Elton John spoke with Hayley Williams for the latest edition of his “Rocket Hour” show for Apple Music. In the past couple of years the music legend was very enthusiastic about Paramore’s last studio album, After Laughter. This time they spoke about Hayley’s solo album, but also about the evolution of Hayley’s music – both in Paramore and solo.
“What do you say to people who are listening to this album? This is you, right?”, he asked. “Yeah, yeah. Man, it’s a big question because life keeps moving,” Hayley replies. “Even as you write you’re putting down something that you’re going through or maybe that you have hindsight for, but you’re still moving, right? So a lot of the things that I was writing about they’ve already sort of evolved and twisted, some of them twisted in on themselves, some of them could sort of twisted open.”
“I guess, really at 31, I am only just now learning how to romance myself. And I think it’s really underrated. And now we’re all stuck at home a lot of us, and you’re with your thoughts and you’re with your being. So learning how to slow down and think about what makes me feel and what makes me hear music, or what makes me feel I’m in a scene in a movie. Romanticism I think is a big part of it for me. And it’s difficult to balance the bleakness of reality with romance and I’m trying to learn that every day.”
Elton John: “Sounds like the making and the run-up to this album was a bit of an epiphany for you.”
Hayley Williams: “Yeah, for sure it was. Yeah. But it happened slowly in little parts. It was many epiphanies that just dominoed.”
Elton John: “Yeah. Well, I’m glad. You seem to be in a really good space.”
Hayley Williams: “Thank you.”
Elton John: “It takes a while for you to figure things out in life. It took me until I was 43, until I started to figure out that I needed to change and I needed to take a new direction and think about what I’d been going through. The fact that you’re doing this at 31 years of age will stand you in really good stead. The writing on this album is so beautiful, and it’s very raw, and it’s very touching, and it’s one of my favorite albums of the year. So I really want to thank you for doing it.”
The interview will be available on Apple Music, this Saturday.
