PARAMORE
Now (4:10)
Producers: Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Taylor York
Writers: Hayley Williams and Taylor York
Publishers: WB Music Corp. (ASCAP), But Father, I Just Want To Sing Music (ASCAP), FBR Music and Hunterboro Music (ASCAP)
Fueled By Ramen
Two founding members gone. No new album in nearly four years. No problem for Paramore. On the first single from the reconfigured group’s forthcoming self-titled album, singer Hayley Williams exhibits a tone of defiant survival that would make the late Gloria Gaynor proud. Atop a winding industrial-reggae rhythm and layers of noisy guitar grit, Williams fills the tune with forceful affirmations, declaring that “I’m bringing my sinking ship back to the shore,” and “There’s a time and a place to die, and this ain’t it,” before “Now” resolves the tension by blasting into a full-throttle chorus. Williams starts out her comeback pleading “Don’t try to take this from me now,” sounding like a singer desperate to keep her band; by the time she proclaims, “if there’s a future, we want it now,” however, it feels like she’s already there.
