Williams began writing songs around the same period, at the advice of a therapist. 4.7 out of 5 stars. WhatsApp. “You think that you’ve tamed it, but it’s just lying in wait”. Hayley Williams. by Hayley Williams. ‘Over Yet’ is Williams’ answer to a Rocky training montage: intricate, atmospheric guitars pick up steam and build into a hulk of sound – half-math rock, half power-pop. Vague, flickering hints of Solange, SZA and British soul group Sade are at the heart of tracks such as ‘Taken’ and ‘Why We Ever’. Petals for Armor I is made up of five songs and offers listeners an insight into what they can expect from the rest of the album. M aturity is an often derided concept in a youth-facing art form. “Held my breath for a decade / Dyed my hair blue to match my lips,” she sings, addressing her past self, who pasted on a brave face. Read Review. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. 9.1 | A.V. Write a review. Overall, ‘Petals For Armor’ is a surprising listen, and not regarding the quality of the songs, Williams, and co. have proven their worth time and time again in that regard, rather in its scope and confidence. How are ratings calculated? Club. Release Date: 05/08/2020 | Tracklist. 8.8 | Sputnik Music (staff) The more hushed tones scattered throughout the album contrast her bolder statements, the musical equivalents of sudden breakthroughs. This review answers the question that no one asked...how does this new album relate to 16th century French poetry? Occasionally, these shifting moods occur within the span of a single song, as on “Dead Horse.” The song opens with that candid voice recording, which fades discomfitingly into bright, party-ready synths. Genre: Art Rock. Written as Williams settled into a cottage in Nashville and started afresh, ‘Petals for Armor’ was her most vulnerable work to date as she learned to exist alone in a couple of senses. Petals For Armor, the debut solo album from Paramore’s Hayley Williams, proves to be an odd album to review.Not so much for its content, which we’ll get to shortly, but simply because of the way it’s been released. Hayley Williams' artful and deeply personal solo debut, 2020's Petals for Armor, reportedly comes on the heels of a period of deep self-reflection for the longtime Paramore vocalist, and it shows. ‘Crystal Clear’ is another song with a really soft and lowkey instrumental that forces the listener to focus on the lyricism and vocals(at least until the weird vocal and sound effects sprinkled in at the end of the track). Petals for Armor III is a comprehensive conclusion to the album, beginning with “Pure Love,” which similarly to the introduction of Petals for Armor II, feels just a little bit closer to the Paramore sound that we became familiar with in After Laughter. She made ‘Petals for Armor’ by accident. Review: Hayley Williams’s Petals for Armor Is a Quietly Confident Triumph. Film. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Petals For Armor [VINYL] at Amazon.com. 4.7 out of 5. Petals For Armor is a display of the multifaceted truth that is ‘femininity’; Williams’ rage is complex yet simple, primal yet now more discrete. I’ve done that with Paramore our whole career, but I’ve learned how to articulate it in different ways as we’ve grown up.”. The instrumentation, thick with gently sloping violins, brings to mind a post-rock dirge, invoking the leaden air of mourning without veering into maudlin sap. These are not quite R’n’B songs, but they are infused with that genre’s strut. 564 global ratings. Pulsing and stuttering, ‘Sugar on the Rim’ sounds like a bassy dance thumper blasting from the hefty speakers of a rapidly speeding car. But despite the overcast mood, the lyrics hesitantly tell a story of regrowth. There’s no denying that fans have been itching for a solo album from Hayley Williams for years. Her frankness cuts through across ‘Petals For Armor. Though it draws from dark source material, there’s a certain warmth here all the same. (Pitchfork earns a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.). From a less skilled artist, such a disparate-sounding album might morph into a collage of loose touchstones. We see blossoming empowerment in the funk-pop ditty “Watch Me While I Bloom,” while also witnessing … 1 “Simmer” “Simmer” commences Petals for Armor uniquely, setting the tone. She entered therapy, got a divorce and moved to a cottage in Nashville to start afresh. It’s an incisive dissection of grief, charged with a grim chuckle. Williams often speaks of gleaning joy from the small things: a spiced bun fresh from the oven in ‘Cinnamon’, a toxic figure morphed into a cartoonish vampire and weakened on ‘Creepin’. Her old signatures — the gymnastic yawp, the sunny backing band, the sunset-orange hair … Somewhat counterintuitively, considering the familiarity among