Entertainment

Hayley Williams Is A Resilient Rocker

by Caitlyn Callegari

I don't know about you, but I've been worshiping at the altar of Hayley Williams for quite some time now. Not only is she vocally #blessed and sports an iconic, bad ass hair do' (no matter the color), she's a girl who has lead a remarkably successful band from the time she was a teenager. While comparisons to Gwen Stefani abound, and really, that's not the worst thing to be likened to, Williams is inherently her own person. Her sound, her attitude, and her dedication to her work is something inherently unique to the twenty five year old and it's what has kept her in the game for so long. It says a lot about a singer and a band as a whole, that they can carry their fans with them throughout the different stages of their lives and still make their music sound like them, only transformed and more mature, like they themselves are.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone , Williams divulged on the period of time (we can aptly call it the dark days) when Paramore was almost no more. She explained, "I thought, 'Well, maybe it's like the end of Stand by Me. Not everything lasts forever. I'll find something else that I'm good at." On point references aside, I'm glad Williams and the rest of the band stuck with what they were definitely good at, which is making music that I can listen to on repeat until my ears bleed. When referring to the band's epic comeback with the single "Ain't It Fun" and their current Monumentour, Williams said, "I absolutely feel vindicated. For all the people who believed in us, we're saying, 'You haven't gotten tattoos of our lyrics for nothing. We're going to keep going.'" A wise decision by the band, because with a connection to fans that tangible, it'd be a pity to let it fizzle out.

But since the split, Williams has not only gotten older but wiser, too. She talks to Rolling Stone about how she and the band aren't as impulsive as they once were and that they're a lot more conscious of their actions. She sites her stretching before shows and the guys, Taylor and Jeremy, wrapping their ankles as a sure sign of experience and maturity. Having been to many a Paramore concert myself, I'm just glad no one has lost a limb from the way they go all out on stage. The fact that they're still able to sing and play while jumping about is in and of itself a true feat. No matter what they need to do prep before shows now, or their mental process that keeps them in check despite hardships like losing two band members, I just hope that they'll keep coming back.