April 5 marked the 10th anniversary of Paramore’s self-titled fourth studio album. The record marked a shift toward new wave and encompasses some of their biggest hits to date: “Ain’t It Fun” and “Still Into You.”
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To mark the album’s anniversary, frontwoman Hayley Williams posted a touching note about the recording process and the exit of Josh and Zac Farro – though Zac has since rejoined the group.
“10 years ago we put out a record that took a lot of guts and self-determination to make,” Williams posted on Twitter. “Mainly because after losing 2 members of the band there was so much discourse around whether or not the band could make anything worthwhile – let alone stay together.”
Williams then made mention of the group’s “drama”-filled career and their appreciation for where they are now in comparison to 10 years ago.
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“The story of Paramore has been rife with reality show-style drama,” she continued. “Well, until the last 6 or 7 years. It’s really great to be able to look back from where we are now, knowing the story didn’t end when some said it would.”
She added, “If all that led to our Self-Titled album hadn’t happened [sic], we’d be the most boring band of all time. If we hadn’t been forced out of our trauma-bonded comfort zones, we would’ve never known what we might be capable of.”
She then shifted focus to thanking the album’s collaborators, namely producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen, engineer Carlos de la Garza, and mixer Ken Andrews of Failure.
“Thank you Justin Meldal-Johnsen for expanding our musical vocabulary and believing we could be more than a band from one specific scene,” she said. “And thank you Carlos de la Garza for engineering the shit out of the album. Thank you Ken Andrews of Failure for mixing it, singing backups on it, and being a musical hero to us.”
[RELATED: Paramore Return With The Anthem-Laden ‘This Is Why’]
She finished up her thoughts by saying, “Taylor [York] and I wrote these songs having no idea if people would accept a reformed, more liberated version of Paramore. Our fans not only accepted but championed our rebirth. Thank you for allowing us the room for creative risk and for keeping this story going.”
Paramore recently shared their sixth studio album, This Is Why, with a line-up consisting of Williams, Zac Farro and York. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart.
Hayley Williams (Photo: Atlantic Records)