the players, the record, at its best, transcends the boundaries defined by their previous music, creating new soundscapes that recontextualize Williams’ powerful tenor. Hayley Williams – ‘Petals For Armor’ review: Paramore singer goes it alone with fiercely vulnerable alt-pop After a turbulent decade with her acclaimed pop … Twitter. Beginning with woozy synths, the song picks up rhythm with skittering drum blasts, both of which take a backseat as soon as Williams’ swinging vocal enters. Undeniably, Petals for Armor was worth the wait, and a wholly unanticipated ride. Petals for Armor. But by the time it reaches the chorus’ simple, hesitantly hopeful refrain, there’s a distinct lightness in her vocals, the relief palpable as she repeats, “Won’t give in to the fear.” We’re left with a vision of Williams that mirrors the strongest moments on Petals for Armor, one that takes the long way to enlightenment. The underlying message of Hayley Williams’ stunning solo album is this: wear your flaws like a coat of gleaming armour and find strength in being open and vulnerable. Music Reviews: Petals For Armor I by Hayley Williams released in 2020 via Atlantic. Along with Paramore's breakthrough chart success with their 2013 self-titled album and 2017's After Laughter, Williams and the band endured three frought lineup changes. Petals For Armor › Customer reviews; Customer reviews. Unbelievably, these must be cast aside, for Petals For Armor, despite its stinky title (had to get one dig in! Full Review. Friday May 08 2020, 12.01am, The Times. But rather than a message from a missed connection or words of wisdom from a mentor, the new record from Paramore’s singer Hayley Williams features an intimate dispatch from her home. We all know her and we all love her. “Watch Me While I Bloom,” with its upbeat jazz rhythm and winking lyrics, similarly grates with its forced brightness, Williams’ cheery delivery coming across like a precocious lead actor in a school play. “I started having this vision where I was so gross, covered in dirt and soil, and there were vines and flowers,” she recounted. ‘Simmer’ opens the experience with palpable tension; it feels like being quietly stalked as … Hayley Williams, on the other hand, draws clearly from other artists but retains her voice at the centre. Pitchfork is the most trusted voice in music. These hazy moments, which often reveal their depths only upon repeated listen, invoke a careful, considered path to self-love, one that doesn’t avoid its darker corners. The world's defining voice in music and pop culture since 1952. Petals For Armor’s greatness ultimately comes as a coalescence of all of those factors, honed in for an intriguing and colourful listen that has a much greater purpose at the centre, and can clearly map out its path to reveal that purpose over time. “I felt a lot of anxiety about… do people want a crazy big pop record?,” she told NME of the album for this week’s cover feature. Petals for Armor succeeds best at sustaining a mood throughout, capturing the chaotic ups and downs of depression. © 2021 NME is a member of the media division of BandLab Technologies. On Petals for Armor I, Hayley finds herself very mood-driven, blending alt-rock atmospheres that wouldn’t sound out-of-place on a Radiohead album with funky, offbeat grooves. Some moments are sugary sweet, while others are biting and angry, but the album keeps things healthy by switching between infectious pop tunes and mellow art-pop parts. 4.4. superb. She’s the absolute powerhouse and colourful character that came into every alternative music lovers lives in 2004 in the shape of Paramore.Yes, I am talking about Hayley Williams.For years she has created pop punk music with the … ‘Leave It Alone’ is one of the most quietly devastating songs she has ever written; she wrote the song when her grandmother suffered serious head trauma and almost died after a fall. “Leave It Alone,” one of the earliest songs Williams wrote for the record, addresses the cruelty and irony of loss with chilling clarity: “If you know how to love/Best prepare to grieve,” she sings, her voice tipping upward, knowingly, on the last word of each line. ALBUM REVIEW. Though it’s not new for Paramore to hide dark lyrics—the song details Williams’ affair with her now-ex-husband—within fluorescent melodies, the carefree nature of the somewhat-tropical house production can come off as if Williams is wearing a costume, playing the role of scorned ex through the lens of a dancehall singer. Instead, Hayley had returned home at the end of 2018 from a year of touring After Laughter and had fully intended to take some time off. With her first solo effort, Williams has delivered a rich and warm … On “Rose/Lotus/Violet/Iris,” joined by the disaffected chorus of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus, she