Pop-rock darlings Paramore are back with their first new material in five years, announcing their sixth studio album This Is Why and sharing the video for its title track. The Nashville-based trio of Hayley Williams, Zac Farro and Taylor York recorded their After Laughter (2017) follow-up—due out Feb. 10, 2023, on Atlantic Records—with their long-time collaborator Carlos de la Garza in Los Angeles, delivering 10 new tracks.
“This Is Why” is an exciting return for Paramore, and an anthem for the fears and furies of the pandemic era—one big, irresistibly hooky “I told you so” to a collapsing planet. Over Farro’s rolling drumbeat, York’s spidery guitars and a pulse-quickening bass line, Williams croons with incongruous delicacy, “If you have an opinion / Maybe you should shove it,” then considers, “Or maybe you could scream it / Might be best to keep it to yourself.” It’s in the track’s funked-out bridge that Williams’ emotional unrest comes most clearly into focus, as she sings, “One step beyond your door / It might as well have been a free fall.”
“‘This Is Why’ was the very last song we wrote for the album,” Williams recalls in a statement, continuing:
To be honest, I was so tired of writing lyrics but Taylor convinced Zac and I both that we should work on this last idea. What came out of it was the title track for the whole album. It summarizes the plethora of ridiculous emotions, the rollercoaster of being alive in 2022, having survived even just the last 3 or 4 years. You’d think after a global pandemic of fucking biblical proportions and the impending doom of a dying planet, that humans would have found it deep within themselves to be kinder or more empathetic or something.
TURNSTILE’s Brendan Yates directed the single’s accompanying video, which was shot in Malibu, California. “It was so rad working with Brendan,” Williams says. “I’ve known the Turnstile guys for a little while and was so psyched to have our worlds collide in this way. There’s a cool kinship between the way our bands do things … Hopefully we will get to play shows with them at some point.”
Watch the “This Is Why” video below, and find Paramore’s new album details and tour dates further down. You can preorder This Is Why here.
Paramore Tour Dates:
October
02 – Bakersfield, CA @ Mechanics Bank Theater # SOLD OUT
04 – Magna, UT @ The Great SaltAir # SOLD OUT
06 – Omaha, NE @ Orpheum Theater Omaha # SOLD OUT
08 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion # SOLD OUT
09 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
11 – Chesterfield, MO @ The Factory # SOLD OUT
14 – Bonner Springs, KS @ Azura Amphitheater* & SOLD OUT
16 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits^
20 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern ~ SOLD OUT
22 – Las Vegas, NV @ When We Were Young Festival^
23 – Las Vegas, NV @ When We Were Young Festival^
27 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Belasco % SOLD OUT
29 – Las Vegas, NV @ When We Were Young Festival^
November
07 – Toronto, ON @ HISTORY = SOLD OUT
09 – Chicago, IL @ The Chicago Theatre = SOLD OUT
11 – Cincinnati, OH @ The Andrew J Brady Music Center = SOLD OUT
13 – New York City, NY @ The Beacon Theatre SOLD OUT
15 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle = SOLD OUT
16 – St. Augustine, FL @ The St. Augustine Amphitheatre =SOLD OUT
19 – Mexico City, MX @ Corona Capital Festival^
(# with Claud)
(= with Ogi)
(& with Japanese Breakfast + Young the Giant)
(~ with Faux Real)
(% with Elke)
