"The News" (new Paramore single) is here!
"The News" (new Paramore single) is here!
Happy New Paramore music day to all who celebrate!
Okayyyyyy, soooooooo, what do we all think of “The News”?
To the surprise of (checks notes…) no one, I LOVE it. It’s loud. It’s frenetic. Taylor’s guitar and Hayley’s voice and Zac’s drums have never been more in sync—each one, in turn, staccato, sweeping, and crunchy. Lots of yelpy, half-spoken, half-sung lines, which in my opinion is VERY difficult to pull off but gives the song a sound that flirts with punk. The word I keep thinking of is “gritty.”
Real Heads Know that Paramore has a lot of grittier influences. When the original band lineup first started playing and writing together, they used to cover songs by post-hardcore band Thursday, among others. Hayley’s favorite band is mewithoutYou. So I’ve been hoping that this new era would include some of the harder rock we’ve gotten hints of in the past on songs like “Future” and “Idle Worship.”
Here’s the music video for “The News”:
Cancel me if you must, but I historically have not been the biggest fan of Paramore music videos (I’ll rank them here one of these days).
As far as Paramore videos go, this one is pretty cool. There are definitely a couple of moments that feel a bit “we live in a society” to me (ie, on the nose social commentary). But I LOVE the colors and the creepy shots of Hayley’s weird eyes. And oh my god the part where she like…how do I describe this…fans out? Very cool.
All signs continue to point to this album showcasing the band at the peak of their powers. Like “This Is Why,” “The News” feels bombastic, tightly-wound, and, above all, confident in what it has to say. Not a beat or a note is wasted. This is going to be the Paramore era of rock songs that sound enormous, and yet, at the same time, like a voice, a guitar, and a drum set are all there is.
And isn’t it crazy how that’s literally true—Paramore are actually the ONLY musicians to ever exist!
Talk soon,
Katie from Paramore*
*Hayley had/has “Hayley from Paramore” as her name on social media so a lot of fan accounts (I guess now including me) do it too
How many days til This Is Why comes out? I’m glad you asked:
