Paramore have revealed they are well into the recording process for their sixth studio album – the first since 2017’s After Laughter.
Bandleader Hayley Williams confirmed the news in an update to Rolling Stone earlier this week. “We wrote and tracked something we loved and it actually surprised us,” Williams told the magazine, speaking of the first day she, Taylor York and Zac Farro reunited.
“We kept joking it was all downhill from that point, but thank God we’ve been surprised a lot throughout this whole thing. I’m always waiting for the moment for us to know we’re onto something new and we’re not just rehashing the same shit,” she continued.
“It was ‘Ain’t It Fun’ for our self-titled record, and ‘Hard Times’ or ‘Told You So’ for After Laughter. It’s not about it feeling like a hit so much as it’s a scary, exciting feeling that you’re treading uncharted waters. It keeps you curious. We got to feel that feeling early on this time.”
Songwriting sessions for album six began in Nashville, but the band have since relocated to a studio in California. “We started recording only a couple of months ago. We go into the studio around 10 a.m. and leave around 7 or 8 p.m. like a bunch of dads,” Williams added.
Regarding the album’s sound, Williams says that while album six will not necessarily be a “comeback ’emo’ record”, she and York had been looking back on some of their earliest influences before they began writing the new record.
“Our output has always been all over the place and with this project, it’s not that different. We’re still in the thick of it but some things have remained consistent from the start,” she explained. Those things have been firstly, “more emphasis back on the guitar,” and secondly, that Farro “should go as Animal as he wants with drum takes.”
The update comes just under a year since Williams indicated she was keen to head back into the studio for a new Paramore record. In February of 2021, the singer tweeted, “I’m ready for the next Paramore album. Let’s go.”
In the interim between 2017’s After Laughter and now, Williams has released two studio albums – 2020’s Petals for Armor and last year’s Flowers for Vases / Descansos.
