Hayley Williams teases “more to the story” with “Simmer Interlude” video
Hayley Williams finally unveiled her first single “Simmer” last week, but the story doesn’t stop there. After teasing “other musical surprises on the way” the day after its release, the Paramore frontwoman is giving another look into her solo endeavor.
Williams took to social media today to share an extended cut of the “Simmer” video, picking up where it left off to show what happens after the singer escapes herself.
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The vocalist shared the new video, writing, “wrath & mercy: an interlude there is more to the story… coming soon.” The same video also appears on her official YouTube channel titled “Simmer Interlude.”
“Simmer” marks the first original music from Williams since Paramore ended the After Laughter cycle and retired “Misery Business” in September 2018. The band haven’t played together since, and not much was said about the future of Paramore until June 2019 when they posted a muted video. Nothing transpired from it, however, and Williams does regret leaving fans question the band’s future. They took to Instagram, sharing a year-end post reflecting on the band’s time together before clarifying it didn’t mean a breakup was in store.
Following the solo single’s release, Williams opened up on how time away from the spotlight and Paramore benefitted her creative process.
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“I’m so ready and so incredibly humbled to get to share this project,” Williams said with the release of the song. “Making it was a scary, empowering experience. Some of my proudest moments as a lyricist happened while writing PETALS FOR ARMOR. And I was able to get my hands a little dirtier than usual when it came to instrumentation.
“I’m in a band with my favorite musicians so I never really feel the need to step into a role as a player when it comes to Paramore records. This project, however, benefited from a little bit of musical naïveté and rawness and so I experimented quite a bit more. I made this with some of the closest people to me. Their respective talents really shine bright throughout the record.
“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’ solo debut Petals For Armor will drop May 8 via Atlantic. You can watch the dark visuals for first single “Simmer” below along with the full clip of the new interlude.
More on Hayley Williams and Petals For Armor
Less than a month after teasing she’d be releasing music she’ll “call [her] own” in 2020, the moment finally arrived as Williams delivered the result of all her Petals For Armor teasers as promised.
Many believed Petals For Armor would mark the name of the project itself given the newly launched Instagram account. However, Williams revealed it’s actually her album title and will feature first single, “Simmer.”
Ahead of the release of “Simmer,” the singer reflected on that past year of relative silence, sharing the image from the poster teasers that popped up around the world.
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“So very grateful for the last year at home,” she writes in a post Tuesday night. “Didn’t realize I’d have such a thing to show for the time away. Tomorrow is only the start. I’m hardly prepared but I’m definitely proud.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7mb8SpJ0z-/
While Williams has released her fair share of vocal features—the most recent with American Football marking her only music since After Laughter—“Simmer” is the first song that’s 100% hers.
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Williams definitely didn’t forget about her Paramore fam though, revealing on Twitter she recruited guitarist/vocalist Taylor York to produce the new song. The duo also worked with touring Paramore bassist Joey Howard who has been on the road with them since 2016. Additionally, Williams shared on her Instagram story that Carlos de la Garza (Bad Religion, Jimmy Eat World) engineered and mixed it, returning to work with Williams again after After Laughter and 2013’s self-titled.
It’s not confirmed who’s backing her instrumentally, but Howard credits himself as the singer’s bassist and a Petals For Armor songwriter/musician on Instagram. Keeping it all close-knit, Howard also plays bass in Paramore drummer Zac Farro’s HalfNoise.
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