Paramore - Re: This Is Why Review
This album is an amalgamation of tempestuous sounds, some which work better than others.
On 6th October, Paramore released ‘Re: This Is Why’, an album of reworked and remixed songs from their album ‘This Is Why’ released earlier this year. In this homage to those they’ve been influenced by, as well as those that have cited them as influence, Paramore’s latest songs of ‘disdain, distrust and sobering self-examination’ are reimagined in kaleidoscopic fashion, in a daring, genre-bending collision that roars as much as it whimpers.
‘Why?’ Hayley demands several times, opening the remix of ‘This Is Why’ by Foals, who kick off the show here with a decadent synth overlay, foreshadowing the rest of the project: fun, self-indulgent, expression for expression’s sake. That’s why. Next is The Linda Linda’s cover of ‘The News’, which again begins with Hayley’s prowling vocals. The teenaged band, who have just finished 12 shows accompanying Paramore on their North American tour, inject heavier guitars to the already spunky chorus. The greatest surprise is the bridge, in which half the lyrics are Spanish - a genius interplay between culture and meaning that speaks to the globality of the message the song stands for: ‘exploitative, performative, informative and we don’t know the half of it…’
The two remixes of ‘Running Out Of Time’, a single currently in the US Alternative Top 20, fail to hit the same mark. Panda Bear’s remix involves new lyrics bolstered by gasps and hums but too many elements fight for the limelight. Zane Lowe’s remix has a futuristic edge, but the layers add a shrillness that isn’t particularly enjoyable, reaching into the darker, stickier edges of the club scene.
Wet Leg’s cover of ‘C’est Comme Ça’ follows and instantly unties the knots of the previous tracks, marking itself not only as a stand-out on this album, but potentially one for the band’s own discography. The song’s satirical, deadpan lyricism is made for Wet Leg, who add contrapuntal embellishments to the verses and delirious laughter between bridge and chorus. They end with an enthralling cacophony of outraged instruments and cheers. A perfect pocket of sound.
The middle section of the album is apexed by Remi Wolf’s reworking of ‘You First’, the opening track on their 2023 setlist. The combination of her pessimistic lyricism (‘everyone is bad, so why are you a pacifist?’) with an imaginative, upbeat pulse beneath the murder-movie metaphor makes it unsurprisingly the album’s most listened-to track on Spotify so far. I can’t get enough. However, Remi’s song is cushioned by two lacklustre tracks, the first being DOMi & JD BECK’s re-working of ‘Big Man Little Dignity’. There is something to appreciate in the jazzy freneticism, but in more serious moments the derangement detracts from the societal commentary of the original. Bartees Strange re-works ‘Figure 8’ into a synth-heavy, ballad-like track; the last minute is softer but this change is choppy and the two halves fight, rather than compliment, each other, though they’re both decent in isolation.
The tail end of the album slows pace dramatically. Romy’s re-working of ‘Liar’ is heart-wrenching, her voice colliding with Hayley’s harmonically, silky and emotional. Claud’s cover of ‘Crave’ is simplistic but hits the mark, intensifying the sweet humility of the lyrics. Julien Baker (singer and third party of internet sensation ‘Boy Genius’) covers ‘Thick Skull’, originally a gritty, sneering tale with darkly evocative imagery depicting sexist media villainization. It’s good, but not great. Julien’s version is over a minute longer and loses the force of symbolic direction. Her voice tackles high notes and a fuzzy guitar builds atmospheric depth but the pacing is a little off, as if the song itself has a bullet wound from which the original tenacity seeps unceremoniously through.
Thankfully, this isn’t the end of the record. Paramore’s B-side track ‘Sanity (demo)’ was written between 2017 album ‘After Laughter’, characterised by morbidly depressing lyrics over up-beat, funky instrumentation, and ‘This Is Why’, an ‘excellent foray into post-punk’, according to Rolling Stone. Sonically, the song is a masterpiece: Hayley’s vocals have never sounded so smooth and crisp as she personifies and addresses her elusive sanity; ‘you can tell she’d been listening to Whitney Houston at the time’, one Twitter user remarks. Zac Farro’s drumming tickles the underbelly of bent sound Taylor York rips from his guitar. It’s a song that feels like it’s always existed. The placement of this B-side seals the record as self-reflective: ‘this must be the void’ the song finishes, echoing into a silence in which the listener must contemplate Paramore’s reverberations throughout the music industry, painted here so colourfully and diversely. The new track speaks back to the previous 10 in this line-up, exerting ‘finally, I’ve arrived’ over and over in the bridge only when their influences have a chance of sharing the limelight. All great art is collaboration and influence, and nobody seems to champion that more than Paramore in this great platforming for many of the smaller artists.
This album is an amalgamation of tempestuous sounds, some which work better than others. But the songs that work shimmer in gold, and the cohesive body of the project is playful, generous and bold. The Linda Linda’s cement themselves as a band with impressive talent, Wet Leg’s cover is a triumph, Remi Wolf’s re-writing is a testament to her unique artistry, and Paramore’s demo track is deliciously catchy. Last month, Far Out Magazine named Paramore as one of 10 artists ‘impossible to imitate’, next to the likes of Elton John, Radiohead, and David Bowie - ‘Re: This Is Why’ only reinforces this claim.