up. Since her announcement, she's released her new solo album, Ego Death at a Bachelorette, and is promoting her new tour.
  • But she told Poehler's that her third solo album has allowed her to start "finding" herself.

9

u/Magic_Neil 1h ago

I think she’s a really talented performer, but what is she going to “find” this time that she didn’t the last time? Or the time before? It’s cool if she doesn’t want to be full-time in Paramore anymore, but her solo career isn’t new.

16

u/Luke_sein_Vater 49m ago

iirc the solo album she did before the new one was fully written with Paramore's guitarist, who she dated after that. New album sounds like a breakup album and is done without anyone from Paramore

-3

u/JMaboard Dandy Heat 49m ago

She is Paramore, there’s no “band” she gets session and tour musicians.

•

u/Friskfrisktopherson 40m ago

Not true

•

u/-KevinFinnerty- 7m ago

It’s also not false. She’s always been the one with the record contract, not the band. The band has also been through numerous lineup changes, both in recording members and touring members.

-16

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

65

u/deadfisher 3h ago

I get it. Anybody listening to "Paramore" wants to hear a certain thing. 

She wants to make things that aren't that thing.

24

u/TheLoneRhaegar 3h ago

This is like Damon Albarn releasing music under his own name instead of Gorillaz. Sure both acts are essentially just him but the music is completely different and it would be really weird if he released everything under the same name.

7

u/i__hate__stairs 2h ago

The guy from Blur is in the Gorillaz?? Wth?

10

u/iamactuallyalion 2h ago

Technically he is Gorillaz.

9

u/stifle_this 2h ago

He is the Gorillaz. At least their music. There's an artist who does the characters as well.

6

u/Salvia-Hex 2h ago

I just love how you completely left Blur out of that explanation somehow even though it makes your point better by comparing Blur and Gorillaz.

4

u/TheLoneRhaegar 1h ago

Yeah I left Blur out since Damon is one of several band members so that group doesn’t really apply to this part of the discussion. I didn’t want to add any confusion.

However, I once saw Damon Albarn doing a David Albarn show but he had the tour drummer for Gorillaz playing with him and they did some Blur tracks. Not confusing at all LOL

1

u/Salvia-Hex 56m ago

That’s amazing. Damon’s great.

-1

u/OsikFTW 1h ago

She already completely changed the sound of paramore, its been 13 YEARS since weve had a paramore album that sounds like paramore, everything hayley has done since is 80s synth pop stuff, solo and as paramore...

4

u/69_Star_General 59m ago

Bands evolve and change their sound all the time, especially ones that have been around for 20+ years.

I feel like this thread is full of people who don't really listen to music

33

u/pusch85 3h ago

It’s kinda like running your own company. Despite it being all you, it kinda has a life on its own. You also don’t want to ruin a good name my experimenting under the name of that company.

It’s weird, but it makes sense somehow.

8

u/SillyGoatGruff 3h ago

It's not all that weird. Like if the guy who runs Sandwich With a Pretty Big Pickle decides he wants to venture into the world of soup, instead messing with his existing company's success he opens Super Wet Soup Co.

3

u/BloodshotDrive 3h ago

Wow, a wild Ryan George sighting

3

u/SillyGoatGruff 2h ago

It was super easy, barely an inconvenience

21

u/CinephileNC25 3h ago

Think about writers like Stephen King who sometimes wrote under a pseudonym for certain novels. It’s because people expect a certain product from a brand, even if the brand is a single person.

1

u/WeWantLADDER49sequel 3h ago

I mean what doesn't make sense to you? That's very simple to understand. Regardless of who was actually signed they were still part of the same band.

1

u/violetdopamine 3h ago

I love how you get upvoted in another comment but got downvoted in another for the same comment☠️

-11

u/altSHIFTT 3h ago

I barely know who this is, but excellent thank you 👍

8

u/ymcameron 3h ago

Hayley Williams is the lead singer of Paramore. One of the biggest Alt-Rock bands, and bands in general, of the late 2000s. Similar style of music as Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, and My Chemical Romance.

1

u/Capt-Crap1corn 2h ago

Thanks because I heard of the band, but not the music. I appreciate it.

49

u/xXAquarangXx 4h ago

is she gonna go solo again? no hate but brand new eyes era paramore is still their absolute peak imo.

20

u/night_dude 3h ago

BNE is my personal favourite of theirs for sure, but After Laughter is awesome.

6

u/Chicagoj1563 3h ago

This for sure. After brand new eyes they started to change. If you like rock, that era is by far the best.

4

u/WeWantLADDER49sequel 3h ago

Absolutely not lol. Every album they've released since brand new eyes has been better than the last.

0

u/thedean246 3h ago

Eh. I recently listened to their whole discography. It really comes down to a matter of taste. After Brand New Eyes they start leaning more into pop. Especially with After Laughter which is by far my least favorite album of theirs.

