Track: 02

“I think all of us, at some point early on in our lives, knew that we wanted to create music. We are still really young and sometimes we do feel like we have to prove we're as great as all the rest of the bands -old and young. But we just do what we love and people seem to be really excited about it.” - Hayley Williams, lead singer of Paramore.

So the other day I was wearing my Paramore shirt that my brother got me for my birthday. The shirt read
'Paramore
It's Worth Fighting For'
One of my friends notices this, and tells me that she doesn't believe that. She doesn't think Paramore is worth fighting for.
Now normally this wouldn't have bothered me, because everyone has their own tastes and their own reasons for disliking something. But when I asked her why, my friend told me that Paramore was selling out their identity as a band and weren't "as good as they were before."

So I did my research and while yes, some people believe that Paramore is somewhat mainstream with their singles 'crushcrushcrush' and 'Misery Business,' they wouldn't go as far as say they were sellouts.

I'll agree that some singles from all three albums have a mainstream feel to them, but I struggle to grasp where my friend got her idea from.

Paramore's first album 'All We Know Is Falling' established them as a rock band, although they don't practice a lot of "bad" habits other rock bands do. The members of Paramore establish themselves as Christian, but deny the "Christian Rock" label. When interviewed on Fuse's Total Access: Paramore, Hayley Williams talks about their tradition of praying before shows, and admits regretting the physical lack of church time while on tour.

From the very beginning, Hayley Williams, along with Josh and Zac Farro, Taylor York, and Jeremy Davis have written and performed songs that have a meaning. For them, it's not 'sex, drugs, and rock and roll.' Their lyrics have expressed their feelings on anything from their personal lives to just hanging out with friends.
In the Fuse interview, Hayley Williams explained how the first Paramore album, All We Know Was Falling was based mostly on her and the band's feelings to losing one of their band members (Jeremy Davis) early on because of 'personal reasons'. The song 'All We Know' was written in his honor, later becoming the title for the album. Williams also expressed herself in the 2009 single from Brand New Eyes, "Ignorance." She says that the song was just her side of the story with what happened during her relationship with Josh Farro.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that Paramore has been pretty consistant. They tend to play around with different styles of music, they do keep their original sound in.
In my opinion, Paramore hasn't sold out. They haven't changed just to please the masses, generating catchy pop tunes to be played constantly on the radio.
So far Paramore's stayed true to who they are and what they want to come across to other people as.

If you agree with my friend about Paramore selling out, feel free.
If you still haven't made up your mind yet, that's okay too. Don't be too hasty and maybe do a little more research before you pick a side.

Peace*

PS - This has been on my mind since it happened (two hours ago) and I still feel bad.
Dude, I really wish I could apologize again but there's nothing I can really say anymore.
"Don't bide your time
'Cause it is almost over
And I know you're down
And I'll see you around" - I'm Sorry, Blink182