Paramore Conspiracy Theories

Josh's Side Of The Story

As I was looking through what seemed to be a mock Wikipedia page about Josh (I was doing research on Paramore) I scrolled down and the comments section of the article (which for most articles is empty 99.9% of the time) and it had one comment. The comment was talking about a video Josh did a long time ago, and had a link. I figured that this was posted a while ago, the video was probably taken down, but I was curious so I clicked on the link, and it worked. It brought me to a video, but in the side bar I immediately noticed a Josh solo song that I hadn't heard before.

I should preface this by saying that in 2007 and 2008 both Josh and Zac each released a handful of solo songs on MySpace while they were still in Paramore. I would guess the bandmates had no problems with this, considering Hayley is featured on one of the tracks, a track you've all probably heard of called "Plane Crash Dreams feat. Hayley Williams." These songs are all YouTube now.

This song I found that I had never heard was called 'So Much More'. As I listened to it, I found the lyrics really strange, Josh was singing quietly so I wasn't sure if I was hearing them right either. I read through the comments and found the lyrics, and also a handful of comments saying that the song seemed to be from the perspective of the male in the Paramore song 'Misery Business'. I will present these lyrics and the song to you now, and will analyze them one at a time.

https://youtu.be/1eKTzgAN98g

Lyrics:

I am so much more than this dirty whore you see in me

You are just the same, but you never blame yourself for anything

Darling I told you once before that I'm a sinner (sinner)

Darling I told you once before that I'm a liar, a cheater, not a friend

All those who live to love

I am so much more than this dirty whore you see in me

You are just the same, but you never blame yourself for anything

You are just the same

You are just the same

So let's break these lyrics down one by one (repeated lyrics will only be done once):

"I am so much more than this dirty whore you see in me"

Obviously this is the lyric that draws the most speculation to the song being related to Misery Business, since Miz Biz has the classic line: "once a whore you're nothing more." Obviously, this lyric has always been interpreted as an insult to the female of the song (nicknamed 'Miss Misery'), but this is just one of a couple lyrics of misery business that could actually be taken as Hayley scolding the male in the song for falling under Miss Misery's spell in the first place. Now, what does this mean? Essentially, people think it's him telling Hayley that he's not the person he was then, and that he's changed, but she can't see that, which leads into the next lyric:

"You are just the same, but you never blame yourself for anything"

This lyric seems to suggest that it is actually Hayley who has stayed the same, that she's stuck in the past and won't let go of what Josh did, even though it's been a long time since it happened. The lyric also says that she'll never blame herself for anything, so she doesn't like to accept blame when she makes mistakes, but is quick to point out faults in other people. Alternatively, the song was written in 2008, so if the lyric in Misery Business (2007) is scolding Josh for falling under Miss Misery's spell, could this lyric be cursing Hayley for falling under someone's spell? Is this lyric saying that she made the same mistake he did, but won't take responsibility for it? And who could this person Hayley fell for be? (As if it isn't obvious).

"Darling I told you once before that I'm a sinner (sinner)"

In this lyric, Josh admits that he's a sinner. Now, in the (more common) story behind Misery Business, Hayley says that Miss Misery used sex to manipulate the guy she loved. If Josh is indeed the guy, that would mean he slept with, and possibly even lost his virginity to Miss Misery. In the Christian religion, it is a sin to have sex before your married. As we know from the countless songs on Brand New Eyes, Hayley viewed Josh as him thinking he was perfect and being an overly strict and judgmental Christian. Perhaps this lyric is Josh saying that he's not really like that, and he doesn't think of himself as perfect. This would make sense considering Josh Farro has said in the past that he was overly-vilified on Brand New Eyes by Hayley, perhaps Hayley stretched the truth about how bad he really was?

"Darling I told you once before that I'm a liar, a cheater, not a friend"

This lyric seems like an extension of the previous one, in which Josh is clarifying that he never claimed to be perfect. He says he's a liar and a cheater and he's not a friend, why this is so important is because there are songs (Never Let This Go, Miracle, For A Pessimist I'm Pretty Optimistic) from Paramore's first two albums that seem to hint at someone wronging Hayley. Not cheating though, it seems like she's saying that they shutdown on her, and as we all know Josh Farro is very good at shutting down emotionally. The songs sound like her lashing out at this person for shutting down on her, and maybe this song is Josh saying that he never promised to be the perfect boyfriend?

"All those who live to love"

This lyric seems to be a jab at people who put love at the center of their lives, or who have a very idealistic view of love. Perhaps suggesting that Hayley's expectations of love were too high, and Josh couldn't live up to them, but that he shouldn't be blamed for that because he tried. People who have witnessed damaged or broken relationships as a child, tend to have a more idealistic view of love. I can attest to this, because seeing my parents terrible marriage has always made feel that I never wanted to have a marriage like that, and for as long as I can remember I've dreamed of having the perfect husband, which is unrealistic because no person/relationship is perfect.

This song really does seem like a response to all of the songs Hayley had written about him up to that point. All of Hayley's songs seem to suggest that Josh was shutting down on her emotionally and she couldn't handle it, although her songs take on a sarcastic, teasing tone, whereas this song seems like a serious rebuttal. In this song, Josh seems to admit that he's not perfect and he never tried to be, and that he is not totally to blame for the end of their relationship, because he just couldn't live up to Hayley's unrealistic expectations of love.

That's my conspiracy on whether or not this song is Josh telling his side of the Joshayley story. I hope you guys liked it, it's the last one for a while unfortunately. I also wanna say thank you for the support I've received the last few days, you guys are amazing and I love you all. - H