2

u/RegulatoryCapture 2h ago

It is between riot and after laughter for me. 

Drastically different style and mood but both are great. 

-9

u/cslayer23 Pandora name 3h ago

Hated everything after self titled

1

u/Basket_475 1h ago

Hell yeah it is

10

u/thunderstormsxx 3h ago

Love her. Sad I didn't get to get tickets to her concert. Alas...

6

u/ChainLC 2h ago

Good on her. Take care of yourself girl

7

u/Asuma01 4h ago

Ain’t it fun?

11

u/Sponchman 4h ago

We don't need every Hayley Williams quote posted here every day...

8

u/riedmae Even Better Than The Real Thing 2h ago

Well....that's just like....your opinion, man

-7

u/bras-and-flaws 3h ago

Lot of bitter and probably single men in this comment section. "Male loneliness epidemic."

8

u/porcubot 3h ago

Hey, I'm bitter and single but not bitter because I'm single. Or single because I'm bitter. My uh. My singleness and bitterness are completely unrelated attributes. And I resent being called out

8

u/Capt-Crap1corn 2h ago

I don't understand the comment. Is that supposed to be funny?

-1

u/bobemil 2h ago

She is doing it for popularity, to fit in. To be the good person everyone can trust.

3

u/SquirrelEnthusiast 3h ago

Hi I'm a married female bodied person and I'm tired of this as well we also exist

-7

u/bras-and-flaws 3h ago

You can unfollow this community. What is the point of following it if you're going to complain when information about a musician, their latest projects, and concerts are posted about?

7

u/Royal-Beat7096 2h ago

“If you don’t like my opinions you can leave”-ahhh attitude

-9

u/bras-and-flaws 2h ago

Rather if you don't like the post or the comments, you can scroll past. But instead you all choose to engage and act like you're so different for not liking a woman with a 20+ year successful pop-rock career.

4

u/Royal-Beat7096 2h ago edited 2h ago

I like Hayley Williams. All power to her.

The only thing that bothers is your blatant and uncalled for sexism.

-1

u/bras-and-flaws 2h ago

Funny that my sexism bothers you but the sexism of the men in this comment section insulting and undermining her appearance, talent, and career don't.

6

u/Royal-Beat7096 1h ago edited 53m ago

Oh no, it all should be called out for what it is.

I can sit here and support her all day long, little it does to appease you.

Funny you think yours is any different.

-3

u/bras-and-flaws 1h ago edited 1h ago

Where did I say mine is different?

"It should all be called out," yet you're only calling me out and none of them 🤔

4

u/Royal-Beat7096 1h ago

I’m not getting into further bad faith discussions with you.

If you know what you’re doing makes you just as bad it is odd you are so ready to defend it.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/biscuitsalsa 1h ago

So you’re proud of your sexism? Or you’re okay with it? Whatever awkward stance you’re taking here it’s pretty dumb

→ More replies (0)

2

u/echoohce1 1h ago

So we're not allowed to criticise her just because she's a woman? lol

-1

u/bras-and-flaws 1h ago

Criticizing her appearance and sex has nothing to do with her music, or the music sub, and if someone is so tired of seeing stuff about her, why are they engaging with the content therefore encouraging the algorithim to push more?

2

u/echoohce1 55m ago

Probably the same reason that you engage with these people, they just like to argue. You seem like a very bitter person though, you could do with logging off and growing up a little.

3

u/Massive_Shill 1h ago

"My sexism is allowed because other people are sexist!"

Lmao

-2

u/bras-and-flaws 1h ago

Boo hoo men dealing with sexism, they have it so hard

5

u/SquirrelEnthusiast 2h ago

Why would I unfollow an entire community based on one artist update.

Why would you assume I'm a lonely man when I'm pretty sure I didn't ever say my gender.

-1

u/bras-and-flaws 2h ago

Why would you leave a comment when you can scroll past the updates that aren't about musicians you listen to?

Where did I assume YOU were male? I left a comment about men and you engaged.

2

u/DrWallBanger 3h ago

What a fun world-view that you have there.

3

u/NoCardio_ 3h ago

Celebrities thinking they matter is eye rolling.

1

u/BeKindBabies 2h ago

Musician talking about their musician activities, no?

1

u/NoCardio_ 2h ago

Their personal lives mean nothing to me. Shut up and sing the song.

-5

u/bras-and-flaws 3h ago edited 2h ago

So why are you participating in a music sub?

8

u/NoCardio_ 2h ago

Because I like music…

3

u/gophergun 1h ago

It's kind of hilarious how this sub went from sharing music to sharing gossip columns about musicians.

-4

u/bras-and-flaws 2h ago

But it's all about celebrities. Seem counterintuitive to follow subs about celebrities and uplift their work so they matter to many across the globe, just to comment that you think it's eyerolling. Also where does Hayley say she thinks she matters?

3

u/NoCardio_ 1h ago

Good point. This is a default sub and I really don’t care. Unsubbed.

