Paramore have surprised fans in Bakersfield, California by playing Misery Business live for the first time in over four years.
Paramore 'retired' their 2007 mainstream breakthrough hit in 2018 due to what some fans and vocalist Hayley Williams herself believe to be problematic lyrics.
During the Misery Business performance, Williams reflected on why they were bringing the song out of 'retirement', telling the crowd "Four years ago, we said we were gonna retire this song for a little while, and I guess technically we did, but what we did not know was that just about five minutes after I got cancelled for saying the word ‘whore’ in a song, all of TikTok decided that it was ok. Make it make sense."
"I remember a time when we had a MySpace and we were still a really small band. We were really small. We hadn’t even put out this song and we had noticed that kids were calling themselves ‘Parawhores’. We were like, ‘Eugh, that’s weird!’ But I guess what I’m trying to say is, it’s a word, and if you’re cool you won’t call a woman a whore because that’s bullshit."
“We can all learn from ourselves, right? Just for the record, 90% of you said ‘whore’ tonight. That’s all I’m gonna say – I’m not gonna preach about it. I’m just gonna say thank you for being nostalgic about this because this is one of the coolest moments of our show and it’s very nice to feel like there’s a reason to bring it back that’s positive.”
Watch the full Misery Business performance which features a lucky fan named Brandi leading the final chorus at the invitation of Williams.
The 18-song setlist for the show also featured the first live performance of their new single This Is Why, it also interestingly featured one of Williams' solo singles Simmer. Watch the peformance of This Is Why below.
The beloved Nashville-based trio of Zac Farro, Hayley Williams & Taylor York recently returned from their hiatus - and the global pandemic - with This Is Why, one of the best songs of their already impressive repertoire.
Entering back into a world - and cultural landscape - very different from the one they last participated in, Paramore have returned with a song about exactly that. This Is Why is a deliciously infectious Paramore earworm for the post-truth world.
Speaking about the song, Williams says:
“This Is Why was the very last song we wrote for the album. To be honest, I was so tired of writing lyrics but Taylor convinced Zac and I both that we should work on this last idea. What came out of it was the title track for the whole album. It summarizes the plethora of ridiculous emotions, the rollercoaster of being alive in 2022, having survived even just the last 3 or 4 years. You’d think after a global pandemic of fucking biblical proportions and the impending doom of a dying planet, that humans would have found it deep within themselves to be kinder or more empathetic or something.”
This Is Why arrives accompanied by a video directed by Turnstile’s Brendan Yates. This Is Why was filmed in Malibu, California last month. Speaking on the video and collaboration, Williams says:
“It was so rad working with Brendan. I’ve known the Turnstile guys for a little while and was so psyched to have our worlds collide in this way. There’s a cool kinship between the way our bands do things... Hopefully we will get to play shows with them at some point.”
In what’s widely recognized as one of the most exciting musical returns of the year, the band have also announced the release of their long-awaited sixth studio album, This is Why, for February 10th 2023 on Atlantic Records.
Recorded in Los Angeles, California with long-time collaborator Carlos de la Garza, the album features 10 new Paramore songs with cover art shot by Zachary Gray.
Pre-order This is Why
When Paramore revealed they were recording together in January 2022 the response from music fans around the world was immediate and celebratory. In the time since the Grammy-winning, ARIA-certified Platinum band released their last album and second ARIA Top 5 debut, After Laughter - and Hayley Williams unveiled two lauded solo albums - Paramore have become more popular than ever. Over the last few years Paramore’s influence and popularity has snowballed, as the age of streaming organically propelled them into a position as one of the world’s biggest, most culturally compelling rock bands. For the band, who formed as teenagers in Tennessee, their 20-year trajectory has seen them grow from youthful outsiders to pop culture icons, permeating the musical landscape by inspiring a new generation of musical talent.
Listen To Paramore
