
(Credit: Album cover)
When playing in a massive rock band, working with the same people can become more than a little monotonous. Even if everyone is on the same creative page, there comes a point when exploration and collaboration with different textures outside the usual comfort zone become enticing. While Paramore has made it a habit to change their sound on nearly every record, Hayley Williams revealed that there is still one artist on her collaboration bucket list.
Looking at the evolution of Paramore’s studio output, it tends to feel like listening to completely different bands. While they may have started as part of the pop-punk scene with albums like All We Know Is Falling and Riot!, Williams made it a habit of stretching beyond the confines of the genre every time they went into the studio, embracing pop sensibilities on Brand New Eyes and turning to pop on their self-titled album.
For all genre switches between every record, the group still knew how to showcase their rock credentials. While a song like ‘Ain’t It Fun’ fits in closer to the sounds of ska acts like No Doubt, a track like ‘Now’ remains one of the heaviest tracks they have ever released, which left the audience dumbfounded when they traded it in for synthesisers on After Laughter.
Then again, some artistic changes may also come down to the various lineups. While there have been more than a few constants in the band, like Taylor York and Zac Ferro, the group would go through shakeups throughout their early years, including half of the band walking out after Brand New Eyes, leaving them down to a trio.
While each lineup invites a different creative energy in the studio, Williams thought there was one genre she hadn’t touched on yet. For all of the great elements of pop and rock scattered throughout her discography, Williams still wanted the opportunity to work with Eminem somewhere down the line.
Having had his own creative reinventions across his career, Williams always wanted to work off of ‘Slim Shady’s approach to music, saying, “I think Eminem is the dream collaboration! I mean, it’s random because Paramore, well, obviously Paramore and Eminem are two completely separate artists, but I don’t know, that just makes it that much cooler to me”.
Then again, the idea of working with hip-hop artists isn’t out of left field for Williams. Outside of Paramore, Williams would see one of her biggest hits in the 2010s when she collaborated with rising rapper B.o.B. for the song ‘Airplanes’, as well as lent her skills to various dance tracks like ‘Stay the Night’ by Zedd.
Rock isn’t even the only creative outlet for Williams, either. Throughout her first two solo albums, Williams created music that felt more in line with art-rock than anything commercial, stretching her muscles in various indie genres. Since she has been able to wear different sonic costumes throughout her career, there’s no telling if the next phase of Paramore’s career has Eminem contributing to a track.