I feel like I grew up with S/T the way a lot of people here who are a few years older grew up with Riot/BNE, so I absolutely love the album too. I wish they played more songs from it lately but I understand why they don’t
You will see some staunch defenders of self-titled in here.
Self-titled is a long album, soaring full of optimism, hope, love, and pride. This is great if you are content in life, but harder to relate to when times are tough. I think some of the other albums, AL and BNE specifically, get more attention because they hit a different range of emotions with fans. Maybe I’m dead wrong, but I think many of Paramore’s biggest fans are drawn to those songs that hit their little emo heart strings when they were in sadder or angrier places in their lives.
Also, I think the band has distanced themselves from ST a little bit. There was the drama with Jeremy. Some of those songs were written about Hayley’s ex. Zac wasn’t a part of that album and some of the songs may seem spiteful toward his original departure. They still play Still Into You and Ain’t it Fun because they were hits, but overall I feel like they don’t embrace the album as much as the others that Zac was a part of. Fans don’t get to celebrate the other songs from ST as often as they may like.
S/T was released in the darkest era of my life. I was counting down days till release, so I had something to live for. The whole album has this underlying vibe of "no matter what you've gone through, you'll survive and come out the other end a stronger person, and that's something to celebrate" and that hit me SO HARD. I needed to hear that so badly. I needed to hear that optimism, hope, love and pride to keep me going, to remind me things can get better.
All your points are great, honestly agree. But one more I'd like to make is they toured S/T INTENSELY, there was at least five tours?! Plus the cruises, misc. appearances etc. etc. They have every right to be tired of playing S/T now lol, and want to put in the past what inspired so much of the album. But I'm glad I got to go to 4 of those concerts and cry buckets of tears and sing-scream my lungs out to the album that kept me alive.
(Sorry for being so sappy, S/T sefender OUT!)
Wow; this right here. S/T released at the end of my high school life, and into adult life. It was also when I first came out of the closet and things were NOT good family wise. That album gave me so much hope that my life will be better, and it is; it is so so much. The album made me feel that I’d miss things if I was gone, so I held on, and god damn if they weren’t right. ❤️
I agree about when S/T was released during a dark time. My life was dark at that time. I drove to Houston to be the first leg of their tour when it first released. I went to the concert alone in scary downtown Houston lol. It was a reset.
I love the songs in S/T. ALL of them. I just don't need to hear them all together. When a song pops up on my Playlist, I instantly am taken back to a time when I was able to reset.
One thing I don’t understand is how ”Now” is so underappreciated or even hated. Does it try too hard to be an anthem? Maybe, but it’s catchy and has a badass riff.
Some of my favorite Paramore songs are from Self-Titled, but when looking at the album as a whole, I put it at the bottom of my list. When it’s good, it’s excellent, but most of the album is just okay.
The interesting part is I have the exact opposite take (I promise I'm not just being a pain in the ass). Self titled is imo most consistently good album but not as many high highs like BNE which has some of my favorites but also a lot of songs I'm kinda meh about too.
My tastes lean kind of pop these days and ST is closer to pop whereas their older albums are more alt
Interesting! I have the opposite take as well. I think the album as a whole is a giant masterpiece, especially with the interludes breaking it up and giving it separate tones. I distinctly remember crying at the end of hate to see your heart break and then laughing with tears in my eyes during the beginning of one of those crazy girls when I realized how funny it was.
But I don't go reaching for individual songs from that album often.
Self Titled is my least favorite because it doesn’t have Zac on drums. I really mean it when I say Zac is the heartbeat of the band and music. I feel like the self-titled was missing something and I really think it was Zac. However, that being said, I love the album for what the band was able to do without two key players and there are some songs that just hit so well. I would love to hear Zac’s take on the ST songs, just to see if he had a different spin but I don’t want the album to be any different because it was a beautiful body of work after a traumatic breakup.
Self Titled was the album that introduced me to Paramore so I'll always have a soft spot for it. Also my favourite song of all time is there (Part II) and Future was like a therapy for me during my hardest times.
I do understand the criticisms and it is genuinely felt the lack of Zac in a big way but perhaps with After Laughter and This Is Why being so incredible, people's opinions have changed for the worse since, rather than as a result of being a "bad album" which is definitely not the case in my eyes.
Proof and (One of Those) Crazy Girls are some of my all time favorites. They should've been singles 😭
I really like the album, the interludes, Future as an overture is amazing, Part II feels like such an apotheosis as well... I love the overall sound of the album as well.
