Because I’m a teenaged emo girl (obv) I’ve been listening to a lot of Paramore.
Actually, my iPod threw out a Paramore track four days ago, and I kind of got sucked in to a big bubble of Paramoreishness.
I don’t know what it is about Hayley’s voice, but she has a sometimes strident, usually hard-edged yet always tender delivery that somehow portrays an air of vulnerability.
And that’s a big package.
So I checked my music library and was astonished to find I have 43 Paramore tracks.
When I worked in London I had an American colleague who was a dedicated Paramore addict.
She would swing in to the office, pale-cheeked, bright and breezy, with her beaming SoCal smile; scarlet-coated, dark hair flowing behind as she powered her way through the morning air, the hissingly tinny sound of Paramore inevitably leaking from her earbuds.
We pick up things, from good friends, and colleagues that we like.
From this former colleague I acquired a taste for Paramore.
Favourites quickly come to the fore, and on this visit, the two tracks that have made a special effort to burrow their way in to my forebrain are ‘The Only Exception’ and ‘All I Wanted’.
Both are good tunes, but each is different in tempo and construction. But the lyrical messages might be related.
‘The Only Exception‘ gives us this passage:
And I’ve always lived like this
Keeping a comfortable,
distance, and up until now
I’d sworn to myself that I’m content
With loneliness
Because none of it
was ever worth the risk, but…
You, are, the only exception
Whilst ‘All I Wanted‘ gives us:
Think of me when you’re out, when you’re out there
I’ll beg you nice from my knees
When the world treats you way too fairly
It’s a shame I’m a dream
All I wanted was you
Quite powerful lyrics, especially when aimed at a teenaged, angst-ridden, loved up/love-fucked-over, hormonal audience. Just my demographic, obv.
I don’t know what it is, but the lyrics just resonate inside me.
Anyway, here are the two songs in context. I’ve you’ve never got in to Paramore, give them a try. And if you have got in to them, give these songs a spin anyway.
The Only Exception:
And…
All I Wanted: