Spin recently had the privilege of listening to six tracks of the forthcoming Paramore album 'Brand New Eyes'. Here are their thoughts, track by track, from the article:
"Playing God":
When Hayley Williams is pissed off…take cover! Over spiky electric guitar riffs, the siren seems to take aim at her own group: "You don't deserve a point of view, if the only thing you see is you / Next time you point a finger, point it to the mirror!" Farro soon joins the chant, and the song caps with the two locked in a heated call-and-response. "This is your last chance," screams Williams. "I'll point you to the mirror!" replies Farro.
"Turn It Off":
This slow acoustic song is a meditation on the trials of religious belief, with Williams at her most exposed. "I scraped my knees when I was praying and found a demon / It's getting hard to believe in anything / I'm seeing everyone I looked up to break and bending," she confesses, in a soft conversational tone, while a guitar plays gently alongside. "The worst part is before you get any better you hit the bottom / But in the free fall, I realized I'm better off when I hit the bottom."
"The Only Exception":
Sounds like somebody's been listening to Coldplay! This anthem is about finding and understanding love after spending a lifetime avoiding it, and Williams and Co. deliver the message with a newfound tenderness. "Maybe I know somewhere deep in my soul where love never lasts," she sings over acoustic strums. "Up until now I was convinced I was happy being alone / But you are the only exception."
"Brick By Boring Brick":
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Move over Green Day, Paramore have their own epic. On this five-minute-plus track—the fivesome's most expansive and accomplished yet—Williams sings a narrative about a fallen fairytale princess, nodding to her own semi-charmed rock-star life. "Keep your feet on the ground / When your head's in the clouds," she spits, and then the full band chimes in: "Ba da da ba da dada." Prepare to sing along.
"Where the Lines Overlap":
This stadium-eyeing rocker is a celebration of the band's triumph over setbacks and squabbles. "No one is as lucky as us! / I've never been happier," Williams declares. "I get the feeling that if I sang it loud enough, you'd sing it back to me!" Navigating numerous stops and starts, Paramore closes with the full-band chant, "No one's as lucky as us!" They might be right.
"Ignorance":
Williams told SPIN this tune is about feeling "judged, singled out, and betrayed" by her bandmates. "Ignorance is your new best friend / You treat me just like a stranger / I guess I'll be on my way out," she sings over gritty, nü-metal guitars. The song is the album's first single, and was released earlier this summer. Listen here.
