Album Review: Hayley Williams Perfects Solitude on "Petals for Armor"

The Paramore frontwoman proves she’s ready to go it alone.

It’s important to live by a code, and my personal code is thus: when ranking your favourite songs of the year, try not to feature the same artist twice in the Top 25. That is just sensible playlist-making.

Unfortunately for me, Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams decided not to accommodate my fastidiousness, releasing in quick succession two contenders for song of the year from her solo album Petals for Armor (forgive the American spelling of armour). Now what do I do? To give the same artist the top two places in a playlist of any kind is an invitation for utter chaos.

The first contender is "Simmer", the sinister opening track and tone-setting single full of whispered, witchy incantations (and a magical repetition of the word 'simmer' that morphs into the word 'mercy'). The other is "Cinnamon", a slinky, shape-shifting groove about living alone that slowly reveals its chorus via accumulating overdubs. "Simmer" is an intimate expression of feminist rage ("If my child needed protection from a f***er like that man/ I'd sooner gut him, 'cause nothing cuts like a mother"). "Cinnamon" sees Williams defying the adage that rock is masculine by default, singing over the cascading guitars and sinewy baselines, "Home is where I'm feminine/ Smells like citrus and cinnamon."

Which is better? Which gets cut from the Top 25? Don’t make me choose.

Thankfully, I don’t have to for another six months, and in the meantime, I can just listen to all 15 tracks in this perfectly curated solo debut.

Petals for Armor marks Williams’ first music since 2017’s new wave about-face from energetic pop-punks Paramore, After Laughter (which boasted 2017’s best song: "Hard Times"). Nonetheless, it features collaborations with and production from her Paramore bandmates, and it flirts with punk, emo, calypso and ska, as her band does.

Still, there’s something revelatory about Petals for Armor, from Williams’ emotional nakedness on it (here she deals with depression, divorce, PTSD and hospitalisation) to the musical production that beautifully prioritises her voice. Honestly, it feels like the full realisation of what Paramore has been circling, and what was hinted at on her scene-stealing turn on American Football’s 2019 marital drama "Uncomfortably Numb". This is the culmination. Williams has been a star since she was 16, so her charisma and confidence comes as no surprise. However, now 31, she’s proving she could be an heiress apparent to heavyweights like Stevie Nicks and Fiona Apple too.

There are plenty of highlights, and no lowlights. I love the winding strings and floral metaphors on the gentle, prickly "Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris", and its hypnotic chorus (with an assist from Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker, AKA boygenius). I love the synthesised steel drums on post-denial break up anthem "Dead Horse", in which she admits to being the "other woman first" to ex-husband Chad Gilbert (who gets his just deserts regardless). Even the self-motivational "Over Yet", which comes close to being cloying, is as undeniable as the taped-in-quarantine workout routine she made for its video.

It has to be noted that Petals for Armor does see Williams exploring new musical arenas too. "Sugar on the Rim" has a ballroom-inspired drum machine sound designed for voguing; "Leave It Alone" wonders what Jonny Greenwood’s arrangements would sound like under a female vocalist; and "Watch Me While I Bloom" begins with Hayley experimenting within Bjork’s range (and she pulls it off).

Throughout, Petals for Armor plays like a 'hang in there' letter penned by Williams to herself, and if misheard, it’ll be brushed off as a series of faux-inspirational resilience anthems. Really, it’s an album of 'do as I say, not as I do' advice, from a woman now gone solo in more ways than one, penned in the aftermath of a personal reckoning. If it’s inspirational at all, it’s because Williams maintains in her delivery that she might get things right the next time around. At least musically—with this collection of mysterious, dark melodies—she’s gotten it right the first time.

5/5

Petals for Armor is now available to stream.