In a bold move, Paramore have decided to cut their breakthrough, and some would argue their biggest, hit, ‘Misery Business’ from their live shows due to controversy surrounding some of the lyrics.
The one lyric that has been brought up in particular is that of “Once a whore, you’re nothing more, I’m sorry, that will never change.”
Frontwoman Hayley Williams made the announcement that they’ll be removing the song, which was written 12 years ago, from their setlist, at least for a little bit, while playing a special one-off show in Nashville, their hometown.
“This is a choice that we’ve made because we feel that we should, we feel like it’s time to move away from it for a little while,” before playing the song for what could be the final time.
“This is to every bad decision that led us here, this is to all the embarrassing things we might have said, but we owned up to it and we grew.”
According to Billboard, Williams also said that her opinion of the song has changed.
“We wrote a song that now, as a 29-year-old woman, I don’t know that I’d use the same language. Calling someone a whore isn’t very cool.”
People on Twitter have been divided over this decision, with some praising that it was Hayley’s decision to cut the song.
Paramore is my favourite band and I fully support Hayley Williams' decision to retire their biggest hit, "Misery Business", due to problematic lyrics ("once a whore, nothing more"). We should look at all songs and judge them by modern liberal standards. If it's offensive, ban it.
— Babylon News (@BabylonStarWars) September 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/Itzzolomon/status/1039041022603550720
https://twitter.com/BieselFewell/status/1039031404980576256
Others have completely condemned the decision, saying they should still play it or even change the lyric.
https://twitter.com/seebrittmakeup/status/1038343613200191489
misery business is one of paramore's best songs….. i blame the a) hipsters for saying it's bad because it's popular b) "problematic" obsessed trolls for shaming the song
— Savanah (@mizbizsav) September 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/famlyjewels/status/1038394267583041536
Paramore last toured Australia earlier this year, so if you’re a fan of the song let’s hope you were there for that tour.
Watch the clip of Williams announcing the song’s live retirement, and listen to ‘Misery Business’, below.
At the Paramore concert in Nashville and they just announced that they won’t be performing Misery Business again for a long time after this show. Omg. pic.twitter.com/wARvoYGz76
— Tyler Matl (@TylerMatl) September 8, 2018