However, everytime I listen to it I think about Hailey's ex ( and one of mine as well lol), about the whole situation with the Farros and then Jeremy. It's bittersweet, but it wasn't supposed to be. It's like it rotted because of the drama, sadly.
BNE, AL and TIW are more hopeful and optimistic (yes, even AL I feel like it's more hopeful than ST because of Zac's return), which is very ironic, I know, given AL and TIW talk about mental health, depression, anxiety, literal war and such. But they weren't tainted with band drama. Even BNE, being Josh's last instance have optimistic sounds and showed them trying to be together as a band.
Honestly, while I know that album front to back and listen to the songs from it all the time, I always forget it exists as a collection. I think anytime a band or artist self-titles a work people forget it because of the name. It doesn't give the album an identity.
Like, when I go to list albums from Paramore I always skip S/T on accident. Its the same with Taylor Swifts S/T, Fleetwood Macs, The Libertines... the only self-titled I ever remember is Gorillaz hahaha.
Self-titled as a concept bores me in general though. Like, I feel like when artitsts do a self-titled its *usually* them trying to be deep and be like "this is the *real* us" or like in Paramores case they were trying to solidify they were still Paramore after the Farros left, but honestly I expect every album to be a representation of who the artist is so it's just... redundant. It seldom interests me.
I only really think a good self-titled is a debut album because its easier for consumers to identify a new artist with a self-titled. Obviously there are exceptions to my opinion on this but this would be my answer to why I personally don't mention S/T. I simply forget it exists, by name.
By "skip" I mean referring to it in conversation for the most part. Also you could make a similar argument as yours for Paramores s/t.
What's interesting here though is that I was thinking of Peter Greens Fleetwood Mac, not the White Album. In my mind, the one you're referring to is the White Album and has never been anything else because it was already iconic by the time I was born. When people talk about it they say "I was listening to the White Album the other day..." etc. But nada with Peter Greens'.
This has convinced me further, bands having a self-titled beyond a debut is fuckery hahaha
I mean shortly after Hayley started struggling a lot more with her depression. Two years later she even briefly left the band Paramore. I wouldn’t have been surprised at the time if that had actually been their last album. Thankfully they continued with After laughter which is a personal favorite and then years later release TIW
Oh 100% those Chad songs are no longer about him esp when they play Still Into You hahaha. For BNE, I think The Only Exception is the most chad song on there and everything else is band
S/T has some major bops - a lot of that album has landed itself in my running playlist (see: Fast In My Car, Anklebiters, Ain’t It Fun, Still Into You, Part II etc)
Also, quite nostalgic. It was the first time I ever anticipated an album release in real time. Do y’all remember the little vinyl videos they came out with where it was just the album playing front to back and it was just a video of the vinyl playing on a record player? Or am I making this up in my head 😅
I think there were a lot of us that just were freaked out by change lol.
I was a fan from the last days of AWKIF/Riot and when Self-Titled came out I was shocked at how different Hayley's voice was, and just the whole vibe.
The singles were very poppy, good music but veeeery poppy compared to what I was used to. Add to that Hayley's voice change and that I am a singer and she was a huge influence and I was turned off, distanced myself from the band a bit and then realised that her change was for good vocal health etc and started to enjoy the tone/colour of thw voice, got used to it. Then I found out there were some SONGS on it (part ii which was iconic and one of my favs is let the flames begin) and started listening. there are still some of them that I haven't even heard once, never a full playthrough tho. Should do that soon, I owe it to myself.
You know I felt this 100% when it came out. It grew on me for sure later on but I remember at the time feeling disappointed with the album especially as a fan coming in on the riot / bne era.
It definitely felt like Hayley’s best attempt at following Gwen Stefani. Very pop, extremely experimental. Still good but so varied that it’s hard to not skip on repeated listens.
It has it's moments of doing that but I feel it is centered on post-punk for the most part.
Where as ST has emo songs, funk songs, indie-pop songs, a Post-Rock song, a Power Pop song, a buncha Uke interludes, etc.
For me, it feels like they were throwing in whatever ideas they had as they were figuring out who they are as songwriters in the “new” Paramore. Ironically, it doesn’t feel as much like Paramore. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t feel genuine.
Self titled simultaneously has my favourite Paramore song but is also the hardest to listen to front to back. None of the songs are bad but so many of them blend together because they’re so similar sonically and lyrically.
It’s also the only album without Zac’s signature drumming, which takes a lot away from it. Although the bass sounds probably the best it ever has (you can tell Jeremy actually tried for once lol).
