Paramore (album)

Background

The recording of Paramore began in April 2012 with the song "Daydreaming". After a brief pause, recording resumed on June 27 of that year and ended on November 1, 2012. It is the first Paramore album released after the departure of Josh Farro and Zac Farro, both of whom left the band in 2010.

The album was produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen, longtime bassist for Beck and Nine Inch Nails, who has previously produced records for M83 and Neon Trees. In an interview with Electronic Musician, Meldal-Johnsen stated he wanted "the album to sound very visceral and a little bit less locked down and computerized, more 1981 than 2012, with a nod to 2016." In an interview with Digital Spy, Taylor York stated "I don't think we've ever been so proud and satisfied with something we've done." On June 29, 2012, the band had confirmed that former Nine Inch Nails and current Angels & Airwaves drummer Ilan Rubin would be recording drums for the album.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, lead vocalist Hayley Williams explained "That whole time for our band was such a dark season. It was emotionally exhausting, and by the time we got around to the point where we were going to start writing, we just really wanted to enjoy the process of making an album..." when asked about the direction of the band after Brand New Eyes. Regarding the album being self-titled, Williams explained "The self-titled aspect of the whole thing is definitely a statement. I feel like it's not only reintroducing the band to the world, but even to ourselves ... By the end of it, it felt like we're a new band."

Promotion and release

On December 6, 2012, Paramore made an announcement through their official website revealing the name of the album and the release date as well as the name of the first single from the album. The track list was announced on January 18, 2013 by Alternative Press. During the 2013 Soundwave Festival, Paramore held a listening party in Sydney, New South Wales on February 26, 2013, followed by Melbourne, Victoria two days later, run by Australian Music Channel, Channel V. Williams revealed a section of the lyrics for the song 'Part II' which the winners were able to hear at the listening parties on a LiveJournal post. Williams told fans that "'Let The Flames Begin' has been a favorite of ours to play live, as well as being a favorite of most people who come out to our shows.... We wanted it to have a sequel. 'Part ll' it is!"

The vinyl version of the album was streamed beginning on April 1, 2013 for four days, with each day playing one of the four sides. The album was then officially released on April 5, 2013. The band played an acoustic version of "Hate to See Your Heart Break" on the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge on April 3, 2013, announcing that on the same night, the full song would be premiered on their official website. On April 20, 2013, the band released an EP for Record Store Day, titled The Holiday Sessions, released exclusively on a 7" vinyl, and is composed of the three interludes from this album. A music video for "Anklebiters" was released on June 25, 2013. The song, however, was not released as a single.

The Self-Titled Tour in North America took place from October 15 to November 27, 2013. The Self-Titled Tour takes the band through 27 cities across North America, including Paramore's first headline show at Madison Square Garden. On August 22, 2013, the band announced their own cruise, called the "PARAHOY! Cruise", sailing from Miami to the Bahamas and back on board the Norwegian Pearl, which took place from March 7 to March 11, 2014. On January 9, 2014, the band, along with Fall Out Boy, announced a co-headlining North American summer tour dubbed, "Monumentour", which took place from June 19 through August 31, 2014. On January 22, 2015, Paramore announced "Writing The Future", a round of small shows across the United States, closing out the Paramore touring cycle. It lasted from April 27 to May 25, 2015.

A deluxe edition of the album was released on November 24, 2014. The deluxe edition includes a new version of "Hate To See Your Heart Break" featuring Joy Williams, Paramore's first collaboration.

Singles

On January 5, 2013, Paramore released a teaser of the lead single "Now", revealing a snippet of the song and the release date of the single, which was January 22, 2013. Paramore streamed the song on their website January 21, and the song was then made available for sale along with an album pre-order through iTunes the next day. In the UK, "Now" was instead released January 24, 2013. The music video for "Now" was directed by Daniel "Cloud" Campos and premiered live on MTV on February 11. It was uploaded onto YouTube the next day.

The album's second single, "Still Into You", was released on March 14, 2013. A lyric video for "Still Into You" was uploaded to YouTube a day earlier, after the band performed it live for the first time at the 2013 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. On September 18, 2013, "Still Into You" was certified 'platinum' by the RIAA. "Daydreaming" serves as the third single from the album. It was released on December 2, 2013 only in the UK. The music video premiered in November 5 on the UK MSN.

"Ain't It Fun" is the fourth single from the album. The radio edit premiered August 28, 2013, and the single was released on February 4, 2014. A music video for the song was planned, but was put on hold in favor of a music video for "Daydreaming", also, as informed by Williams, the band was unhappy with how the video was turning out; A new video for "Ain't It Fun" was shot and premiered on January 29, 2014. "Ain't It Fun" then received the award for Best Rock Song at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, a first for the band as this was their first Grammy win. On June 18, 2014, "Ain't It Fun" was certified platinum by the RIAA and then on July 8, 2015, double platinum. Shortly after, "Still Into You" received double platinum certification as well from the RIAA.

