Hayley Williams says her new solo project will inspire more "transparent lyrics" and "visceral feelings" in Paramore’s next record.
The ‘Misery Business’ hitmaker released the lead single, ‘Simmer’, from her upcoming project, ‘Petals for Armor’, on Wednesday (22.01.20) and opened up about the "painful and "grotesque" experience which inspired her new material.
The 31-year-old singer visited a "woo woo witch doctor" and had a "creepy" vision of flowers growing out of her body.
She recalled: "A while ago, I went to this cranial-sacral masseuse.
"Maybe a lot of people might consider that a kind of woo woo witch doctor but I’ll take any help I can get.
"I was laying on her table and I started having these weirdly creepy visions of flowers growing out of me – and not in a beautiful way, it was very painful and very grotesque but I kind of realised in that moment there was a lot that was trying so hard to grow out of me and it was going to hurt to do it."
The ‘Daydreaming’ singer, who confessed that she and her bandmates were overdue a break, says that she wouldn’t have been able to have "access to this stuff" if the ‘Playing God’ rockers – whose last studio album was 2017’s ‘After Laughter’ – didn’t "pause" for a bit.
She told Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1: "I was really excited about the band taking time off.
"It kind of came to a point where it was like, ‘What’s it like taking time off without losing a member? Let’s try it!’
"I do believe when it’s time for us to make the next Paramore record there will be just as transparent lyrics and hopefully really visceral feelings that come across.
"I wouldn’t have had access to this stuff if we didn’t just pause and get quiet for a minute."
Hayley says ‘Simmer’ contains the "mantra" to "stay soft in a really, really hard world" and allow "pain" to come and go freely, and admitted being "vulnerable" is the best way for her to "protect herself".
Explaining the intense and raw lyrics on the track, she shared: "I think, for me, it’s somewhat of a mantra to try and stay soft in a really, really hard world and feel pain and let all of it come to you and try and put out something that can redeem it all, even if it’s ugly at first.
"The lyric is ‘wrap yourself in petals for armor’ cos I kept feeling like the way for me to protect myself best is to be vulnerable and be OK with having a lot of pain at certain times and also feeling a lot of joy at certain times.
"As long as I’m staying soft to those things and I’m open to letting those things in and out of me then I actually can survive the world a lot easier than if I stay hard and with my fists up all the time."
‘Petals for Armor’ is released on May 8.
Hayley Williams’ solo project will inspire Paramore’s next record