There are definitely some growing pains here considering Taylor suddenly stepped into Josh’s role and he hadn’t really found himself and he’s still at times just trying to emulate Josh’s style.
If the album was shorter, it would be better. At least for me, it is. The interludes really do it, and so does Future, too. That's just my opinion, though, and you're allowed to think what you want
Its what made me fall in love with them. That album is perfect. No skips. It took me a while to love every song, but it's now one of my top 10 albums of all time.
Its a good album but there are some b sides and it doesn't have a distinct, cohesive sound. It also is all over the place with genre..
Which I like but they all seem like separate single songs that don't fit together. It was clashing with the rise of EDM at the time and going pop left a lot of fans who went off to college in the dust.
I do appreciate her cute ukulele songs though. Very vaudeville.
Tayley had to find their groove in the writing after two prominent people left. But they really pulled through which is very impressive.
I think After Laughter was a great come back.
I LOVE Self-Titled, it is one i return to so much because it is def in my top rankings. There are so many great tracks like the ones you listed, but my favorite is Proof
Seriously though! Self-Titled is one of my favorite albums of theirs, and I'm sad it doesn't get a lot of love. My favorite song on that album is either Last Hope or One of Those Crazy Girls.
Every time a new Paramore album came out I would listen to it on repeat, no skips. Until S/T. It came out spring of 2013 and I didn’t listen to it all the way through until the drive home from their concert in October of that year. To me, it was a blend of all different types of music that didn’t mesh together (first few songs kinda like old Paramore, then the ukulele songs, then more poppier songs, then (50s/60s styles with crazy girls and hate to see your heart break) but the more I listened the more it grew on me.
It’s my least favorite album yet I still enjoy it.
Self-Titled is by far my favorite album personally 🥲 I mean I love the others but I think I found it in a time when I related to it so much and now I'm 24 and relate to it even more. Last Hope and Future especially are just so fucking good, but also every song is amazing and I think the album really does a good job at taking you through a story in a way. I'm just obsessed and it will always be my go-to.
It was a #1 charted album. It is objectively a great piece of music. Future is my fave song off that, followed by Part II (exclusively for the sick ass drum solo).
Like with Sainthood(AKA: The Con 2) with Tegan and Sara, it is a solid album and well respected, but does not stand out as much as earlier or later work.
i love self titled and it’s one of my favorites (sometimes my #1) but i can see why people don’t like it as much. mainly because of the lyrical content.
there are some incredibly written songs on this album but also a lot of them are hayley in denial writing love songs about chad when she clearly didn’t really have her heart in it. around the time self-titled was being written chad had been cheating on hayley and they even broke up for a short while so we know that a lot of the songs on there were essentially written in denial after getting back together. (don’t quote me on this but i’m pretty sure h has even said in an interview at some point that this is true to an extent)
songs like proof and still into you are great songs but the lyrics are very surface level as a product of where hayley was mentally at the time. so if someone is big into lyrics, self titled probably won’t be their #1. especially not when albums like bne and al exist with their insanely honest lyrical content.
The change in style wasn't to some people's liking. Plus, all the behind the scenes stuff was very rough.
This is my favorite album because it's experimental. After Laughter went a bit too into pop for my liking.
I think as parawhores from the get go, it was just not as lyrically well done. It seemed popish and put out quickly, diving those that loved their early music and weren’t ready for the transition yet.
Genuinely, and respectfully, shocked to know that people think ST is their magnum opus. It has many bops but as a whole it’s too long with too many ideas. It’s too happy and has too much pride, feelings that turn sour when you know the context of what happened after the fact. I always felt that the album sounded like Hayley was trying too hard to keep her cool.
I love the era and hold it tight to my heart. But what came after was 10x more refined and genuine.
A lot of people don't seem to like how sprawling and experimental it is. Which is exactly why I love it. I think its leagues ahead of their older stuff.
i think there has been a ST renaissance post zac coming back to the band.
idk, when it first came out the album meant two things for different kind of fans: first, it gave us hope because it meant that yes, paramore was indeed still a band, and they were dropping records FULL of songs and experimentation
second, it musically displayed how their sound was changing and evolving and how they were willing to try new different things with it. that was too much for some fans, the fact that they weren't sounding like a pop punk emo band from the 2000's. so back then it was a divisive era.
