As a long term lover of Paramore, I was beyond excited to hear about the release of their new album “After Laughter,” even though it came after a four year hiatus. Paramore is an alternative pop-rock band that formed in 2004. They have a Grammy for best rock song and five studio albums. There sound is punk-rock, evolving more towards pop over time.
When I first heard the single “Hard Times,” which was released on April 19, I was thrown off. Frankly, I was upset. This is not the punk-alternative rock group I listened to during my angsty middle school years. So I waited a day and listened again, and I could not help falling in love with the emotion and rhythm that Hayley Williams (Paramore’s lead singer and only remaining founding member) is able to show even on an upbeat song. The songs were fun and rhythmic, but the lyrics reflected struggle and pain. In an interview with the New York Times, Carlos de la Garza, who worked as an audio engineer on “After Laughter” and Paramore said, “There was a little bit of a dark side creeping in to Hayley’s psyche…Something was eating at her, and she was able to use a lot of that as fuel for lyrics.”
Once I got over the initial shock of the new sound, I found three songs I loved. My favorite was “26,” it was a slower song (which I knew would be more classic Paramore), but mostly the lyrics spoke to me. That was the most common thing I felt, that I could still really connect to the lyrics, even if the sound was different. The lyrics “Hold onto hope if you got it / Don’t let it go for nobody / And they say that dreaming is free / But I wouldn’t care what it cost me” and “Survival will not be the hardest part / It’s keeping all your hopes alive / When all the rest of you has died” really spoke to me.
My other favorites included “Tell Me How” and “Rose-Colored Boy.” Again, the lyrics are the thing that really sold me. My least favorite was “No Friend” mostly because it is hard to understand and the vocals are not Williams. Call me biased, but if it is not Williams or York, then it is not Paramore.
I felt disappointed. I was craving their old punk-rock sound and instead I got a different, brand new sound. Until I realized it was still them, underneath the techno beats and autotune voice drops. The new sound was refreshing and culminated as a catchy hit. They are following the trend of punk-pop bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco and going for the more pop sound, which is costing them the die hard fans who adore their classic sound. But that is not the point, they want to reflect who they are, and this evolution is completely natural.
With the loss of band member Jeremy Davis, the only other remaining founding member, there was a lot of insecurity among both fans and band members. Williams and guitarist Taylor York considered ending the band. But then, Williams and York created this album with honest lyrics losing people you love. This honest, new sound encompasses something I did not see coming- growing up and being an adult
The Pathfinder gives “After Laughter” 9/10.