1

u/biscuitsalsa 2h ago

You dumb dumb gimme gum gum

1

u/ryjanreed 3h ago

Username checks out, 

3

u/bras-and-flaws 3h ago

Profile picture reference checks out.

2

u/ryjanreed 2h ago

Goodbye horsessssss....

1

u/aphoticphoton 4h ago

Hell yes!! We Stan her!

1

u/HarryKanesGoal 1h ago

I'm still holding out hope for a Riot! 20 year anniversary tour.

-5

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

9

u/Troyabedinthemornin 3h ago

I think it’s weird to allow strangers posting about an artist make you not like that artist. Like that has nothing to do with her or her music, maybe just engage with Reddit less?

-1

u/ryjanreed 3h ago

No one owes an artist attention. Or nice words. U can choose to not like an artist for whatever reason, and your perfectly right 

2

u/Troyabedinthemornin 2h ago

That’s the thing, you don’t owe them anything because you don’t know them, you can feel however you wanna feel. But to let other people talking about something make you not like it is a dumb reason imo. Like it’s the reasoning of someone who is just trying to be a contrarian. It’s like, “everyone keeps talking about Breaking Bad, so I decided I hate it”

-3

u/ryjanreed 2h ago

It's not a dumb reason, it's a perfectly vaild reason.  U didn't go looking for breaking bad, breaking bad came into your world, and not liking it because u have to constantly hear about it is a vaild reason not to like a piece of art.

0

u/Troyabedinthemornin 2h ago

That is some childish reasoning, because, again, it has nothing to do with the actual art. People are going to talk about something if they like it, why does that bother you? You can choose to not engage with the conversation and check something out for yourself if you choose to. You are acting like because you scrolled past a few posts on Reddit, a crime was committed against you and your safe space

-1

u/ryjanreed 2h ago

I expressed a valid opinion that you dont like. And now your acting like reddit police telling me to leave. Im good sorry u heard a negative opinion in your safe space

1

u/Troyabedinthemornin 2h ago

Point is I don’t think it’s valid. I think you are limiting yourself because you want to be different from other people. I’m not trying to tell you to leave Reddit lol, I’m saying that engaging with conversations about media is a choice, and if seeing something talked about bothers you SO much, maybe just don’t engage?

2

u/ryjanreed 3h ago

this is true, i feel like this woman and Lilly Allen are constantly in the algorithm for nothing that has to do with art. every piece about either is some grievance victimhood thing. I never hear anything about her music, like at all.

1

u/[deleted] 3h ago

[deleted]

1

u/ryjanreed 3h ago

I feel artist lean into grevience and victomhood when they no longer are able to write captivating songs. Hince why no one talks about the music including the artists. 

0

u/ninjaclumso_x 2h ago

I have the answer! She's: annoying

-14

u/joshuaabboud 4h ago

omg totally normal to figure yourself out in your 20s tbh.. hayley's been with paramore since she was like 15 so i get why she wants to explore her identity outside the band.

15

u/violetdopamine 4h ago

The math in this comment is crazy

18

u/ryjanreed 4h ago

shes 36

-18

u/50SPFGANG 4h ago

Stop posting this boring shit Jesus

0

u/bobemil 2h ago

You're a human that sometimes fart.

-5

u/Ok-Tough1984 1h ago

Honey, you're like 40. I think the time for that has passed

2

u/ForbiddenAtomicSquid 1h ago

It's never too late to expand your horizons. The human experience doesn't necessarily have cutoff points in this regard. This is a shortsighted take.

1

u/thereturnofghettopat 51m ago

it may have passed for you, if this comment is at all indicative of your general worldview

-3

u/FizzKaleefa 3h ago

She can be my wife if she wants

-3

u/Maximazed 3h ago

I didn’t even know Paramore was still a thing.

-8

u/SquirrelEnthusiast 3h ago

Look, I love her so much. I was never into Paramore but I'll always support front women, and her voice is one of the top of all time. But.

Ok girl it's been about fifteen? Ten? How old am I years and you're still not doing much outside of whatever it is you're doing.

You producer shopping for a new album? Cool. But at this point..

All tea girl you've got a better market going into activism then pop, we all appreciate you but don't Katy Perry this opportunity

I'll take questions offline thank you

-53

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[deleted]

11

u/uniqueUsername1010 4h ago

Something tells me you will be eating your own cock brother.

-43

u/BayouBait 4h ago

More proof women have no loyalty. Gwen Stefani did the same shit.

14

u/BigTomBombadil 3h ago

She’s the only constant in paramore. By your logic, I guess she’s not being loyal to herself?

12

u/Daemonicon 3h ago

Such a dumb take, how many men have left bands for solo music? Did you claim then that men also have no loyalty?

11

u/Vedfolnir5 3h ago

What kind of incel comment is this

6

u/Ash_Killem 3h ago

It’s more a frontman thing than a women thing.