Paramore wish they 'could have benefited' from emo's current popularity years ago

Emo isn't just making a comeback — it's bigger now than it's ever been. And the return of Paramore, one of the most iconic emo bands of the past 20 years, is only part of the reason. But the Nashville trio — singer Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York, and drummer Zac Farro — aren't using This Is Why, their first album in five years, to cash in on the sudden mainstream popularity of the genre they helped pioneer in the early aughts with hits like "Misery Business" and "Decode." In fact, this record can't be described as emo, punk, or pop-punk at all. And that's entirely by design.

Paramore have shifted their sound before, trying out post-punk and even synth-pop, and This Is Why showcases yet another major vibe change. With powerful political lyrics examining the group's anger and frustration over the state of the world, its 10 songs veer more towards alternative and indie rock. This is mostly because all three members are "careful about getting stuck in the past," Williams tells EW. But they still can't help but compare the early days of their career to the current emo and pop-punk revival.

Atlantic Records Paramore

"It's very unexpected," Farro says of how popular the genres have become. "It's cool, but it's also weird. Hayley got to express a lot of cool things [at 2022's When We Were Young music festival] and speak to that scene [about] some stuff that needed to be touched on. If anything, [the genre] was for all the people that didn't fit in, and it was cool to be there for that."

Says Williams, "It's wild because emo meant something different to us when we were really young. When we came on to the scene, it was very much a bad word. It had negative connotations because even before us, that word was not really a welcomed expression or term to people in punk music."

At the time Paramore formed, in 2004, Williams says they were "on the forefront of the mainstream popularity of emo," adding that it "became an aesthetic that people tried to tap into and dress like."

She explains, "But even though it was becoming popular, emo kids were not popular kids. Those were people that you would see at your school that were like, when you watch a movie from the early 2000s and it takes place at a high school and they go through all the cliques, they're like, 'Those are the emo kids, those are the goths.'"

Emo and pop-punk's rising popularity also surprises the band because of how much the music industry has changed since they got together. "It's crazy now because there's not really much use for genres," Williams explains. "We were always very adamant that we don't want to be put in a box, emo or otherwise. What's interesting now is people treat it like it's a cool thing."

Atlantic Records Hayley Williams, Zac Farro, and Taylor York of Paramore

All three band members credit Gen Z with redefining what the genre is. "It went from emo almost existing on an island — you could reach the top of that world, but you weren't really embraced by any other genre because of that connotation," York says. "It's such a beautiful thing that this younger generation is redefining what cool is. I wish we could have benefited from that back then and we could have all just gotten along better. It's difficult to grow up in any generation at any time, but I'm really inspired to see that younger people are able to just be a bit more free in what they like."

"There's a lot of young people making really cool s--- who grew up in the emo scene or grew up not in it but having witnessed it from a different vantage point and [being] inspired by it," Williams adds. "We couldn't have expected that in a million years. Growing up, I always felt like I needed to mention that I loved listening to the Cure because I wanted people to take me more seriously as a musician — but that doesn't mean I don't also love other kinds of music."

Williams laughs. "When we were teenagers, Taylor really, really loved a Kelly Clarkson record. He got a noise violation ticket for listening to 'Since You've Been Gone' too loud in his car. But also, at the time when we were all teenagers, Zac and I would've told you that Taylor was actually the biggest music snob out of all of us."

York nods. "I was part of the problem," he says with a smile.

Replies Williams, "He was part of the problem, but he was also the solution."

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