"I was like, This is heaven." Hayley Williams reveals the first song she ever wrote with Paramore, and the first song that made her cry as an emo teenager

Paramore performs private concert for fans at Helio store on November 14, 2007 in Santa Monica, California. — (Image credit: Barry King/WireImage)

Paramore's Hayley Williams has shared a couple of her formative musical memories, revealing the first song that she ever wrote with the Tennessee pop-punk band, and the first song that ever made her cry.

In a new 'Music History' interview with Vulture, 36-year-old Williams says that the first song she wrote with Paramore guitarist Josh Farro and their bandmates was Conspiracy, which emerged as track eight on the Franklin band's Fueled By Ramen debut album, 2005's All We Know Is Falling.

"The first song I wrote by myself was At Night," she reveals. "I’m sure it was just the most dramatic thing you can imagine. But the first song I ever wrote with the Paramore guys was Conspiracy. I came to band practice with them and we did not know there was going to be a song at the end of the day.

"I had a poem that I brought written on a sheet of paper and they had music and it was sick. It sounded like Thursday’s Standing on the Edge of Summer, or Understanding in a Car Crash. I was like, This is heaven. And we left that day with our first song."

Admitting that she was an "emo" teenager, in the same interview Williams also reveals the first song that made her cry.

"I have a distinct memory of staring out the window of my mom’s car and Semisonic’s Closing Time was playing," she says. "I felt really like it just got to me. Still could. End of a school day, I can still remember the street we were on in Meridian, coming home from school and just being like, I don’t want my mom to see me crying. And I don’t think that was even because it was Closing Time. I was trying to be tough. That song just will do it to you."

Williams recently released 17 new songs on streaming services. The songs were originally surprise-released as an album, Ego, available only to those making an online purchase from her hair dye company, Good Dye Young.

Artists

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.