Music Reviews

The long awaited 6th studio album from the legendary pop-punk outfit Paramore is finally here and I gotta say, this one is really something. I enjoyed the band’s previous efforts well enough, especially their self-titled album and their last LP „After Laughter“ which was in my opinion still the band’s greatest accomplishment up until now, but this new album over here, I gotta say, probably took that place for me. Paramore is back more melacholic and open than ever – this album is essentially just a closer look into the band’s psyche and what’s been going on with them for the last couple of years. Themes of burn-out, depression, isolation, dissociation and so much more are what make up the majority of the album’s lyrical theme and all of it is, as always, accompannied by the band’s performance, who are really giving it their all.

The album opens up with the title track „This Is Why“ which talks about „not wanting to leave the house“ as Hayley puts it because of all the eyes that are constantly on her, feeling like she can’t have even a second for herself. The song right off the back is really punchy and sounds almost like something Paramore would do earlier on, but still with a more modern Paramore spin on it, it’s an excellent opener. Following that we have the song „The News“ which is another punchy in-your-face song, this time around even more so and I have to say that this is probably one of my favorite songs on the entire album. The chorus gets stuck infinitely in my head so many times a day and the pre-chorus is just so spacey and beautiful I don’t have enough positive things to say about it, this song is just the whole package for me. Next up we have the song „Running Out Of Time“ that starts off really slow but absolutely makes up for it when the chorus hits, as this song delivers one of the strongest choruses on the entire album. I especially enjoy the funky guitars on here, they are so dancable and fun in contrast to the dark lyrics, which is something the band excels at. „C’est Comme Ca“ which roughly translates to „it is what it is“ is the next song and although the mix on this one is a bit rough and all around it probably could’ve used another minute or two in the oven, it’s still one of my favorites solely for the fact that it’s, simply put, an absolute banger. Next up is the song „Big Man, Little Dignity“ which is a beautiful ballad with some absolutely stunning musical and lyrical passages, it’s definetly a nice slow-down after the last few hectic songs + the synth work here is surprisingly well done, overall just a really nice song. „Your First“ is up next and this one again picks up the tempo of the album a bit, I really enjoy the distorted guitars on here, they give the song a whole new dimension and just sound super cool, but overall I probably don’t have all that much to say about it besides, it’s just another really solid tune. Next up is the song „Figure 8“ and this one took me a while to appriciate, but once this song clicked, it REALLY clicked. The lyrics on this one are especially really heartfelt, but they are definetly sold by the way Hayley sings them, you can just hear multiple times in the song that she’s absolutely singing her heart out and it’s just so beautiful. The next song „Liar“ is once again a much needed calm after the storm that maybe is a bit forgetable if you don’t get into it right away, but if you manage to do so then this one’s a real tearjerker. The lyrics are really the highlight here, it’s once again all brought to live by Hayley’s angelic vocals that are definetly stealing the show here. „Crave“ is the second-to-last song and this one really hit a special place for me. The song talks about wanting to go back to the good times where everything was more simple and just wanting to do it all again but better this time. And the guitar lick repeated throughout this song is just pure musical euphoria, I can’t get enough of it. So yeah, this song is pretty darn good in my opinion. And last but not least we have the closer „Thick Skull“ which is about as close as you’ll get to the perfect closer for this album. Wraps up the entire album really nicely in my opinion.

So yeah, there you have it – Paramore’s latest studio album „This Is Why“. This is slowely but surely becoming my favorite Paramore album and it’s not hard to see why – the performances, the lyrics, Hayley’s vocals are all firing at 100 on here. And even though the album is only 10 tracks long, the songs are just that good that they make up for the overall shorter track list.

-favorite songs: all of them lol

-least favorite songs: Liar IF I HAD TO PICK ONE IT’S STILL REALLY GOOD

Strong 8/10

Parannoul has done it again.

It should come as no surprise that I adore this band – if you’ve read my review of the band’s last solo studio album „To See the Next Part of the Dream“, that came out in 2021, you know I absolutely loved what the band accomplished there. The pure musical euphoria that album brought me was unmatched by almost anything I’ve heard that year, the seemless blend of shoegaze and dream pop and all other sorts of things resulted in, what’s at least in my eyes, one of the best albums of this decade so far. So it’s safe to say that the expectations I had for this album were set very high but I’m very pleased to report that for the most part they were very much met.

