How Paramore’s Lead Singer Stopped The Band From Breaking Up

After the release of Paramore’s second album, Riot!, tensions within Paramore began to run high as the band worked on their third album following the success of their breakthrough album.

Released on June 12, 2007, Riot! propelled the band into mainstream success with major hit singles. Their most notable single, “Misery Business,” became the band’s first charting single on Billboard Hot 100, transforming the rising pop-punk band into one of the defining alternative rock acts of the 2000s.

Following the pressure of delivering a worthy follow-up to their album, Riot! the five members of the band were not coming together.

“No one was coming up with anything,” said Hayley Williams, lead singer of Paramore, during an interview with Louder. “I could tell Josh was really bummed. He looked up at us and was like, ‘Listen, guys, I’m never gonna write another song like Misery Business, so get over it.”

Williams then wrote the lyrics to Ignorance on her way home in her car, a song for Paramore to address interpersonal issues within the band.

“Ignorance is like word-vomit put to guitars,” said Williams. A song about feeling isolated and forgotten by those closest to us, “Ignorance” held a lot of tension.

In the following days, Williams felt her lyrics may have been a little too close for comfort as the song developed and tried to mumble her way through, as she is at her most confrontational in the song.

However, Taylor York, the guitarist, was right next to the speaker and heard every word. York had asked Hayley about the lyrics, and the two had talked for at least two hours and reconciled many tough and heavy things that helped save the band.

Growing up is not easy; it is a journey of multiple emotions, and sometimes in life we may experience challenges and difficulties communicating our feelings, but that is the beauty of music. Music is a universal language that helps us to communicate, connect, and understand with one another.

“There were a lot of times when I felt really alone or angry or insecure. I don’t always feel good at confronting people, especially people that I love,” said Williams. “Sometimes, it takes songs to get the point across.”

However, despite the song’s critical acclaim, 14 months after the release of Paramore’s third studio album, Brand New Eyes, brothers Josh and Zac Farro left the band in 2010.

While Hayley claimed “Ignorance” reunited the band and made them grow closer together, in reality, they were all growing apart, as Josh had expressed in a written statement.

While much of Brand New Eyes explored conflict within the band, being band members and friends while dealing with tension really affected the group and their lyrics.