NEW RELEASE: This Is Why - Paramore

 Paramore is a band I've been at least following since I was a teenager. I still stand by Brand New Eyes being their best, and one of my personal favorite albums period. I have not always consistently liked Paramore. I love their first album. I found Riot a little underwhelming outside some hits. I loved Brand New Eyes, self-titled could be a little all over the place. After Laughter is a mixed bag of a few gems and a few underwhelming experiments. Overall, there's many words I would use to describe Paramore. But one of them is never boring or underwhelming.

That is, until today...

Instrumentally, the album sounds more complex and unique itself. I will give it that just due. There's nothing exceptionally wrong with the album. It is just...there. The album is just there. It exists in the corner of the snack table at the party and doesn't hold up. 

The album begins with lead single "This Is Why", with decent bass rift. The lyrics are rather repetitive and forgettable, although it leads up to an interesting vocal transition in the bridge I do like.

The song then transitions to "The News", which is one of the more "eventful" parts of the album. It seems to discuss our culture of obsessing over the 24/7 news cycle along with the "keyboard warriors" of today. I feel like it captures some of the intended messaging of "This Is Why" better, which makes it a weird transition to be right after the other.

"Running Out of Time" is missing something. One of those things is an actual proper vocal structure. The second thing is actual emotion. The third thing is being enjoyable. This song is so all over the place it just annoys me.

"C'est Comme Ca" comes right after and I am starting to think Paramore has run out of ideas. Most of the lyrics sound like a strange stream of consciousness that go nowhere. The bass rifts are becoming less unique and it is becoming too cohesive. 

"Big Man, Little Dignity" is a little lyrically better than the first half of the album but nothing in Hailey's voice makes the anger or chastising seem strong and impactful. Wow, I never imagined I'd just suggest Hayley Williams vocals were not strong enough. The music is far too mellow for the messaging.

"You First" is one of the few tracks I have enjoyed. The lyrics are better. They added some different elements to the music to make it feel less "run of the mill". 

We again return to a rift I already heard on this album on "Figure 8". I like the energy of this song better, although lyrically it becomes a bit repetitive. I feel the strange guitar can pull you out unintentionally as well. It just seems disjointed, but I feel it aligns better on this track since the song itself is chaotic emotions.

I usually like a good Paramore ballad, but "Liar" is just devoid of actual...passion. Emotion. Something to make me feel it is meaningful. 

By "Crave" I think I figured out the problem. Even when Hayley is attempting to add life, the music chosen for these songs sounds so lifeless and dead she cannot energize them. On the more energetic songs, she sounds duller. Why did they make it like that?

The album closes with "Thick Skull". I like it lyrically a lot more but the music struggles to make sense again. 

LYRICS: 5/10 - Boy, I never imagined giving a mid-rating to a Paramore album for lyrics but some of these songs are just a mess. I get the idea they're trying to get across but for many of the tracks, another song comes on the album that does it better and reduces the other track to a memory of filler.

MUSIC: 4/10 - Paramore...you're not Radiohead. Or Death Cab for Cutie. You're not an intense melancholic indie rock band. Now with some better efforts, you probably could be. But you cannot combine the atypical vocal styling of Paramore with the soundtrack to these artists. You're either in a depressed low tempo Phoebe Bridgers pain or you are Paramore. This album feels like they lost their identity. 

OVERALL: 5/10 - This is possibly the most underwhelming, most forgettable Paramore album I have ever listened to. In a week, I will likely forget a majority of the songs if I ever return to this. This experiment didn't work.