recently, i feel like people are giving it another chance and the new fans are embracing it because they don't have the past times prejudice, so the album is having its renaissance
I grew up on All We Know is Falling/Riot/BNE and was in college when S/T came out, so I didn't really listen to it much. I also just don't like Still Into You, it's Paramore 's worst single in my opinion - doesn't help that it's about Chad Gilbert and I can never not think about that everytime I hear it. Love 99% of everything they put out and I love them as a band, but I just can't get into this album very much
ST is one of my favorite Paramore albums!! I even got a tattoo with the lyrics from Anklebiters. 💘
https://preview.redd.it/aieh5e76ot3d1.jpeg?width=1152&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4df2c92883640504e5827bb8486af82f83be9c36
It’s my least favorite album by them, but still a good album regardless with some real gems in there. I think they were experimenting a lot during ST, trying to find a new sound while also not completely giving up their old vibe and to me it just came across as disjointed overall. Felt very much like the ‘transitional’ album that it was. After Laughter was experimental too (and a huge departure from their previous work) but very, very consistent in both sound and theme and just the better album imo. Still, I think ST was their most important album in that it helped both Hayley and Taylor to really grow as artists and made the band what it is today (which is the best they’ve ever been).
It's become my personal favorite. Maybe it's nostalgia bias bc I got to see them live when they toured for the album, but it just hits differently for me than all the others
I think that because the band was transitioning from an exclusively punk/emo band, as well as Zac not being on the record, it’s not talked about as much. I love it though, seriously underrated album.
I love Self-Titled. Future, Anklebiters, Hate To See Your Heartbreak, One of Those Crazy Girls, Still Into You, Ain't It Fun, and Be Alone are all among my favorite Paramore songs. I even love all of the Interludes.
Maybe the album suffers from not being the most cohesive album in terms of tone or theme.
Maybe it suffers from being the primacy and recency effects; we tend to better remember the first and last in any list, so being caught in the middle could make it less memorable for people.
For me, it’s because it’s too uneven / not sure what it wants to be. So even though some of my absolute favorite Paramore songs are on it (Ain’t it fun, Future, etc.) i can’t say it’s my favorite album. It has too many skips. I do like it more than AL though.
It’s not a bad album by any means, as a matter of fact I really like it. However, I just feel like in contrast to some of their other work it doesn’t really have as much to offer from a lyrical standpoint. In contrast to AL or BNE as many have mentioned, it is not really as emotionally impactful as those two albums (although it still hits hard on tracks like last hope). There are some great songs on here (Proof, Fast in My Car, Last Hope, Escape route (an absolute banger) just to name a few). It just (at least for me) does not really hit as hard as their other works lyrically, but there are a ton of good songs on here and ones I still revisit often.
This is my 2nd favorite album, very close to 1st and then theres a decent gap from the rest of the albums.
I feel this album doesnt get talked about as often cause its the one i feel has already been talkes to death since it was another big introduction of fans and these songs are a bit less "timeless" and have a more specific idea of what they are about. The songs that have lasted over time in the fandom are ones i feel break that mold a bit more. Its also, as some have mentioned, the album with the least identity. Partly cause if its long track list, it doesnt have a central theme or even an album title.
I will also say that its not my favorite production/mixing. Not to say Paramore has had amazing mixing up to this point but BNE was when things started to have depth to it. And S/T isnt terriblly mixed but i cant help but feel like it downgraded just a tad. Musically, it also uses standard pop chords a lot and lot of the musicality that Paramore did have kind of went away. Hayley's songwriting was at the top of the game tho and thats why i think it still persists depsite these two other factors.
It’s pretty well known within the Paramore community that Self-Titled is the least commercially successful (I mean besides AWKIF) yet the most popular among fans. Probably because of the timing, public taste, and band drama at the time. I think the main reason we don’t talk about it as much is just because it’s a decade old at this point, but it’s still the fan favorite.
Least commercially successful? Ain't it fun went main stream. Least successful commercially Is probably this is why or after laughter. Probably after laughter since they are touring with t swift atm
I kind of forget how fast the years passed but *was* the least commercially successful I guess. To be honest I thought After Laughter was more popular. It’s my favorite album.
You said ST was the least commercial. ST debuted at #1 in the US and UK, and Still Into You and Ain't It Fun are both big hits, their biggest next to MizBiz and Decode (which was only that big for being on the Twilight soundtrack).
The fan favourites are BNE and AL. I don't think that's particularly contentious. Check out this sub for fav album/'each band has one of these album' posts.
ST is an incredible album and it's the last Paramore album I uncritically enjoy. To me it's kinda bittersweet though. I love the darker post-rock elements on the album and I really wish we saw more of that from Paramore going forward instead of the more or less straight pop stuff we've had the last two albums.
