Paramore Conspiracy Theories

After Laughter: 7/10

Hello All! 

Great News: I don't totally hate AL!

There is some amazing moments on this record, however there are some glaring failures. 

I think my biggest problem is that they picked the wrong singles for this album. HT and TYS are both good, but songs like Caught In The Middle (my favorite!), Pool, Rose Colored Boy, 26, Tell Me How, and Fake Happy are incredible! And any of them are single worthy, in my opinion more so that HT and TYS.

Hard Times, Told You So, Forgiveness, and Grudges weren't my favorites, but all still good, just a bit lackluster compared to the great tracks on the record. 

No Friend and Idle (Idol?) Worship, are failures. Complete and utter failures, and frankly Paramore should be ashamed they let those on the album. And if that seems harsh to you, it's because it is. Those songs deserve no praise and will get none from me. 

Overall there are some bright moments, it's just that failures on this album are such big failures it takes away from the overall quality. Vocally I do not think this album is as strong as past albums, in a lot of songs it feels like Hayley is struggling to get a note out, but in others (like TYS), she sounds perfectly incredible. I don't know what that's about, it kind of bothers me, but I can look past it for the most part. 

I'm not gonna lie, I listened to this Wednesday night because it was leaked and my friend somehow got the link and sent it to me. But I didn't wanna mention it until release day, and that's because I have more respect for Paramore than to leak a leak, y'know? But since info about the leak is coming out and it's pretty evident at this point, might as well. 

I got some inklings from a couple songs. I thought 26 was a message from current Hayley to then 26 year old Hayley who was dealing with personal troubles at the time, telling her to hold on and keep hope. I think Pool is about taking someone back and not really knowing why you keep doing it, *cough* Chad *cough*.  And Tell Me How is about losing a friend and not knowing how to really feel about them or your past with them anymore, which I think is obviously about Jeremy.

As I mentioned my favorite is Caught In The Middle. The second it started I loved it. I love the melody, the lyrics, the meaning, everything! I hope it's the next single, and if it's not and it gets snubbed for one of the just okay songs, I'm gonna be legitimately pissed off. 

It took me a few listens to really like Hard Times, but that won't happen with No Friend or Idle Worship. No friend has none of Hayley's vocals (seriously what the fuck?), it's full of a whisper tone male voice seemingly doing spoken word. I shouldn't even have to explain why that's bad, anyone who doesn't know why it is frankly is a fucking moron. And Idle Worship isn't as bad as No Friend, it just has a weird flow to it, like the melody of the lyrics and the music don't match. 

Overall this is kind of a so/so album. There are some great moments, and some really terrible moments. I'm just glad I don't totally hate it. 

Tell me your opinion in the comments. Is this your new favorite pmore album? What's your fav song? I wanna hear all about it! - H