Right of the back I have to say that Parannoul is once again bringing their A-game when it comes to choosing album covers that match the sound – TSTNPOTD had a much more colorful and clear album cover and the sound of the album reflected that perfectly, it really did feel like a beautiful dream. So if that album felt like a warm cozy dream, this feels like the moment after when you wake up. Like the musical emodiment of a cold harsh winter, thinking about the beautiful warm summer. And I gotta say nothing is a more fitting example of that than the first three song on this album. First off we have the opener „Polaris“ – it kicks off with a lush somber guitar playing with only the singing humming a singing over it. Then in typical Parannoul fashion the at-first programmed drums come in with a bunch of orchestral strings backing it all up and it all resolves in this beautiful picture that’s being painted with the music. And then it just… Stops. And OUT OF NOWHERE this giant wave of just so much going on comes clashing right in, overtaking the entire song. And I don’t mean this lightly when I say that it really feels larger than life. All of that builds up right back into the chorus that was first shown in the opening of the song but this time with the whole band giving it their all and comes together just so effortlessly and beautifully, I can’t say enough good things about this song honestly. After that we have the song „Insomnia“ which builds up on the last song very nicely. The trademark Parannoul piano melody that’s being repeated throught this entire song really gives of strong „Beautiful World“ vibes. The song maybe isn’t as grand per se as the last one, but I maybe enjoy it even more then I do the last song – it’s just such a solid vibe throughout it’s entire runtime. The melodies are so gorgeous and it all feels strangely nostalgic – there also just isn’t a second wasted with this song, the structure of it is so free and unpredictable yet strangely logical, Parannoul just have this ability to make the most in theory complicated things seem so easy and effortless. Definetly another one of my favorites. And to finnish this insane three track run off, we have the song „Arrival“, that puts a bit of a spin on the Parannoul formula with them incorporating more horns on this song that work surprisingly well with this sound. I mean they are horns they sound good in basically any context bu once again Parannoul finds a way to make them really stand out and make them sound very pleasant to the ears at the same time. Which brings me to my next point, which is that I really have to commend Parannoul here for really letting loose on the experimentation on this album – it all still sounds very much like Parannoul but you can clearly hear that they are much more comfortable with their sound and aren’t afraid to try new things. Like this song in particular has a very strong GY!BE vibe towards the end of it, like insanely so, it’s definetly one of the most crazy musical moments on this entire album. Anyways next up we have the song „We Shine At Night“ which is like the definition of „the calm after the storm“ – the whole song is very light-hearted and more I guess down to earth and although I tend to skip it sometimes, when I don’t get pulled into it right away, I still think it overall adds to the album experience. It’s also a nice stepping stone between Arrival and the next song „Parade“ which is almost like a two part experience – the first half is similar to the previous song, but I think this one has a little more kick to it, the orchestral elements on this song especially are something to take note off, they seriously elevate the song to completely new heights. However the real magic with this song lies within the sudden build up to the second part of the song which only improves the song further and makes it really feel like the whole package. Also the transition from this song to „Sketchbook“ is like as smooth as it gets. And look, I understand that for some this song may not be as ground-breaking or I guess as what you would expect from Parannoul, but I have to say I was once again pleasantly surprised by this one – it’s definetly a lot different from the typical Parannoul style and I guess there is the criticism that it does drag on a bit too long and doesn’t have all that much to show for it, but I still just have to respect the willingness to go out of their comfort zone and try to experiment. So yeah, maybe not the most exciting song on here but in my humble opinion still a pretty solid addition to the track list. Next up we have the song „Imagination“ that is much more low-key and shorter then some of the other songs on here and while it is still very good I honestly could probably have it removed from this album and not much would really change about the experience for me, even though the outro is as expected again really cool. „Sounds Inside Me, Waves Inside You“ is the next track and I don’t have much to say about this one, not because it’s bad but it’s just kinda forgetable – it does feature a really cool kind of breakdown/bridge in the middle of the song that’s really unexpected but once again keeps the whole album feeling really fresh. That’s one thing with this album, you never really get bored when listening to it, even if you don’t love every idea presented to you, the album just keeps evolving and going through so many different ideas that eventually something is just bound to click with you, although admittedly with a few exceptions the first half of this album really out-shines the second in my opinion. „Blossom“ is the next song and again I’m grateful that it’s on here, but nothing about it really sticks with me that much – the phases this song undergoes are impressive even for this album though and the horns from earlier make another appearence here + there are some legitemately insane vocal passages towards the end of the song that sound almost emo-ish, which again, more versatility. Things do pick up pretty substantially with the closing song and also the title track „After the Magic“ which has probably the prettiest intro to any song on this thing, the variety of strings and synths always transport me to like a different realm of existence. The rest of the song also feels very climactic and like the end to a movie and the strings are just… Out of this world, they really make you FEEL like this is the ending credits to just I don’t l´know life or whatever corny thing – look it’s just really good okay?

So yeah, that was „After the Magic“ by Parannoul. Honestly I don’t have much of an outro to go along with this (I’m not as good at those as Parannoul are unfortunately) but this is just another really great album from Parannoul, that’s about all you need to know. For me personally it didn’t quite reach the highs of TSTNPOTD but it was still an amazing other-worldly experience that I highly suggest you give a shot.

-favorite tracks: yes

-least favorite tracks: parts of some of the songs in the second half

Strong 8/10