Friday Song: “This Is Why”

When frontwoman Hayley Williams finished the tour supporting Paramore’s 2017 album After Laughter, she decided to take a break and spend time in her own house, enjoying a simple life of errands, cooking, and family.

By 2022, when the band released “This Is Why,” the title song to their return album, Williams felt vindicated in her decision to keep her mouth shut and opinions to herself, telling an interviewer:

You’d think after a global pandemic of fucking Biblical proportions and the impending doom of a dying plant that humans would have found it deep within themselves to be kinder or more empathetic or something.

Paramore hails from Nashville, TN, a trio of friends who met when a 13-year-old Williams entered a program for home-schooled students that included Josh and Zac Farro. Williams was scouted as a solo artist by talent agencies and record labels, but only Atlantic would let her bring along the Farro brothers and consider themselves a band. It was a smart move. While Josh Farro left the band in the early 2000s to be replaced by Taylor York on guitar, another high school friend, Paramore has become a modern legend, influencing countless artists from Billie Eilish to Olivia Rodrigo, winning numerous awards, selling multi-Platinum albums, and creating dozens of massive hits.

Williams’ voice is a wonder of range and clarity.

In 2023, “This Is Why” won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance. The album This Is Why won the Grammy for Best Rock Album, making Paramore the first female-fronted rock band to win a Grammy for Best Rock Album.

Williams said in an interview, “When I was writing the lyrics, I was like, this social experiment – the Internet – has been going wrong since day one. It exposes and exploits the general population’s blatant disregard for nuance.”

The song is all nuance — alt-punk, pop-punk, with dance, soul, and funk elements.

Also, whoever mixed this televised live performance did a fantastic job. You can hear everything.

Enjoy!