Paramore – This Is Why album review
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