Hayley Williams: Don't glamourise the pop-punk era

10 February 2023, 12:29 | Updated: 10 February 2023, 12:34

Paramore in 2023: Taylor York, Hayley Williams and Zac Farro. Picture: Atlantic Records/Press

"People look back with rose-tinted glasses," says the Paramore star, explaining the scene developed out of bullying and was rife with misogyny.

Paramore's Hayley Williams says that people shouldn't look back on the days of pop-punk and emo as a golden era - bullying and misogyny were an unpleasant part of the entire scene.

"People look back with these rose-tinted glasses," she told the NME on the release of the new Paramore album, This Is Why. "They talk about the good and forget the rest.

"It was an alternative scene for a reason – it was weird. Those kids were bullied, that's why so many guys in those bands wrote shitty songs about ex-girlfriends.

"I just get angry about the injustice of a bunch of people who were bullied, essentially creating a world where other people didn’t feel welcome.”

Paramore: This Is Why [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Paramore's long-awaited sixth album This Is Why is released today (10th February), eighteen years after their debut All We Know Is Falling first appeared. Since then, the band have enjoyed two Number 1 albums in the UKL: 2013's self-titled outing and 2017's After Laughter.

As a female musician in the centre of the "masculine" emo culture of the 2000s, Williams railed against the misogyny that was rife within the scene, saying: "Oh, my God. I hope no young female experiences the shit that I experienced."

She went on: "Our entire scene was contributing to shitty treatment of women and anything that wasn't masculine.

"When we were teenagers, the way forward was to be tough all the time. We were out on Warped Tour, this little Fueled by Ramen band acting like a hardcore band on stage.

It was like if I didn't spit further, I felt like someone was going to throw me out."