PARAMORE RELEASE COLLABORATIVE ALBUM “Re: This Is Why”
Paramore - Re: This Is Why
Eight months after releasing their first album in six years, pop-punk band Paramore released a reinterpretation of This Is Why last Friday. (Re)titled Re: This Is Why, the album is a collaborative work featuring both covers and remixes by eleven featured artists, from Australian DJ Zane Lowe, to jazz duo DOMi & JD BECK, to singer/songwriter Remi Wolf. The album also features a demo of previously unreleased “Sanity”, rounding out a diverse, experimental, and completely re-worked tracklist.
Credit: zacharygray
Where some of the featured artists choose to rework Paramore’s original vocal tracks and into their remixes (as in Foals’ groovy, dance-electronic remix of the title track), other tracks feature new vocals, like “Thick Skull (Re: Julien Baker)”, where indie musician Julien Baker delivers a strummy, acoustic, unpolished reinterpretation. Other featured artists on the album take their reinterpretations in decidedly un-Paramore directions, like indie/electronic artist Panda Bear’s quiet, ethereal cover of “Running Out of Time” or DOMi & JD BECK’s smooth jazz remix of “Big Man, Little Dignity”.
Many of the tracks on the collaborative album fit into a growing niche in the indie/alternative genre that features soft, sultry female vocalists and grungy instrumentals — tracks like “Liar (Re: Romy)”, “Cést Comme Ça (Re: Wet Leg)”, and “Thick Skull (Re: Julien Baker)” are reminiscent of the music of indie artists like Mitski, Grimes, and Phoebe Bridgers. These covers keep Paramore’s original work, and the band itself, “with the times” so to speak, even as Paramore approaches the end of its second decade as a band.
Re: This Is Why gives Paramore fans a chance to listen to the band’s music through new lenses, and even hear what the band might have sounded like with the absence of Hayley Williams’ incredibly distinct, polished vocals. Both This Is Why and Re: This Is Why are available to stream on Spotify, and if you’re looking for an easy way to listen to the albums back to back, you can check out Paramore’s Spotify page for their curated playlist.
By: Honore Schmidt
