Hayley Williams.Photo:Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty
Rosalind O’Connor/NBC via Getty
Hayley Williamsis getting real aboutParamore’s past.
In anew interview withRolling Stone, the Paramore frontwoman opened up about getting the band back together to make and release last year’sThis Is Why— the trio’s first album since 2017’sAfter Laughter.
“We grew up knowing all the worst parts of each other, and we still love each other,” Williams, 34, told the outlet. “I mean, look at all the s— we’ve been through. Our band has essentially broken up a million times. And Zac [Farro], we found each other again."
She added, “That keeps me going. It also keeps me excited to think: Who knew we would get here? What the f— might happen for another 20 years? We don’t know.”
Paramore.Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The New Yorker
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The New Yorker
While creatingAfter Laughter, Williams said she felt “disconnected” from herself and in “a lot of emotional pain.”
She was later diagnosed with depression and “really tried to take care” of herself: “People talk about anger and depression being so related because depression is like when you turn your anger inwards. And I think that there’s bits of that anger mixed with bits of this real understanding of how frustrating it can feel to wake up with depression.”
Hayley Williams performs in Phoenix in February 2023.Aaron J. Thornton/WireImage
Aaron J. Thornton/WireImage
Williams also opened up about the band’s bond after all these years.
“Somehow, in our thirties, we’ve still maintained the ability to tap into the 11, 12 and 13-year-olds that we each were when we met. We might still bicker in the studio, we might still be intimidated to show someone an idea, but also we make each other better.”
Williams concluded, “For everything we’ve been through, it almost feels like as soon as Zac rejoined the band after six years of being away from us, not only did we get our guy back, we got ourselves back. We got a part of our childhood back. This thing that made us who we were, we got it back. And it’s such a superpower when we’re together.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Williams recalled learning Paramore had won its first Grammy for “Ain’t It Fun” from her good friendTaylor Swift.
Taylor Swift and Hayley Williams in Nashville in November 2010.Rick Diamond/Getty
Rick Diamond/Getty
“I was in Europe when I found out that we got nominated — could not believe it, had not sought to worry about whether we wouldn’t be nominated, or we would be,” Williams said. “And then when we won it, we didn’t go. I got a text from Taylor Swift and [band mate] Taylor York in the same 30 seconds. Taylor, she just texted me a bunch of capital letters, like ‘[random noises] so excited for you!’ I was so shocked.”
During a recent appearance onThe Tonight Show, Williams also told Fallon that Swift, 33, became her “first industry friend” — thanks to her mom, Andrea.
“We were at some Grammy party — it was actually Timbaland’s Grammy party. Huge,” she continued. “I was very nervous, but a woman came up to me and she said, ‘I’m Taylor Swift’s mom and, you know, Taylor doesn’t have a lot of friends her age that do music. And I would love to, like, you know, introduce you guys or get your number.'”
source: people.com