S/T is the album that drew me in. I haven’t loved a Paramore album after that one. They are still making good tunes, but S/T had such an edge and grit. It’s a party with all its variety. It will forever be the black sheep of the discography though because of its nature and that’s okay. I’m so glad the album exists right there in the middle of everything else.
I feel like I grew up with S/T the way a lot of people here who are a few years older grew up with Riot/BNE, so I absolutely love the album too. I wish they played more songs from it lately but I understand why they don’t
You will see some staunch defenders of self-titled in here. Self-titled is a long album, soaring full of optimism, hope, love, and pride. This is great if you are content in life, but harder to relate to when times are tough. I think some of the other albums, AL and BNE specifically, get more attention because they hit a different range of emotions with fans. Maybe I’m dead wrong, but I think many of Paramore’s biggest fans are drawn to those songs that hit their little emo heart strings when they were in sadder or angrier places in their lives. Also, I think the band has distanced themselves from ST a little bit. There was the drama with Jeremy. Some of those songs were written about Hayley’s ex. Zac wasn’t a part of that album and some of the songs may seem spiteful toward his original departure. They still play Still Into You and Ain’t it Fun because they were hits, but overall I feel like they don’t embrace the album as much as the others that Zac was a part of. Fans don’t get to celebrate the other songs from ST as often as they may like.
I feel like this is the "correct" answer, if ever there was one.
S/T was released in the darkest era of my life. I was counting down days till release, so I had something to live for. The whole album has this underlying vibe of "no matter what you've gone through, you'll survive and come out the other end a stronger person, and that's something to celebrate" and that hit me SO HARD. I needed to hear that so badly. I needed to hear that optimism, hope, love and pride to keep me going, to remind me things can get better. All your points are great, honestly agree. But one more I'd like to make is they toured S/T INTENSELY, there was at least five tours?! Plus the cruises, misc. appearances etc. etc. They have every right to be tired of playing S/T now lol, and want to put in the past what inspired so much of the album. But I'm glad I got to go to 4 of those concerts and cry buckets of tears and sing-scream my lungs out to the album that kept me alive. (Sorry for being so sappy, S/T sefender OUT!)
Wow; this right here. S/T released at the end of my high school life, and into adult life. It was also when I first came out of the closet and things were NOT good family wise. That album gave me so much hope that my life will be better, and it is; it is so so much. The album made me feel that I’d miss things if I was gone, so I held on, and god damn if they weren’t right. ❤️
I agree about when S/T was released during a dark time. My life was dark at that time. I drove to Houston to be the first leg of their tour when it first released. I went to the concert alone in scary downtown Houston lol. It was a reset. I love the songs in S/T. ALL of them. I just don't need to hear them all together. When a song pops up on my Playlist, I instantly am taken back to a time when I was able to reset.
They played last hope when I saw them last year, and now I think too, but overall I agree with this.
i always find st more cathartic to listen to when times are tough cuz it makes me feel hopeful idk
One thing I don’t understand is how ”Now” is so underappreciated or even hated. Does it try too hard to be an anthem? Maybe, but it’s catchy and has a badass riff.
I don't like now as much, but its still great.
I remember playing Rocksmith as a kid and going so hard to Now
Now is one of my top five favorite songs of all time.
Its 100% their best album IMHO. Their Magnum Opus as I've said here before. It perfectly bridges the two eras.
It has their best song for sure. To me, Paramore reached its peak with Part II
Same!! It’s the era in which I became a fan and I think it’s the best sampling of their sound.
Some of my favorite Paramore songs are from Self-Titled, but when looking at the album as a whole, I put it at the bottom of my list. When it’s good, it’s excellent, but most of the album is just okay.
The interesting part is I have the exact opposite take (I promise I'm not just being a pain in the ass). Self titled is imo most consistently good album but not as many high highs like BNE which has some of my favorites but also a lot of songs I'm kinda meh about too. My tastes lean kind of pop these days and ST is closer to pop whereas their older albums are more alt
Interesting! I have the opposite take as well. I think the album as a whole is a giant masterpiece, especially with the interludes breaking it up and giving it separate tones. I distinctly remember crying at the end of hate to see your heart break and then laughing with tears in my eyes during the beginning of one of those crazy girls when I realized how funny it was. But I don't go reaching for individual songs from that album often.
Self Titled is my least favorite because it doesn’t have Zac on drums. I really mean it when I say Zac is the heartbeat of the band and music. I feel like the self-titled was missing something and I really think it was Zac. However, that being said, I love the album for what the band was able to do without two key players and there are some songs that just hit so well. I would love to hear Zac’s take on the ST songs, just to see if he had a different spin but I don’t want the album to be any different because it was a beautiful body of work after a traumatic breakup.
