Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams has discussed the recent controversy around their iconic hit, ‘Misery Business’ amidst claims that the lyrics are anti-feminist.
Ten years on, Williams has conducted an interview with Track 7 in which she talks about the hit, with lyrics such as “Once a whore, you’re nothing more/ I’m sorry, that will never change.”
She vehemently challenged the criticism, stating: “The thing that annoyed me was that I had already done so much soul-searching about it, years before anyone else had decided there was an issue. When the article began circulating, I sort of had to go and rehash everything in front of everybody.” She added that, “It was important, however, for me to show humility in that moment. I was a 17-year-old kid when I wrote the lyrics in question and if I can somehow exemplify what it means to grow up, get information, and become any shade of ‘woke,’ then that’s a-okay with me.”
She also added that, “For whatever reason, I believe I was supposed to have written those backwards words and I was supposed to learn something from them.” She explained, “it’s made me more compassionate toward other women, who maybe have social anxieties… and toward younger girls who are at this very moment learning to cope and to relate and to connect. We’re all just trying our damnedest. It’s a lot easier when we have support and community with each other. Vulnerability helps lay the foundation for all that.”
Check out the iconic hit below:
