Petals For Armor - Hayley Williams (2020) REVIEW

People often react to change negatively, so when Hayley Williams has been the face of Paramore for half her life - this solo release was bound to be daunting for her. It probably occurred to her that she didn’t need to associate her growth primarily with Paramore and work on something for herself. Which is somewhat easy when your best friendship just so happens to be with insanely talented producer Taylor York. While it was one of the hardest periods of time for many, this full-length release provided reassurance that it’s okay to grow and change.

The journey of self discovery within Petals For Armor begins with track ‘Simmer’, introduced as the lead single about repressed anger and femininity. The track opens with ‘rage is a quiet thing’, equipped with raw emotion that explains controlling her craze… ‘Gotta simmer, simmer, simmer, simmer down’. Then we hear the album title ‘Wrap yourself in petals for armor’, embracing the concept of shielding oneself with vulnerability.

After returning from touring in 2018 with intention to take time off, Hayley’s therapist encouraged her to write again - and ‘Leave It Alone’ was born. The track touches on fear of loss and the bitter feeling behind it in lyrics ‘tastes so bitter on my tongue’. While ‘Cinnamon’ exudes an upbeat, playful energy, voicing thoughts of being at ease with being by alone - ‘I’m not lonely baby, I am free’. This track is full of intense lyrics, emphasising the theme of femininity throughout this full-length - ‘home is where I’m feminine, smells like citrus and cinnamon’.This track is the first instance we’re met with a homage to Bjork with the diction/pronunciation of some words that clearly take some inspiration from her.

‘Creepin’’ explores a different tone to the rest of the album but shares the same wavelength as ‘Sudden Desire’ in terms of lyrics rather than the beats. ‘Sudden Desire’ weaves strong harmonies into the blunt sounding ‘down’ repeated in Hayley’s lower range, something she didn’t explore freely in Paramore. Williams uses effective imagery to envision a theme in this track, ‘Take the elephant by the hand and hold it, it's cruel to tame a thing that don’t know its strength’.

Some say ‘Dead Horse’ could be the undoing of hit Paramore single ‘Still Into You’ (2013) with lyrics ‘I sang along, a shitty, never-ending song’ in ‘Dead Horse’, a different perspective to ‘We sang along to the start of forever’ in ‘Still Into You’. Every track on this full-length is deserving of its place, Hayley seems to have crafted her own aura, evident in ‘My Friend’, ‘Over Yet’ and ‘Taken’. Proceeding to hypnotise us with dreamy ‘Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris’, using ‘garden’ as a metaphor and includes the flower imagery in ‘think of all the wilted women’. Hayley has explained how the concept of ‘Petals For Armor’ is a vision of flowers coming out of her as she learns about herself, the imagery of her effectively blooming - ‘Watch Me While I Bloom’.

Enchanting ‘Pure Love’ displays Hayley’s complete vocal range beautifully, belting out crisp notes in her higher register and also excelling perfectly in her lower register. While she proclaims funk-driven ‘Sugar On The Rim’ “is for the gays”, an upbeat anthem which will most definitely be the soundtrack for a few drag queens filling the floor. Last but not least, cleansing ‘Crystal Clear’ is ethereal - this track has so many parallels to the ‘After Laughter’ (2017) track ‘Pool’ due to the water imagery. The track closes ‘Petals For Armor’ as a happier ode to Paramore’s ‘After Laughter’, spelling out how she now feels free inside the whimsical world created.

In this release it allows us to walk through Hayley’s mind, her lyrics are so poetic and genius - so that you resonate with her feelings through listening to her music. With Hayley being so raw and transparent with her journey through ‘Petals For Armor’, it reiterates the message of unapologetic femininity.