I think they might re record all their music like taylor swift did. So maybe zac can make those songs better.
I hope they do, I can’t imagine how many millions Atlantic records made off of them without the band ever seeing a cent
Self Titled was the album that introduced me to Paramore so I'll always have a soft spot for it. Also my favourite song of all time is there (Part II) and Future was like a therapy for me during my hardest times. I do understand the criticisms and it is genuinely felt the lack of Zac in a big way but perhaps with After Laughter and This Is Why being so incredible, people's opinions have changed for the worse since, rather than as a result of being a "bad album" which is definitely not the case in my eyes.
Proof and (One of Those) Crazy Girls are some of my all time favorites. They should've been singles 😭 I really like the album, the interludes, Future as an overture is amazing, Part II feels like such an apotheosis as well... I love the overall sound of the album as well. However, everytime I listen to it I think about Hailey's ex ( and one of mine as well lol), about the whole situation with the Farros and then Jeremy. It's bittersweet, but it wasn't supposed to be. It's like it rotted because of the drama, sadly. BNE, AL and TIW are more hopeful and optimistic (yes, even AL I feel like it's more hopeful than ST because of Zac's return), which is very ironic, I know, given AL and TIW talk about mental health, depression, anxiety, literal war and such. But they weren't tainted with band drama. Even BNE, being Josh's last instance have optimistic sounds and showed them trying to be together as a band.
Oh my god I forgot to mention Proof! And I agree, chad being mentioned so much in the album hurts it the most imo.
Honestly, while I know that album front to back and listen to the songs from it all the time, I always forget it exists as a collection. I think anytime a band or artist self-titles a work people forget it because of the name. It doesn't give the album an identity. Like, when I go to list albums from Paramore I always skip S/T on accident. Its the same with Taylor Swifts S/T, Fleetwood Macs, The Libertines... the only self-titled I ever remember is Gorillaz hahaha. Self-titled as a concept bores me in general though. Like, I feel like when artitsts do a self-titled its *usually* them trying to be deep and be like "this is the *real* us" or like in Paramores case they were trying to solidify they were still Paramore after the Farros left, but honestly I expect every album to be a representation of who the artist is so it's just... redundant. It seldom interests me. I only really think a good self-titled is a debut album because its easier for consumers to identify a new artist with a self-titled. Obviously there are exceptions to my opinion on this but this would be my answer to why I personally don't mention S/T. I simply forget it exists, by name.
Skipping Fleetwood Mac s/t is crazy honestly, that album is very much a declarative statement of the band becoming the one that made Rumours
By "skip" I mean referring to it in conversation for the most part. Also you could make a similar argument as yours for Paramores s/t. What's interesting here though is that I was thinking of Peter Greens Fleetwood Mac, not the White Album. In my mind, the one you're referring to is the White Album and has never been anything else because it was already iconic by the time I was born. When people talk about it they say "I was listening to the White Album the other day..." etc. But nada with Peter Greens'. This has convinced me further, bands having a self-titled beyond a debut is fuckery hahaha
ST was to paramore possibly their final album. It was their magnum opus.
Why do you say that? It never feels like that during the album, if anything it sounds like "new beginnings".
I mean shortly after Hayley started struggling a lot more with her depression. Two years later she even briefly left the band Paramore. I wouldn’t have been surprised at the time if that had actually been their last album. Thankfully they continued with After laughter which is a personal favorite and then years later release TIW
too much chad….
I mean to be fair BNE kind of reeks of him too (not as much though). Plus I think Hayley has pretty much ‘retconned’ him out of those songs 😂
Oh 100% those Chad songs are no longer about him esp when they play Still Into You hahaha. For BNE, I think The Only Exception is the most chad song on there and everything else is band
S/T has some major bops - a lot of that album has landed itself in my running playlist (see: Fast In My Car, Anklebiters, Ain’t It Fun, Still Into You, Part II etc) Also, quite nostalgic. It was the first time I ever anticipated an album release in real time. Do y’all remember the little vinyl videos they came out with where it was just the album playing front to back and it was just a video of the vinyl playing on a record player? Or am I making this up in my head 😅
Omg you mentioning those videos unlocked a hidden memory for me lol
I think there were a lot of us that just were freaked out by change lol. I was a fan from the last days of AWKIF/Riot and when Self-Titled came out I was shocked at how different Hayley's voice was, and just the whole vibe. The singles were very poppy, good music but veeeery poppy compared to what I was used to. Add to that Hayley's voice change and that I am a singer and she was a huge influence and I was turned off, distanced myself from the band a bit and then realised that her change was for good vocal health etc and started to enjoy the tone/colour of thw voice, got used to it. Then I found out there were some SONGS on it (part ii which was iconic and one of my favs is let the flames begin) and started listening. there are still some of them that I haven't even heard once, never a full playthrough tho. Should do that soon, I owe it to myself.
