Review: Paramore’s Newest Album, “This is Why”

  This is why Paramore is my favorite band of all time. “This Is Why” expands on a remarkable discography with another genre-bending album.

  Paramore is back with their sixth album after a nearly six-year hiatus. They’re known for changing their sound and this new release is no different.

  The title track, “This is Why”, is a commanding intro to a new era with lyrics such as, “this is why I don’t leave my house!” 

  The track is different from what the group has released before by introducing a new sound but it’s still the Paramore that fans know and love.

  The same could be said for the second song, “The News”, which sounds like it’s directly from Paramore’s 2007 album, “Riot!”. The song expresses frustration with our current world and the endless bad news swirling in our minds asking us to “turn off, turn off, the news.”

  Being frustrated with the current state of the world is relatable and Paramore dove into this theme headfirst throughout the entire album. 

  The band continued that trend with “Running Out of Time”, a song that talks exactly about what the title says. The anxieties of being late is something everyone has felt at one time or another. Thankfully, the Grammy award-winning group has helped ease the anxiety by letting us dance while running late.

 The next track on the album,  “C’est comme ça”, which translates to “it’s like that”, isn’t lyrically interesting compared to the previous tracks but it is a fun tune to jam to. 

  The lyrics of “Big Man, Little Dignity” are full of innuendos about former men in singer Hayley Williams’ life. This track is one of my favorites and strongly resembles songs that Williams released as a solo artist during Paramore’s absence.

  When listening to this album on release night, “You First” is when I realized this album is essentially a matured version of their previous work. You could place “You First” into an album from 15 years ago and it would fit seamlessly. This is my favorite track off of the collection.

  Heading to the end of the album, “Figure 8”, “Liar” and “Crave” all blend together for me. There’s nothing bad about these three songs, but they don’t stack up to the rest. 

  That’s not the case for the closing track, “Thick Skull”. Paramore has a reputation for ending their albums with an emotional song. The song opens with the lyric, “I am a magnet for broken pieces”. The track is a powerful closer.

  “This Is Why” provides a solid listen. As a fan, it will join the band’s other albums as one I continuously return to for years to come.

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