conjures a similarly haunted atmosphere, opening with ghostly, swirling vocals dense with delay. Produced by Taylor York (Paramore), and written by Williams, York, and Joey Howard, it’s darker than most of the material that graced After Laughter.. “Simmer” is set in a minor key with an enigmatic vibe. DC Movies Ranked from Worst to Best. Shifts in mood, as when the downtempo, shuffling ode to friendship “My Friend” leads into the propulsive synth-pop anthem “Over Yet,” are slightly jarring within the progression of the album, even if they’re expected within the context of therapeutic treatment. On “Cinnamon,” an uptempo ode to the comforts of nesting and making a home, Williams creates layered melodies with her vocals, beginning with animalistic yells of “ahh” and “ooh” and taking a sharp turn with highly syncopated, all-business enunciation on the versus: “Home is where I’m feminine/Smells like citrus and cinnamon,” she sings cooly, moving through the syllables of the final words like a percussive triplet. When I ended up writing some songs that were poppier and dancier… am I a sell-out?’. The solo album she always insisted she would never make has arrived after a challenging decade marked by internal conflict with her pop-punk band Paramore. We could all do with a little kindness. Petals for Armor feels like meeting Hayley Williams for the first time. Leave It Alone and Simmer … Ten of the tracks on Petals for Armor have already been released in EP form over recent weeks, with the final five arriving to form a cohesive collection here. The Paramore singer’s debut solo album is emotionally vulnerable and musically ambitious, one that finds catharsis and enlightenment in the brambles of experimental pop production. Review Summary: "I don't know what it's gonna take to rid myself of the shame, but maybe it turns into something that helps me have compassion and not be in denial." ‘Dead Horse’ is another moment that pulls no punches, detailing a decade of pain atop fizzy pop melodies; Williams addresses the end of her marriage with searingly honesty. Lyrically and thematically, Williams shines, capturing rage and controlling that rage. In Petals for Armor, Williams – ironically – sheds all shields and truly lets listeners into her mind and heart. Review: Enforcement Is a Tense and Chilling Survival-of-the-Fittest Parable. Though it contains mere hints of the scrappy rocker we’ve watched for 15 years, Petals Of Armor is the bold signature of someone who is more than ready to show off different sides of herself—yet has nothing left to prove to anyone Read Review. “What if this isn’t that, and it’s a letdown? The use of voice memos in pop music—whether the dry, abstract interludes of Sonic Youth or the litany of voicemails throughout hip hop history—necessarily signals a pause, a moment to listen closely. The sequential half of the album will follow on the 8th May, as announced on Williams Instagram. Through floral metaphors—“he loves me now, he loves me not,” wilting and blooming—she captures the history of women’s suffering, gesturing to intergenerational trauma without falling into hackneyed, broad-sweeping statements of feel-good empowerment. From the writing credits, Williams appears to have put it together with Paramore guitarist Taylor York and touring bassist Joey Howard, although it sounds nothing like their usual sound whatsoever. ), is a vibrantly funky, imaginative and more-ish album. “I really didn’t. A review and analysis of Hayley Williams' new solo project "Petals for Armor," a project that sees her spread her wings and fly on her own, embracing a new, more feminine side of herself and experimenting with new sounds. Petals for Armor is the debut solo studio album by American singer-songwriter and Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams.It was released on May 8, 2020, by Atlantic Records.The album was preceded by two extended plays (EPs), Petals for Armor I and Petals for Armor II, which make up the album's first two parts.. Williams explained the inspiration behind the title of the album is due to her … 5 star 81% 4 star 11% 3 star 5% 2 star 1% 1 star 1% Petals For Armor. Having reconciled with formerly estranged founding member Zac Farro for their 2017 album ‘After Laughter’ – which represented a change in direction, exploring ’80s-inspired synth-pop – the band felt a sense of relief, but unanimously agreed that it was time to take a break all the same. This would be a prescient message at any time, but seems even more so in today’s uncertain climate. Petals For Armor I follows Hayley Williams‘ string of releases over the past few weeks, and gives fans 2 new songs in this 5-track EP. Online: Facebook Twitter Website. After a turbulent decade with her acclaimed pop-punk band, this week's NME cover star dissects grief, divorce and