Hayley Williams - Petals for Armor (May 8, 2020) Album • Page 3

I wonder if it’s meant to be read as “exchanging” Petals For Armor or “using” Petals For Armor. I like the idea of exchanging something aesthetically pleasing for something more practical but I also like the idea of using something beautiful as protection

then again maybe I’m thinking too hard about it and it’s just a cool name but I think Hayley would definitely put a lot of thought into something like this. I’m so excited

 

I’d argue using because that represents fragility and maybe also naivety? Idk you got me overthinking now too

 

Hayley Williams beatdown record incoming.

 

Hoping she just drops a whole record on the 22nd obviously but it’ll probably be a single. Definitely think Petals For Armor is the name of the project, not the single or the record, but who knows.

anyway, gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme

 

Idk if she’d make a whole insta named after a single or album tbf. Gonna say it’s the entire project

 

“Somewhere weakness is our strength, and I’ll die searching for it.”

I think she has always known femininity and softness is her true self, but is now finally confident enough to stand on her own and give that artist’s statement. Petals for armor. I really can’t wait.

 

I have nothing of substance to share but want to join the conversation.
I need this in my life right now. Been a rough few months and hearing Hayley again is going to be weirdly comforting?

 

Reminding others about this quote from the l'odet article:

I was on the table and I had a lot of thoughts about my wedding. I remembered some stuff that I just hadn’t remembered before — just how uncomfortable I felt in that dress and things that I so quickly turned off because I wanted it so badly to work out. And then later in the session I had this vision of all of these flowers growing out of me. My cynical side immediately took it and was like, “Well, the only way that happens is if you’re dead, you’re in the ground, and somebody put some pretty flowers there.” But then this new side that I’d never had access to, swiftly flew in and batted that away and said, “No. That’s you. This is now. This is what’s happening right now and this is what you’ve been digging around in the dirt for during the last year. This beauty and femininity and new strength is going to come out of you.” And I chose to hold onto it.

I swear to god I’m there with my eyes closed and we’re at the end of the session. I haven’t spoken a word of any of this to her. She goes, “Alright, we’re done with the session.” You know, just really calm whispering. She said, “Thank you so much for seeing me today. You’re surrounded by flowers.” I was like, “What the fuck!!?”. I still didn’t say anything, and she left the room. I took the cover off my eyes and she had put rose petals all over me, like all around. They smelled amazing. I don’t even know if that was some subconscious thing I took in, and I don’t really care, because that vision has been so vivid to me over the last year or so. I’ve picked up a lot of flowers for my house since then. I just keep them around me all the time to remind me that I’m moving into femininity and strength and then femininity and aloneness — you know, that power of being self-sufficient, but being soft too, and open.

 

I hope its a k-pop album

(I don't fully understand why she needs to go solo, all of their songs are already from her point of view. but I'm trying to be excited about it)

 

I think that’s why a lot of us are assuming it’ll be a different sound from Paramore. Guess we’ll see!

 

I don't really understand the point you're making about "needing" to go solo. Many lead singers in bands have side projects - it's not just about lyrics. Paramore is a collaborative project; her writing music on her own apart from the band that is Paramore does not seem strange. Especially since she wrote her own music before Paramore, and I imagine has done some things herself even while in Paramore. She said she wrote it with the help of friends and we don't fully understand who that is just yet - could include Taylor and Zac, but I imagine includes others. Songwriting is a complex process and who are we to judge how Hayley sees this new part of herself?

 

I honestly can't imagine the pressure being in a band like this where people love you sooo strongly and following something that was as beloved by fans and critically adored as After Laughter. Can't blame her for wanting to just reset with something that has a little bit less expectation/weight behind it.

 

Oh god no. I'd rather hear a ska album.

I hate ska, by the way.

 

I thought of this, too, when Petals for Armor was just surfacing!

 

Perhaps she wanted to make another Paramore album right away but Zac and Taylor weren't ready/wanted a break/had other commitments... or it just isn't that deep and she simply needed another music outlet. I imagine it must be liberating to put out something that isn't tied to the band too.

 

Not that I’d ever turn down new Paramore, but I’m kind of glad she’s doing something like this. I have to imagine for her to start up a project outside of Paramore, she has to feel like she has a statement to make, and that excites me.

 

I honestly hope she goes with something outta left field

Paramore has essentially been the Hayley Williams show for awhile now anyways (not a complaint btw), so After Laughter 2.0 wouldn't really scratch that solo itch for me personally

She's too talented to put out anything bad anyways so this is bound to be fantastic

 

I know you're not saying it as a complaint but I still feel like that's doing a disservice to the others, especially Taylor. He's put in a lot of work into the band I feel.

 

Calling this iteration of Paramore “the Hayley Williams show” really discredits Zac and Taylor. Hayley has said countless times, if it weren’t for Taylor, Paramore probably still wouldn’t be around. And Zac has been a lot more involved in the songwriting process as well, he was credited as a writer for several songs on AL.

Even for the S/T, Taylor was a major part of writing that album for them.

 

I feel like Hayley said that After Laughter was hugely driven by Taylor. That he had a vision for the album and made it all come together or some such.

 

Taylor has been a huge musical co-writer since BNE and contributed to songs even before being an official member. He also produced AL. It really is not the Hayley Williams show and if you saw them on the tour cycle for AL I don’t know how that could have been made clearer.

 

I guess people get hung up on who writes the lyrics as if that’s the only piece that denotes authorship.

 

Taylor's guitar parts on AL are really the focus point of the album for me. They stick out so much and really mesh just so well. damn guesss i'm listening to After Laughter now.

 

The arrangements on AL are so damn tight. They are definitely the product of intense and thoughtful collaboration.

 

I know that's not the case here and I don't want anyone to think that I think that this applies to them, but I always see that "*band* is just the *lead singer* show" comment when a former rock band goes into poppier territory and that seems to almost always boil down to something like "I don't like this thing but I don't want to say it's because it's poppy" or because they "don't hear real instruments, so it's all about the singer now". It's always felt like such a dismissive and reductive statement to make, especially in a situation like this where Paramore as a band just wouldn't exist anymore without Taylor