Sophia Michaels
Paramore’s grand comeback continues with a return to late-night TV. The three-piece band appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday with the addition of a few more instrumentalists to deliver an electrifying performance of their latest single, “This Is Why,” from their forthcoming sixth studio album of the same name, out Feb. 10.
Hayley Williams plunged into the song with an immediate intensity that remained at the highest percent of its delivery for the entirety of the performance. Every flailing dance move was punctuated perfectly in sync with a percussive stab, and every ad-lib delivered a few inches back from the mic commanded the same captivating attention of the top-line lyrics themselves.
After three-and-a-half minutes of straight adrenaline-pumping singing, the front woman draws out one final high note and steps away with the edge of a performer who knows they knocked it out of the park. The moment felt full circle for Williams. Although she didn’t have a chance to perform her pandemic solo records Petals for Armor and Flowers for Vases / Descansos live, their sonic influence is palpable on “This Is Why.”
“It summarizes the plethora of ridiculous emotions, the rollercoaster of being alive in 2022, having survived even just the last 3 or 4 years,” Williams said of the single in a statement. “You’d think after a global pandemic of fucking biblical proportions and the impending doom of a dying planet, that humans would have found it deep within themselves to be kinder or more empathetic or something.”
