Never Retallack | Entertainment Editor
Released on Feb. 6 was lead singer of Paramore, Hayley Williams’, solo song for her new album “Petals for Armor.” The six-song album is quite small, but large in impact, especially when tying in the movie-like music videos she produced. Williams has essentially created a story of darkness, rebirth and self-acceptance, all while producing music that is unique and oddly scary.
“Simmer” is Williams first song on the album. The video features her running through the woods, being chased by something that is not quite visible. She has a light in her chest that is glowing and she seems to be protecting it, naked and vulnerable, she hides behind trees and sings about the dark rage that is “simmering” inside of her.
The song is quite different from that of Paramore, and feels very dark and raw. She croons in a low tone about a man who deserves to be gutted, and it seems as if her rage is creeping in. At one point, she makes it into a house where she covers herself in a thick red-brown clay and the audience sees a cloaked and masked figure come after her. Naked and covered in clay, Williams smashes a bowl over the figure and the audience discovers it is herself beneath the mask.
While not included in the Spotify album, on YouTube, “Simmer Interlude” provides the aftermath of the attack. The now violent Williams drags her other body and huddles over her until a cocoon forms with little music in it, just an eerie “Simmer simmer simmer” being whispered over and over. The video ends with Williams in the cocoon opening an eye with beautiful color adorning her eyelashes.
“Leave it Alone” offers a story of doing okay when everyone else around you is not, and that it is impossible to ignore. Williams sings bitterly of God’s sense of humor and that those around her are dying, all while laying in her cocoon, as a morbidly realistic butterfly-humanoid. The ethereal singing and soft melodies are unique, and the only artist I can tie it to is one like Missy Higgins or Imogen Heap, hauntingly beautiful. Dark string instrumentals create a heavy feeling of foreboding in the stomach. Yet Williams is clawing her way out of her cocoon, reemerging as one entity rather than the two she started with, covered in slime and naked. This is a twisted song of self-acceptance and the understanding that no matter how hard someone tries they can’t change another’s fate.
Just like “Simmer Interlude,” “Leave it Alone Interlude” is not on Spotify, but the video features a newborn Williams — shaky and covered in slime— as she attempts to cover her naked body with the tattered remains of her cocoon. She seems different from how she was in both “Simmer” and “Leave it Alone” — she appears vulnerable and frightened as she approaches the door of the room she is in as the final shot.
The end of Williams’ video series for her album is arguably the most scary, “Cinnamon.” Williams explores her house, and is stalked by human-shaped creatures that are the patterns of her wallpaper or piano, while singing how she feels alone in her home. Once discovering the creatures that follow her she is naturally frightened, until alone with one that slithered out of the bathtub. She begins to move in sync with it, and that is when the shift happens.
Instead of singing of loneliness, she opens her eyes, dressed in colorful garb — gone are the remnants of her cocoon — and she dances with the creatures of her house belting out that she is not lonely, but rather she is free.
What is so brilliant about this series, despite only covering the first three songs of “Petals for Armor,” is that it is a complete story with a beginning, middle and end.
This horror-esque music series provided a story of accepting that there is a dark side to everyone and that you have to let it in to fully accept yourself. Williams danced and sang her way to provide a piece of art.
Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu
Photos courtesy of petalsforamor.com
