NEED TO KNOW
Hayley Williams has spoken out about the status of Paramore.
In an interview with The Face published on Thursday, Sept. 4, the “True Believer” musician revealed that the pop-punk band is on a break — and discussed their future.
“Do we ever know where we’re at?!” Williams, 36, said of the group. “We always take huge breaks.”
She added: “In order for us to metabolize s— that we go through as people, it takes the amount of time it takes between albums.”
Williams also then confirmed that despite her recently releasing a new solo album — Ego Death at a Bachelorette — the band is not broken up.
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“There are no better musicians in the world than Zac [Farro] and Taylor [York],” she said of her Paramore bandmates. “There are no better performers than [the touring musicians affectionately known as the] Parafour. It’s just magic, man.”
Williams said that she feels “such a vindication in knowing that nobody can discount Paramore.”
“But it’s also really important for me to strengthen other muscles and these parts of myself that I deflated because I was scared that people were going to notice me too much,” she said of her solo endeavors.
On Aug. 1, Williams released a surprise collection of 17 singles after previously sharing them on a website and deleting them. She officially released the album, which she later titled Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, on Aug. 28.
Produced entirely by Daniel James, the collection was self-released on her new venture Post Atlantic, distributed via Secretly Distribution.
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Williams wrote, recorded and played multiple instruments throughout the 17 songs and enlisted collaborators Brian Robert Jones and Joey Howard for some of the tracks.
The song “True Believer” also includes contributions from Jim-E Stack.
In the days leading up to the collection’s release, Williams surprised fans at Newport Folk Festival, where she debuted the song “Mirtazapine” from the project live.
Paramore released their most recent album This Is Why in 2023. Following its release, the band also shared Re: This Is Why, a new version of their 2023 album.