Paramore singer Hayley Williams hopes no other young female in music experiences the “s***” she faced in the misogynistic emo scene.
The 34-year-old star was just a teenager when she started Paramore with her high schoolmates, and they went on to become one of the biggest bands to come out of the emo scene in the early 2000s before having mainstream success.
As the band release their six studio album, ‘This Is Why’, Hayley has recalled the misogyny she faced as a young woman in a male-dominated scene and being made to feel like she had to act like one of the boys.
In a candid interview for NME’s Big Read feature, Hayley said: “Oh, my God. I hope no young female experiences the s*** that I experienced. When we were teenagers, the way forward was to be tough all the time. Our entire scene was contributing to s****y treatment of women and anything that wasn’t masculine. We were out on Warped Tour, this little Fueled by Ramen band acting like a hardcore band on stage. It was like if I didn’t spit further, I felt like someone was going to throw me out.”
The ‘Misery Business’ singer went on to detail the bullying emo kids faced.
She said of the glamorisation of the scene: “It’s revisionist history on a less heavy topic. People look back with these rose-tinted glasses. They talk about the good and forget the rest. It was an alternative scene for a reason – it was weird. Those kids were bullied, that’s why so many guys in those bands wrote s****y songs about ex-girlfriends. I just get angry about the injustice of a bunch of people who were bullied, essentially creating a world where other people didn’t feel welcome.”
Paramore felt a lot of pressure to make ‘This Is Why’ the best possible record because they’ve got such a big fanbase now.
Hayley said: “We were grounded and feeling confident in one aspect of our lives and we were in such a safe bubble. Then we knew we were going to make something that wasn’t in that safe bubble and that was terrifying. The expectation is the main thing that would slow us down. There’s a lot more people waiting than there was the last time we did this.”
As for the future of the group, Hayley joked that she wants them all to live together “on a commune”.
She said: “I just hope that we’re making music together. I can’t see myself caring about us being the biggest and baddest. It’s more about the quality of what we make and our connection to each other. I honestly would be happy if we all just lived on a commune together.”
And bandmate Zac Farro – who completes the line-up with 32-year-old guitarist Taylor York – agreed, insisting their friendship is “the biggest achievement”.
The 32-year-old drummer added: “I think beyond all this, my hope would be to see the three of us and our families together still being friends. That’s the biggest achievement. I like playing shows and making records: those are amazing milestones. But our friendship is the most remarkable one.”