Other songs

Though not released as a single, the band felt a special connection with the song "Anklebiters" and released a music video for it on April 5, 2013.

"Hate to See Your Heart Break" was re-recorded in 2014 to feature Joy Williams on vocals for inclusion on the deluxe edition of the album. A black-and-white video for the song premiered November 24, 2014. It reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart.

Composition

According to Patrick Bowman at Idolator, the album features the same alternative rock and pop punk sound of Paramore's previous albums. Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star stated the band abandoned the emo genre in favor of power pop. Technology Tell's Benjamin Duham described it as having a "more pop-rock direction". At Entertainment Weekly, Kyle Anderson characterized it as a "Blondie-indebted 21st-century new-wave album".

Critical reception

Upon its release, Paramore was acclaimed by music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a "weighted average" rating out of 100 from selected independent ratings and reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a Metascore of 81, based on 20 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Scott Heisel of Alternative Press praised the diversity of the album, calling the album "a sprawling, 17-song, 64-minute monster", and regarded it as the best music Paramore have ever created. Entertainment Weekly's Kyle Anderson gave the album an A-, where he stated "Paramore are making evolutionary leaps into something both refreshingly well-adjusted and genuinely new", and highlighted "Ain't It Fun" and "Proof" as the album's best tracks. The USA Today writer Brian Mansfield found that on the album the band "has super-sized its sound". Mansfield also commented that "Williams' sarcasm seems less forced than her enthusiasm, still, Paramore shows a band determined to get out of the misery business."

Matt Collar, writing for AllMusic, declared "The record's collaborative foundation crackles on every track, but Hayley Williams, a ballsy, extroverted frontwoman with a voice big enough to stop time, proves unequivocally to be the cunning talent of the band, no matter how vital York and Davis may be". Collar regards it their best album. At AbsolutePunk, Jack Appleby said "Instead of pursuing all things epic or intentionally moving to a specific sound, the band had a blast pursuing every genre under the sun, creating a damn good album in the process...Chances are you won't dedicate undivided attention to Paramore, but you'll regularly queue the whole record." He concluded with that the album isn't for everyone, but has something that anyone could enjoy.

Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian regarded the album as a pay off, despite the band "switching it up", where she states "...this is more loose and playful, while still indulging the band's ability to pull off mammoth, arena-friendly choruses." She regarded the album a little too long, however. David Renshaw at NME observed "...this mainstream rebirth feels like a transitional step to something gigantic." Jon Pareles from The New York Times found that the band's songwriting survived the departure of Josh Farro. In addition, Pareles noted that they "have pushed the band beyond pop-punk without abandoning momentum or the big, catchy chorus."

By contrast, Sputnikmusic's staff reviewer Channing Freeman was highly critical of the album, giving it a one and a half out of five as well as calling it, "fucking foolishness". Freeman criticized the exclusion of J. Farro and the songwriting, stating "I guess the sad conclusion here is that Paramore needs Josh Farro, who maybe could have tempered all of the crazy fucking songwriting decisions that were made on Paramore."

Accolades

The album appeared on a number of "End Of Year" lists. It was ranked the 18th best album of 2013 by The A.V. Club. It was also ranked #6 by Kerrang!, #21 by The Guardian, #58 by PopMatters and #34 by The Village Voice.

Commercial performance

The album has been a major commercial success worldwide, debuting at number one is eight countries including the UK, Ireland, Scotland, Argentina, New Zealand, Brazil and Australia (where it was the eighth consecutive number one debut on the chart and also the 32nd self-titled album to top the Australian chart). The album also peaked within the top 20 of 9 other countries. In the US, the album debuted at number 1, with first week sales of 106,000 copies. This marks the first Paramore album to reach the top spot on the chart.

"Still Into You" charted within the top 10 in Australia and Ireland and reached the top 20 in several others. The single topped the UK rock chart and peaked at number 14 in the singles chart, thus becoming the band's second highest charting single in that country, behind Ignorance. In the US, the song peaked at number 24, matching The Only Exception as the band's highest charting single at the time. It also peaked at number 6 in the US Rock Chart and number 8 in the US Mainstream Top 40. "Ain't It Fun" shared similar success, charting within the top 10 in Canada and Hungary. It eventually became Paramore's best selling single to date in the US, charting at number ten in the Billboard 100, number 2 in the US Mainstream Top 40 and number 1 the US Rock Chart and Adult Top 40. The single marks the first time a Paramore song has reached the Top 10 in the US.

Personnel

Paramore

Additional personnel