Spin listens to new Paramore album

Spin recently had the privilege of listening to six tracks of the forthcoming Paramore album 'Brand New Eyes'. Here are their thoughts, track by track, from the article:

"Playing God":

When Hayley Williams is pissed off…take cover! Over spiky electric guitar riffs, the siren seems to take aim at her own group: "You don't deserve a point of view, if the only thing you see is you / Next time you point a finger, point it to the mirror!" Farro soon joins the chant, and the song caps with the two locked in a heated call-and-response. "This is your last chance," screams Williams. "I'll point you to the mirror!" replies Farro.

"Turn It Off":

This slow acoustic song is a meditation on the trials of religious belief, with Williams at her most exposed. "I scraped my knees when I was praying and found a demon / It's getting hard to believe in anything / I'm seeing everyone I looked up to break and bending," she confesses, in a soft conversational tone, while a guitar plays gently alongside. "The worst part is before you get any better you hit the bottom / But in the free fall, I realized I'm better off when I hit the bottom."

"The Only Exception":

Sounds like somebody's been listening to Coldplay! This anthem is about finding and understanding love after spending a lifetime avoiding it, and Williams and Co. deliver the message with a newfound tenderness. "Maybe I know somewhere deep in my soul where love never lasts," she sings over acoustic strums. "Up until now I was convinced I was happy being alone / But you are the only exception."

"Brick By Boring Brick":

Move over Green Day, Paramore have their own epic. On this five-minute-plus track—the fivesome's most expansive and accomplished yet—Williams sings a narrative about a fallen fairytale princess, nodding to her own semi-charmed rock-star life. "Keep your feet on the ground / When your head's in the clouds," she spits, and then the full band chimes in: "Ba da da ba da dada." Prepare to sing along.

"Where the Lines Overlap":

This stadium-eyeing rocker is a celebration of the band's triumph over setbacks and squabbles. "No one is as lucky as us! / I've never been happier," Williams declares. "I get the feeling that if I sang it loud enough, you'd sing it back to me!" Navigating numerous stops and starts, Paramore closes with the full-band chant, "No one's as lucky as us!" They might be right.

"Ignorance":

Williams told SPIN this tune is about feeling "judged, singled out, and betrayed" by her bandmates. "Ignorance is your new best friend / You treat me just like a stranger / I guess I'll be on my way out," she sings over gritty, nü-metal guitars. The song is the album's first single, and was released earlier this summer. Listen here.