Hayley Williams hints that “other musical surprises” are on the way

Hayley Williams dropped her solo work “Simmer” on Jan. 22 and the world fell in love. The raw, vulnerability of Williams’ emotions and sometimes macabre themes is a far cry from her Paramore aesthetic. She’s also an incredibly busy woman. Williams runs a hair company, is curating a special plaza a Bonnaroo and is constantly working on music.

In a rather humorous exchange on social media, Hayley Williams dropped some knowledge that we may have more music coming than just her upcoming album Petals For Armor.

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A fan replying to Hayley William’s Instagram story made a joke about why many of Williams’ posts show that she is on a phone call. Williams responded by basically proving she is a fucking boss and also that we may have some musical surprises on the way.

record coming out in may + other musical surprises on the way + runnin a hair company + curating for bonnaroo… THIS IS WHY I NEED SELF CARE ? 

Exactly what these other musical surprises are, we have no idea. One would think that a solo debut would be work enough for one person. Now, tack on running goodDYEyoung and being a Bonnaroo curator and we can’t imagine Hayley having time for anything. But, we are excited nonetheless.

Williams is curating the Sanctuary of Self-Love at Bonnaroo for the second year. Bonnaroo takes place June 11-14.

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Williams also took to Instagram today to share what life was like the week she wrote “Simmer”. It was around this time last year. She was launching goodDYEyoung in retail stores and didn’t know that she was even working on an album.

here’s what life looked life the week SIMMER was written (early 2019)…
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i was in the middle of launching @gooddyeyoung at retail just days after the song was demoed. it started with me and T messing around with a binaural mic – look up the @neumann.berlin head mic, it’s wild – and ended up being a whole journey of emotions for me. first time i’ve written bass & guitar parts on a single too (ayyy). once we got it to a good place, we asked @jellyquinn to come play and also write for verse 2 and the bridge. his verse exorcised a few of my demons and i’m so grateful to have em out of me. i didn’t even know i was making an album at the time. we were just having a good time and i was getting a (much needed) free therapy session. this is the longest caption in the world but i’m really proud of how this song brought the best out of each of us, in new ways. it’s so important to create, discover, and express… forever. can’t wait to share more. hopefully in less than 9173628191769420 characters. 

More Hayley Williams 

Hayley Williams just dropped her first single from Petals For Armor. The song is called “Simmer” and is her first foray into music that is 100% hers. The dark visuals and themes are a far cry from her day job in Paramore but Williams recently expressed she needed to take some time off and let herself come to terms with certain emotions.

Those emotions are expected to shine through on Petals For Armor which Williams recently detailed in an interview.

In a recent interview with Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1, Hayley Williams discusses all manner of things from the album’s title to why she need to take time away from Paramore to begin with.

When asked about the origins of Petals For Armor, Williams first states that it is a lyric. But, then divulges the meaning behind it.

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“It’s part of a lyric in “Simmer.” A while ago, I went to this cranial-sacral masseuse. Maybe a lot of people might consider that a kind of woo woo witch doctor but I’ll take any help I can get,” Williams says. “I was laying on her table and I started having these weirdly creepy visions of flowers growing out of me – and not in a beautiful way, it was very painful and very grotesque but I kind of realised in that moment there was a lot that was trying so hard to grow out of me and it was going to hurt to do it.”

“I think, for me, it’s somewhat of a mantra to try and stay soft in a really, really hard world and feel pain and let all of it come to you and try and put out something that can redeem it all, even if it’s ugly at first. The lyric is “wrap yourself in petals for armor” because I kept feeling like the way for me to protect myself best is to be vulnerable and be OK with having a lot of pain at certain times and also feeling a lot of joy at certain times.

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“As long as I’m staying soft to those things and I’m open to letting those things in and out of me then I actually can survive the world a lot easier than if I stay hard and with my fists up all the time.”

As stated earlier, Williams has released music with Paramore for more than 15 years, kicking things off with All We Know Is Falling in 2005. Four albums and countless accolades later, the band released their fifth LP, After Laughter, in 2017.

Paramore hasn’t played together since 2018. Williams has discussed some reasons for the time off and why she felt she needed to do it.

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“I like to think we all make each other better and the result is something that sounds and feels exactly as I’d hoped it would. Now that it’s time to put it all out there, I can finally exhale. I’m excited to let people in to experience a different side of myself that I’ve only very recently become familiar with.”

Williams needed to become vulnerable and explore a side of her that she was unfamiliar with, both emotionally and musically. Good news for Paramore fans though because Williams says that this growth will definitely shape whatever project comes next.

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“I do believe when it’s time for us to make the next Paramore record there will be just as transparent lyrics and hopefully really visceral feelings that come across. I wouldn’t have had access to this stuff if we didn’t just pause and get quiet for a minute.”

Petals For Armor will drop May 8 via Atlantic. Listen to Hayley Williams’ “Simmer” below and see for yourself just what a feat she has accomplished.

What do you think these “musical surprises are? Comment your ideas below!

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