Paramore - 'Careful'
Yup, that's right: MORE Hayley Williams. But this time, it's serious.
If you've been reading the comments over on the blog for the BOB song 'Airplanes', you'll already know there's been a bit of a conversation about Paramore and whether Hayley's dabblings in the hip hop arena constitutes some kind of betrayal of her band's original fans.
ChartBlog commenter Oliviaaa987 summed the situation up beautifully when she said: "As a 13 year old straying into alternative territory for the first time she was it; I wanted to be her in the 'Emergency' video. This isn't alternative and so my 13 year old self wouldn't approve."
I would imagine Olivia's 13-year-old self would find this song to be much more palatable.
(Here's the video. Road movie!)
Now, I make no claim to being in on Paramore's decision-making process, but I BET you this song has been put out as a single with a dual purpose. Partly to capitalise on Hayley's recent pop success - although to be fair, no-one expected 'Airplanes' to take off in quite the way it has (it isn't even officially released yet) - and partly to reassure a jittery fanbase.
If you only listen to the singles they've put out over the last year or so, Paramore have come a long way sonically, sometimes straying away from their aggro roots and into sweeter, poppier areas. This kind of abrasive, wailing alterna-rock is what hardcore fans would probably call a return to form, although hardcore fans would know it's the first song on the album all those songs came from in the first place.
Newbies might find it a rougher ride, of course. There's less to hang on to here, other than Hayley's furious howl and the band attempting to batter your facial extremities off using beat mallets and chisels made of pure grunting noise. To anyone expecting a pretty tune like that nice 'The Only Exception' song, it's got to be pretty startling.
And the emo lyrics are back too. The finger-pointing, the furious sarcasm, the eff-you-for-wasting-my-precious-feelings rhetoric. What chippy 13-year-old could resist lines like these?
"I settled down, a twisted up frown disguised as a smile,
Well you would have never known
I had it all but not what I wanted
Cause home/hope for me was a place uncharted
And overgrown."
Kind of makes all that stuff BOB is saying about success seem a little self-aggrandising, dunnit? I mean, banging on about how well you've done pales into insignificance next to a howl of BETRAYAL like this. Who could fail to get carried away in the heat of the thing, even if there's less of a *annoyingdadvoice* Proper Song at the root of all that fury.
Download: Out now
www.paramore.net
BBC Music page
(Fraser McAlpine)
Black Fingernailed Reviews says: "After their last video The Only Exception I was hoping for something big and i got it :)"
Rock Music Mayhem says: "A band that has matured and polished their sound to near-perfection."
'Cause I'd Rather Waste My Life Pretending says: "It's upbeat with all the classic Paramore-esque rocking out."
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~20~RS~)
Comments
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Paramore just go from strength to strength, for me.
Very interesting single choice however, I personally would have called for "Turn It Off" or "Where The Lines Overlap" to be the next single, if one at all.
But I still find this a very good song, the angst and anger captured in her voice carries the song pretty well, it's always about Hayley really, isn't it? With that voice, I've had the pleasure of seeing them live and she really does give it her all.
4 stars from me.
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3 Stars? I'd give it four..
And that picture of Paramore above, looks like theyre on that tv about having more yellow and getting the picture, but not really...
And Fraser, I Dont know if you intended the cheesy pun;
'No one expected 'Airplanes' to take off in quite the way it has'
Made me laugh though :)
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Four stars from me too, but I've already expressed my opinion on this release... 'Turn It Off' is far superior.
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Hahaha, my favourite song off the album, unsurprisingly.
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So Fraser quotes the lovely , articulate Olivia for this PARAMORE review . What next ? For the review of the next JLS single review , will he be using lengthy quotations from Kutox ? Lol should be interesting .
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I like it, I feel like a celebrity ;)
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And so you should . Soon you will be as famous as Alexander Rybak and Morten Harkett ! Lol
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I can only dream!
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@ 5
Then I'll know I've made it ;)
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It's not as good as the other three, but I'm inclined to think it's still very much poppy. It's way more accessible than the 1st album, and it builds up brilliantly in the bridges. The lyrics are also a vast, vast improvement. As for the B.o.B thing? I love that track, and it's good to venture out a comfort zone and show some versatility yet stay true to yourself. And let's be honest, B.o.B isn't your typical rapper; his music has a more soul/rock edge to it; it's not a full blown crunk, heavy club banger is it? He couldn't be further from Flo Rida.
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I think the main thing regarding Airplanes , is that she is part of a brilliant song and that is the most important factor of all .
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I think this song is a fantastic example of the music Paramore produce. It has the relatively pop sound of Ignorance, but also this song is a lot like songs of their first album. We all know what will happen though? It will be passed through like most of their songs, and instead of them having a well deserved high charting single, it will be some crap like JLS.
4 and a half stars from me :)
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Over on the Scouting For Girls thread, I gave all the Mika singles a rating and averaged them out to show the quality of his single choices. He got 2.8 which isn't very good. Can Paramore fare better? (I've become obsessed!)
01. Pressure - 3.5 STARS
02. Emergency - 4 STARS
03. All We Know - 3 STARS
04. Misery Business - 4 STARS
05. Hallelujah - 5 STARS
06. Crushcrushcrush - 3 STARS
07. That's What You Get - 4 STARS
08. Decode - 4 STARS
09. Ignorance - 4 STARS
10. Brick By Boring Brick - 5 STARS
11. The Only Exception - 3.5 STARS
12. Careful - 3 STARS
Average Single Score: 3.8 STARS (10 more points than Mika).
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Hm, thats a pretty good system RandomEnigma, although for me it would be:
Pressure - 4 stars
Emergency - 3.5 stars
All We Know - 3 stars
Misery Business - 5 stars
Hallelujah - 4 stars
CrushCrushCrush - 4.5 stars
That's What You get - 4 stars
Decode - 5 stars
Ignorance - 5 stars
Brick By Boring Brick - 5 stars
The Only Exception - 5 stars
Careful - 4.5 stars
Giving them an average score of 4.3 stars.
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Pressure - 4.5 stars
Emergency - 3 stars
All We Know - 4 stars
Misery Business - 5 stars
Hallelujah - 3.5stars
CrushCrushCrush - 4.5 stars
That's What You get - 4.5 stars
Decode - 5 stars
Ignorance - 5 stars
Brick By Boring Brick - 5 stars
The Only Exception - 5 stars
Careful - 3.5 stars
Giving them an average of 4.8...wow
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how is there anyway to compare paramore and mika? pretty sure everyone will agree paramore win hands down... thought careful was the second best track on the new album actually, was surprised when it wasn't the second single..
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All I wanted is the best by far. That bit where to music just stops and she just yells always manages to send shivers down my spine...
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Yess, Adam completely agree with you, her voice is so good in that bit. I think they should have released All I Wanted instead of The Only Exception if they wanted a more ballad-y type. I just really don't get The Only Exception, everybody loves it but I just think it's a very average song and All I Wanted is much more powerful.
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I like the only exception - the lyrics are really spot on and I can relate, and the music is perfect for what it is saying too!
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I like this song, one of my faves from the album. 4 stars from me
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That said, it could have gotten too confusing, adding All I Wanted to the All Time Low, The Wanted mish mash.
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