“War’s on the side of the planet/ And I’ve got a war right behind my eyes,” yelps Hayley Williams on Paramore’s sixth album. Exorcising the angst of 2022 to an elasticated post-punk beat, the 33-year-old frontwoman speaks to the struggle of many “safe, privileged” Westerners to find “a balance between apathy and righteous rage”. She continues: “I worry and I give money and I feel useless behind this computer and that’s just barely scratched the surface of my mind…”
It’s a cathartically bouncy blast of articulate energy from the influential Tennessean band, originally formed as cocky preteens in 2004. They’ve been through their fair share of growing pains since then. Zac Farro (drums) and his brother Josh (guitar) left in 2010. Zac returned in 2017 and recently distanced himself from homophobic views Josh allegedly expressed on social media. Initially a Christian band, they’ve been sloughing their ties to conservative Southern faith at different paces.