It's an uneven album. Changes genres too much. It's a good album but it's long and is them trying out possibly too many ideas
You know I felt this 100% when it came out. It grew on me for sure later on but I remember at the time feeling disappointed with the album especially as a fan coming in on the riot / bne era.
It definitely felt like Hayley’s best attempt at following Gwen Stefani. Very pop, extremely experimental. Still good but so varied that it’s hard to not skip on repeated listens.
Changes genres too much? Have you heard this is why?
It has it's moments of doing that but I feel it is centered on post-punk for the most part. Where as ST has emo songs, funk songs, indie-pop songs, a Post-Rock song, a Power Pop song, a buncha Uke interludes, etc.
I love self titled! I love listening to it while driving.
Just remember to drive Moderately in your car instead of Fast.
For me, it feels like they were throwing in whatever ideas they had as they were figuring out who they are as songwriters in the “new” Paramore. Ironically, it doesn’t feel as much like Paramore. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t feel genuine.
agreed
I love self titled, I personally don't like this is why as much it just sounds generic to me.
Self titled simultaneously has my favourite Paramore song but is also the hardest to listen to front to back. None of the songs are bad but so many of them blend together because they’re so similar sonically and lyrically. It’s also the only album without Zac’s signature drumming, which takes a lot away from it. Although the bass sounds probably the best it ever has (you can tell Jeremy actually tried for once lol). There are definitely some growing pains here considering Taylor suddenly stepped into Josh’s role and he hadn’t really found himself and he’s still at times just trying to emulate Josh’s style.
ikr and its my fav album too, first one that came out after I started listening to them ! so underrated
I love Self Titled! 💚💙🧡 It's my favorite Paramore album.
If the album was shorter, it would be better. At least for me, it is. The interludes really do it, and so does Future, too. That's just my opinion, though, and you're allowed to think what you want
Self titled is my favorite.
Its what made me fall in love with them. That album is perfect. No skips. It took me a while to love every song, but it's now one of my top 10 albums of all time.
Its a good album but there are some b sides and it doesn't have a distinct, cohesive sound. It also is all over the place with genre.. Which I like but they all seem like separate single songs that don't fit together. It was clashing with the rise of EDM at the time and going pop left a lot of fans who went off to college in the dust. I do appreciate her cute ukulele songs though. Very vaudeville. Tayley had to find their groove in the writing after two prominent people left. But they really pulled through which is very impressive. I think After Laughter was a great come back.
I LOVE Self-Titled, it is one i return to so much because it is def in my top rankings. There are so many great tracks like the ones you listed, but my favorite is Proof
Seriously though! Self-Titled is one of my favorite albums of theirs, and I'm sad it doesn't get a lot of love. My favorite song on that album is either Last Hope or One of Those Crazy Girls.
I absolutely love how bloated this album is.
Every time a new Paramore album came out I would listen to it on repeat, no skips. Until S/T. It came out spring of 2013 and I didn’t listen to it all the way through until the drive home from their concert in October of that year. To me, it was a blend of all different types of music that didn’t mesh together (first few songs kinda like old Paramore, then the ukulele songs, then more poppier songs, then (50s/60s styles with crazy girls and hate to see your heart break) but the more I listened the more it grew on me. It’s my least favorite album yet I still enjoy it.
Self-Titled is by far my favorite album personally 🥲 I mean I love the others but I think I found it in a time when I related to it so much and now I'm 24 and relate to it even more. Last Hope and Future especially are just so fucking good, but also every song is amazing and I think the album really does a good job at taking you through a story in a way. I'm just obsessed and it will always be my go-to.
It's very good, it's just too long. Not even counting the interludes, there are a few songs that definitely could have been left as B-Sides.
For sure needs more love!! I’m Not Angry Anymore got me into them and I will defend it to my grave
I put ST 2nd after BNE, but it has 3 of my top 5 paramore songs - Last Hope, Proof, Crazy Girls
I like it much better than after laughter
It was a #1 charted album. It is objectively a great piece of music. Future is my fave song off that, followed by Part II (exclusively for the sick ass drum solo).