self-identity on her eclectic solo debut. Facebook. Select Your Cookie Preferences. Hayley Williams: Petals for Armor review — the former teenage icon tackles her demons full on. Hayley Williams – Petals For Armor I (EP Review) Released: February 7 th, 2020. As Williams describes it, Petals for Armor began as an organic outgrowth of extreme introspection—specifically intensive, full-body therapy through a process called EMDR, in … With her goldendoodle Alf barking in the background, Williams describes, sheepishly, a potential delay in the production process: “Uh, sorry, I was in a depression,” she offers by way of explanation. As Williams describes it, Petals for Armor began as an organic outgrowth of extreme introspection—specifically intensive, full-body therapy through a process called EMDR, in which the person in treatment is asked to recall distressing imagery, processing the experience through sensory input under the guidance of a therapist. But even these weaker moments are small inside a record that is revelatory in its breadth, a manifestation of trust between its personnel: Taylor York, the record’s sole producer, and Zac Farro, who provided instrumentation, are long-time Paramore bandmates, lifers after the group’s many tumultuous shake-ups; Joey Howard, who helped pen several songs, is the band’s touring bassist. “Crystal Clear,” a pared-back march into the terrifying unknown, showcases the malleability of her voice. Here, as on “Creepin’,” with its robotic digital processing, Williams’ vocals sound towering and all-encompassing, as if she’s not simply claiming her power through words, but through taking up more space in the mix. Overall Petals For Armor proves that Hayley Williams, with her singing as sharp as ever, is no one trick pony and is willing to push the envelope outside of her comfort zone for a sophisticated and sensual debut album that should play well to the masses. Petals for Armor comes to a close with the song ‘Crystal Clear,’ which is another Pop track with a bit of a Reggae/Island music feeling and tempo to it. On Petals for Armor—originally released as three distinct EPs—Williams traces a meandering, multi-faceted path to recovery, one that might ring familiar to anyone who’s undergone the taxing process of intensive therapy. Reviews; Hayley Williams: Petals for Armor review – one of the year’s biggest revelations | Music. Williams reclaimed that history, using the instrument while writing the introspective art-pop songs that make up her solo debut, Petals for Armor. Here, Williams flows with the thematic current, her voice swaying and hanging heavy as she discusses overcoming romantic hang-ups. The record makes sense of the rage that she previously bottled up. Petals for Armor could never have been a Paramore album. And as touring wound up, everything Hayley Williams had been repressing bubbled up to the surface. Will Hodgkinson. “Rage is a quiet thing,” sings Hayley Williams in the opening moments of ‘Petals For Armor’, exhaling heavily and contorting her voice into a barbed snarl. Informed by a diverse set of influences, ‘Petals for Amor’ marks another sonic departure for Williams – though her knack for offsetting dark and menacing lyrics with a sugary-sour melody very much remains. 11mo. In fact, Petals for Armor is an even further departure for Williams after Paramore showed how much they liked Vampire Weekend on their last album … All this publication's reviews Read full review Pinterest. And after rage and recovery are discussed with such nuanced sensitivity early on in the record, it’s disappointing to hear her sing about love and sensuality with easy platitudes, as on the sophomoric refrain of “Taken.”. May 9, 2020. Though the strength of Petals for Armor is derived from the complexities inherent in self-actualization, it is, at times, weakened by its musical and lyrical scope. Petals For Armor wasn’t planned. Review: Jaume Balagueró’s The Vault Cons Audiences Out of Genre Pleasure. ‘Pure Love’ wouldn’t sound out of place on Paramore’s poppy ‘After Laughter’ and ‘Simmer’ and ‘Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris’ share a contemplative core, melodically bringing to mind the likes of Radiohead and Warpaint. “Cool of me to try,” she says wryly, “pretty cool I’m still alive.”, “I did not want to write about my past that way,” Williams admitted to NME during our interview. I’ve never had a problem singing about the things that make me mad. “Don’t nobody tell me that God don’t have a sense of humour,” Williams quips dryly, “’Cause now that I want to live – well, everybody around me is dyin’”. Paramore’s revolving door of members hurt Williams deeply: she often compares the group to family, and for much of the last decade she felt like hers had been torn apart. 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