Why Hayley Williams Will Never Say "I Quit Paramore"

In an emotional and eye-opening new interview with L’Odet, Paramore's Hayley Williams has discussed the future of the band, as well as mental health, relationships and what the goodDYEyoung phrase “expression is survival” means to her.

The singer reflects on their latest album – 2017's After Laughter, in which drummer Zac Farro returned to the group following the departure of bassist Jeremy Davis – and how Paramore learned to say "no to everything" for the first time in their career.

When asked if she will stay in Paramore "for a long time", Hayley explains: "Yeah. I mean, I don’t think it will look like it did. I don’t think it could look like it has looked, you know? There were just so many yeses to everything – especially when we were kids.

"Now – especially after this album cycle, too – I would never do things the way we did before After Laughter. With After Laughter, we kind of said no to everything."

Hayley then agrees that Paramore "wanted" to seem like a totally different band on the After Laughter cycle: "Zac coming back was a big part of the aesthetic shift, but I think in terms of our business minds – you know, that’s the other thing – growing up in a band and it actually working out, it becomes less of a band and more of a brand. I was telling Zac this the other day. We were working on a collab with somebody and he was like, 'Are we sure we should be doing this? Because we don’t have an album coming out.' The truth is there are two parts to the band. One part is what you wear on a T-shirt, which is basically the name. And the other part is the band, which is us! And the band is what it’s about.

"I told Zac that if all three of us feel good about it, we do it. In moving forward, if the three of us are happy, then we will just do whatever we want to do. If that means collaborating with each other, bringing other friends in to collaborate — there are seven band members when we tour. We’re all friends and we all make music in different parts, together. So I feel like, yes, I want to be in Paramore. I never want to have to put out a press release that says we’re over or that I quit or that we’re taking a hiatus, which is essentially a marketing ploy these days. I would rather it just be."

Hayley also discusses the emotional toll the past few years have taken on her – but how she feels "healthy" and is in a much better place these days. "Now I would look at it and say, today, the person I am at 30, I feel healthy. I don’t necessarily have all the answers and I don’t have everything I’ve ever wanted in my whole life – even though the band is doing great and whatnot. I feel so much gratitude everyday which is a very new thing."

It's a great chat, so check out the full thing right here.

Read this next:

• The 10 best Paramore videos
• Clarity or Bleed American: which is the best Jimmy Eat World album?
• 10 classic albums that are 10 years old in 2019