Accomplished American musicians Hayley Williams, Taylor York and Zac Farro, who are familiar to a great many individuals across the planet as acclaimed and popular alt-rock ensemble Paramore, dropped their first new tune under their renowned band’s banner in half a decade in September.
Titled “This Is Why”, the Tennessee trio’s long-awaited September single was the first single to be taken from their highly-anticipated sequel to 2017’s After Laughter, which Hayley, Taylor and Zac revealed while unveiling the then freshly completed “This Is Why” would arrive in record stores and online on February 10th of this year, and of which “This Is Why” is the title track, making Paramore’s new sixth full-length record their first since their debut album way back in 2005 to share its name with an entry on its tracklist, or at least partially in the case of the band’s classic inaugural compilation, All We Know Is Falling.
The highly proficient trio subsequently dropped another new tune titled “The News” at the start of December before kicking 2023 off with a bang last month by unveiling yet another brand new song, that time titled “C’est Comme Ça”.
Now, with February 10th, 2023, finally upon us, the time has at last arrived for This Is Why the album to drop in its entirety.
The band said in a post published on their official social media pages on February 9th, “Hello.
“It’s been 5.5 years since we released our last album. What’d we miss?
“If within the last 5.5 years you’ve felt/experienced sensations of:
“- Agoraphobia
“- Righteous Rage
“- Confused About The Difference Between Selfishness and Self-Preservation
“- Complete and Utter Apathy
“- Cabin Fever
“- Deep-Seated Vengefulness
“- Moral Superiority
“- Dissociation
“- Disassociation
“- Disbelief At The Inconsistencies of The American-English Language
“- American Psycho
“- Revelation
“- Nostalgia For Things You’ve Not Yet Experienced and Did Not Know You Even Wanted To
“- Resignation
“Then oh boy, do we have an album for you.
“Our new album ‘This Is Why’ is out tomorrow.
“- Paramore”.
The absolutely spellbinding new record gets off to a terrifically energising start with its fantastically expressive title track, which precedes a trio of superbly spirited compositions commencing with the aforementioned “The News”, continuing with “Running Out of Time” and concluding with the also aforementioned “C’est Comme Ça”. Once this trilogy of magnificently peppy offerings wraps up, the spotlight shifts to another splendidly zestful and marvellously atmospheric number named “Big Man, Little Dignity”, after which the vibe remains wonderfully vigorous and enormously invigorating throughout a pair of awesomely passionate pieces titled “You First” and “Figure 8”, respectively. This delightfully animated duo is succeeded by the stunningly gorgeous and immensely moving “Liar”, which is followed by another very affecting and inescapably captivating creation called “Crave” that prefaces an exceptionally impactful and hugely touching finale in the form of “Thick Skull”.
Like the three singles that preceded it, This Is Why as a whole is an extremely riveting and rousing creation by Paramore that’s full of feeling and showcases the delightfully punky attitude and style that made the band famous in the first place while simultaneously feeling magnificently fresh and innovative, and evolving the trio’s sound in an exciting, spellbinding and natural-feeling new direction. Also like its creators’ last three singles, its marvellously peppy combination of characteristically mesmerizingly melodic and wonderfully vigorous vocals, admirably deep, meaningful and heartfelt lyrics, and tremendously entrancing and remarkably skilful instrumentation is sure to satisfy long-time Paramore enthusiasts while also turning plenty of new heads in the band’s direction.
You can listen to “This Is Why” via its official lyric video below.
“This Is Why” is also available to stream on Spotify and download, along with the rest of the newly-released compilation with which it shares its name, which can be acquired in physical form too, now.