Paramore - This Is Why (February 10, 2023) Album • Page 82

What if it objectively has hooks but does not hook you?

 

Then the hook has no barb.

 

Then you're a slippery eel.

 

I'm not saying never judge records after one listen. Everyone does that. I do it all the time. Your example on the You Me At Six and Pierce The Veil records is perfectly legitimate.

It's the "I can't instantly recall the melodies" comment that I see all the time on Twitter and other places, as if it means much. Often months down the line too; people say "I listened to it once and I can't remember any of the hooks". It's a nonsense. People are so addicted to the instant take that they listen to an album once, often through a phone or a laptop whilst reading or doing something else, and then think that because they can't instantly sing a whole chorus from it that it's therefore not very good. I frequently get to the end of an album on a first listen that I've really enjoyed and still find myself struggling to recall more than one melody.

So yeah...anyone can make an early judgement on an album; I just can't be done with that as a throwaway criticism. It's not anyone in this thread though. I've listened to this album three times today and I'm not particularly enamoured with it.

 

this album is great my friends

 

I am representing the “I don’t really like Paramore but After Laughter was cool” constituency when I say this album is not for me. But After Laughter is still cool.

 

It’s not different enough from AL for me to understand how anyone who likes that album can dislike this one

 

That was the closest I came to opening my phone to post mid-listen last night hahah, the syncopation that kicks that song off is bananas. You really think when those drums come in it’s gonna be something else entirely

 

album is full of great bridges but i wanted to single out "crave"'s:

any second
feel the present,
future,
and the past connecting

 

also as expected "thick skull" could've been on the most recent failure album. btw i fucking love it when they indulge their failure influence

 

Ok, let me flip, this: have you ever heard a song and gone, "holy shit that chorus?"*

My interpretation of when people say something like "I can't remember any of the hooks" is that they're saying they didn't get that feeling. Maybe that's me being charitable because I do dislike other "quick/hot takes" culture stuff as well, but I actually kinda think there's a difference when listening to music that is, by and large, built around being catchy sing-a-long songs, and the difference in hearing, I dunno a Dua Lipa chorus, and hearing something that isn't grabbing you, I do sort of get. It's one of my bigger bones with a lot of recent pop-punk bands, I don't think the hooks are as good, the choruses aren't as strong, and then when I hear a band do it well, it's like "oh, yeah that's what was missing."

I think this is just a more generalized thought, and I guess it'll probably end right back around subjectivity, etc. etc., and I do agree with the overall thesis that people half listen to something half a time and then decide it's the worst thing (or best?) thing ever. And I'm thinking about that through the context of how some of us also do probably have a pretty tuned in sense of what we like or don't like and our reaction to the art.

*("This is Why" has a massive one of those moments imo.)

 

the chorus to This Is Why is perpetually stuck in my head

 

I’m a big fan of AL and this but they’re pretty different imo

 

Wait, has she really been saying that?

 

I really did not expect this to be so divisive. On the first few listens, it sounds like a nice blend of PFA and AL, with some Brand New Eyes thrown in.

 

discog run continues, which caused me to learn that taylor plays drums on all the singles club stuff, which reminded me of when in the zane lowe interview he said each member of the band is a drummer first, and thinking that is the best possible prism through which to listen to their music

 

Yep haha

 

I know one thing and that is that Running Out of Time is a fucking jam

 

I can easily see why this doesn't grab someone as much as their past work. I love this record but I find it to be their least accessible for some reason. It doesn't have much of the poppiness of After Laughter for example. I think it contains plenty of hooks but the catchiness is executed in a much different way this time. I don't know how to explain. There's a lot of weirdness in not only Taylor's guitar playing, but Hayley's performance at times, the chord progressions, sometimes even the song structures themselves.

 

if y'all fuckin rank today i swear to god

 

i'll rank every paramore song and i won't apologize for what happens

 

That's... strange.

 

There’s going to be people who love this record and people who find it just okay and people who dislike it, which is all fine. Music is subjective, not everyone likes the same thing. Also, not that anyone was outright saying this, but not liking this album doesn’t make you less of a Paramore fan, maybe the album will grow on you or if it doesn’t, there’s always the next album cycle or past albums to listen to.

tl;dr - music is subjective and everyone’s opinions on the record are valid