The Daily Spin, September 27
Paramore | After Laughter
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: After Laughter (2017)
Artist: Paramore
Link:
If nothing else, I love that with this album, Hayley Williams sheds the mask and is authentic about it all - it’s remarkably refreshing to get those direct sightlines to her feelings and emotions in a way that previous albums obfuscated, for better or worse.
Pair this with a near total departure from Paramore’s previous works, this one tinged with 80s pop influences as opposed to the emo and punk that had colored the band’s entire discography up to this point, and you have the recipe for something that could be pretty spectacular.
Unfortunately, it pretty immediately becomes clear that this album can’t quite hit those highs, but it’s a refreshing new look for a group that had definitely fallen into a rut of staleness, and Williams’ unrelenting authenticity frames each of her words brilliantly, giving them just the right level of depth - it’s the music around those words that feels like a letdown, unfortunately.
Rating: 7.6/10
Best Tracks: 26; Caught in the Middle
Worst Tracks: Idle Worship