By Grant Sharples

Paramore, despite no longer making pop-punk music, have become one of the quintessential bands in the genre. Their early catchy, cathartic choruses on songs such as crushcrushcrush and Thats What You Get are representative of the entire Warped-Tour era of the 2000s. But although this heavily male-dominated, often misogynistic scene consisted of plenty of bands wishing for their ex-girlfriends deaths amid other violent fantasies, Paramore defied its patriarchal penchant.

Ringleader Hayley Williams has reckoned with her own share of internalized misogyny and eventually decided to stop performing Misery Business live because of its infamous lyric Once a whore, youre nothing more. She has brought that critical self-analysis to her own solo career, which shes spent 2020 rolling out across both music and visuals.

When record executives wanted to make Williams a solo artist at age 14, she refused and started a pop-punk band instead. Unlike the catalogs of many of her bands peers, each entry in Paramores discography has expanded upon and differentiated itself from what preceded it, evolving from hard guitars to more mature motifs and eventually an 80s synth-pop sound. Now, with the impending release of Williamss debut solo album, Petals for Armor, she has evolved yet again, showing a propensity for minimalist indie-pop with hints of funk, folk, and, of course, emo. Williams has been somewhat of a musical chameleon, constantly shapeshifting and adopting new sounds, mastering one only to abandon it and try another.

Though Petals for Armor is due out in full May 8, Williams has preceded it with two exploratory EPs. The 10 songs released so far and what came before them showcase how far shes come in the past 15 years.

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Hayley Williams' Evolution From Paramore To 'Petals For Armor' - MTV.com