Single Review: The News - Paramore

With the second single release leading up to their album early this year, Paramore’s upcoming project is taking very exciting shape. ‘The News’ is an improvement on the dreamier vocals and instrumentation from their first single, ‘This is Why’. ‘The News’ will be a welcome track to any Paramore fan begging for a return to their pop-punk roots, and those who prefer their recent softer sound. It finds a comfortable middle ground, to produce a single that delivers on most fronts one could want from Paramore.

The News’ will be a welcome track to any Paramore fan begging for a return to their pop-punk roots

Hayley Williams’ typically strong vocals come to life within the first few moments of ‘The News’. Williams delivers each line with stinging intention and a force that has been missing from previous Paramore. She sounds angry, and this only elevates the song. But what is most impressive is how she manages to keep her obvious disillusionment restrained. If this was Williams in the 2000s, her blistering anger would of course pack the lyrics with an unmistakable punch. However, this 2023 Williams keeps her anger just below the surface, and this gives the lyrics and her performance an interesting effect. It makes her sound more mature, not just some emo kid angry at the world. Her maturity gives the lyrics an important weight, even if they do not go beneath the surface of anything.

‘The News’ does fall short in its lyrics, especially compared to ‘This is Why’. ‘The News’ suffers from a lack of anything particularly interesting to say about the state of the news itself, and to a greater extent, the state of the world. ‘This is Why’ also stayed away from asking questions in favour of a catchy song, but its aim felt more general compared to this song, so it can be more easily forgiven. For a song titled ‘The News’ one might hope to hear Paramore really going for it, especially considering the mature sound that begs for mature questions to go along with it.

The rock sound at Paramore’s core can still be heard, but the relaxed guitars on ‘The News’ give the song a purposeful confidence.

But the real stand out of ‘The News’ is the guitars. The guitars maintain this maturity, implementing some more of the jazzier elements heard on ‘This is Why’. The rock sound at Paramore’s core can still be heard, but the relaxed guitars on ‘The News’ give the song a purposeful confidence.

‘The News’ is another great single from Paramore that points to an album that will stake Paramore as a rock band with faith in themselves and their new hybrid sound. The lacking lyrics do leave some potential going wasted, but when rocking out to ‘The News’, this really does not matter much. Paramore knows what they want to say. ‘The News’ does more than enough to compel its listener to pay attention.

Rating: 8/10