Emo is having a revival. Big-hitters from the 2000s such as My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy are back in action, a nostalgic draw for yesteryear’s cohort of black-eyeliner-wearing, Twilight-devouring, angsty fans. Meanwhile, younger stars have reactivated the pop-punk sound of peak emo for a new era of emotional catharsis. Olivia Rodrigo’s 2021 hit “Good 4 U”, a perky put-down to an ex who has moved on too quickly, was influenced by Paramore’s “Misery Business”, the breakthrough song in 2008 for one of emo’s defining bands.
Led by frontwoman Hayley Williams, Paramore formed in Tennessee in 2004. After many line-up changes, they’re now a trio, with Williams joined by guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. Having moved away from emo’s surging choruses and polished loudness on 2017’s After Laughter, which recast them as a synth-led alt-pop act, they’ve plugged the guitars back in for their new album This Is Why. But the results don’t simply reactivate the bared emotions and blaring anthems of before.
The title track opens proceedings with punk-funk rhythms and catchily hollered refrains about disengagement from the disputatious world outside. The message is downbeat — yesterday’s sensitive emo kid has become today’s disillusioned thirtysomething — but Williams sounds vigorously committed at the microphone. “The News” opens with her getting a headache as footage from a faraway war unfolds on the screen. Turning off the news is her solution, a guilty act of apathy set to the dissident slacker-generation sound of riot grrrl (especially the band Sleater-Kinney). Once again, a desire to disengage is countered by sharply performed musical action.
Straightforward emo revivalism is resisted, although nothing too innovative is proposed instead. “Big Man, Little Dignity”, which takes aim at a Trumpian charlatan, opens with sighing wind instruments but rapidly abandons orchestral experimentation for a standard indie-rock chug. “Figure 8” makes a better fist at incorporating its chiming minimalist intro into fidgety alt-rock about compulsive behaviour. The song’s title awakens the memory of the love rival with “a body like an hourglass” who enraged Williams in “Misery Business”. However, its music is more sophisticated than the band’s emo prime.
★★★☆☆
‘This Is Why’ is released by Atlantic Records
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