Paramore reflect on break following ‘After Laughter’: “We realised nothing is worth risking our health”

nme.com:

Paramore have reflected on the enforced break they took after touring their 2017 album ‘After Laughter’, saying that they “realised nothing is worth risking our health”.The three-piece are currently gearing up to release ‘This Is Why’, their first album since ‘After Laughter’, on February 10, 2023.Having shared the new LP’s title track yesterday (September 28), a new Guardian interview with Paramore has now seen the band look back on the period of self-reflection they took following the conclusion of the ‘After Laughter’ album campaign.Frontwoman Hayley Williams told The Guardian that the openness of the ‘After Laughter’ campaign enabled Paramore to “more than ever [become] a support system to each other that we desperately needed”.Recalling how he learned of the death of a family friend during a video shoot for a single from the album, guitarist Taylor York said: “I just started bawling.

I didn’t know I had this capacity until that moment. We realised nothing is worth risking our health.”After limiting their touring plans for ‘After Laughter’, the band then decided to pause to “see what it’s like to not hang our identities on Paramore all the time,” Williams, who released two solo albums (‘Petals For Armor’ and ‘Flowers For Vases / Descansos’) during the subsequent break, said.In his time away from Paramore, York gave up alcohol and decided to “explore some deeper parts of myself and figure out why we do this, how it happened”.“I’m a very introverted person and I have a passion and career that’s at odds with that,” he added. “When it came back to doing [Paramore] again, I was able to say confidently, let’s do it.