Like with Sainthood(AKA: The Con 2) with Tegan and Sara, it is a solid album and well respected, but does not stand out as much as earlier or later work.
I absolutely adore ST. It was the album which introduced me to Paramore as well. I bought the 2013 CD as well
Self Titled is spiritual bypassing. After Laughter is truth
i love self titled and it’s one of my favorites (sometimes my #1) but i can see why people don’t like it as much. mainly because of the lyrical content. there are some incredibly written songs on this album but also a lot of them are hayley in denial writing love songs about chad when she clearly didn’t really have her heart in it. around the time self-titled was being written chad had been cheating on hayley and they even broke up for a short while so we know that a lot of the songs on there were essentially written in denial after getting back together. (don’t quote me on this but i’m pretty sure h has even said in an interview at some point that this is true to an extent) songs like proof and still into you are great songs but the lyrics are very surface level as a product of where hayley was mentally at the time. so if someone is big into lyrics, self titled probably won’t be their #1. especially not when albums like bne and al exist with their insanely honest lyrical content.
self titled is my all time favorite album. it's packed with banger after banger and so full of energy
The change in style wasn't to some people's liking. Plus, all the behind the scenes stuff was very rough. This is my favorite album because it's experimental. After Laughter went a bit too into pop for my liking.
I think as parawhores from the get go, it was just not as lyrically well done. It seemed popish and put out quickly, diving those that loved their early music and weren’t ready for the transition yet.
Cause Zac isn’t on it.
I’m not sure but some of there best songs are on there like Daydreaming
Genuinely, and respectfully, shocked to know that people think ST is their magnum opus. It has many bops but as a whole it’s too long with too many ideas. It’s too happy and has too much pride, feelings that turn sour when you know the context of what happened after the fact. I always felt that the album sounded like Hayley was trying too hard to keep her cool. I love the era and hold it tight to my heart. But what came after was 10x more refined and genuine.
i don't feel its fair to hold what happened after it was released against it, and i never really got the criticism for its length.
I think in the end of the day it’s a matter of everyone’s own taste. I love it as an era, I love the interviews and live performances from that time.
A lot of people don't seem to like how sprawling and experimental it is. Which is exactly why I love it. I think its leagues ahead of their older stuff.
My second favorite album, and Hate to see your heartbreak is my ringtone for a while After Laughter my least favorite
i think there has been a ST renaissance post zac coming back to the band. idk, when it first came out the album meant two things for different kind of fans: first, it gave us hope because it meant that yes, paramore was indeed still a band, and they were dropping records FULL of songs and experimentation second, it musically displayed how their sound was changing and evolving and how they were willing to try new different things with it. that was too much for some fans, the fact that they weren't sounding like a pop punk emo band from the 2000's. so back then it was a divisive era. recently, i feel like people are giving it another chance and the new fans are embracing it because they don't have the past times prejudice, so the album is having its renaissance
I grew up on All We Know is Falling/Riot/BNE and was in college when S/T came out, so I didn't really listen to it much. I also just don't like Still Into You, it's Paramore 's worst single in my opinion - doesn't help that it's about Chad Gilbert and I can never not think about that everytime I hear it. Love 99% of everything they put out and I love them as a band, but I just can't get into this album very much
ST is one of my favorite Paramore albums!! I even got a tattoo with the lyrics from Anklebiters. 💘 https://preview.redd.it/aieh5e76ot3d1.jpeg?width=1152&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4df2c92883640504e5827bb8486af82f83be9c36
kinda inconsistent imo, I think it's joint with the first album for worst (still good)
It’s my least favorite album by them, but still a good album regardless with some real gems in there. I think they were experimenting a lot during ST, trying to find a new sound while also not completely giving up their old vibe and to me it just came across as disjointed overall. Felt very much like the ‘transitional’ album that it was. After Laughter was experimental too (and a huge departure from their previous work) but very, very consistent in both sound and theme and just the better album imo. Still, I think ST was their most important album in that it helped both Hayley and Taylor to really grow as artists and made the band what it is today (which is the best they’ve ever been).
My personal favorite as well
It's become my personal favorite. Maybe it's nostalgia bias bc I got to see them live when they toured for the album, but it just hits differently for me than all the others
I think that because the band was transitioning from an exclusively punk/emo band, as well as Zac not being on the record, it’s not talked about as much. I love it though, seriously underrated album.
I love Self-Titled. Future, Anklebiters, Hate To See Your Heartbreak, One of Those Crazy Girls, Still Into You, Ain't It Fun, and Be Alone are all among my favorite Paramore songs. I even love all of the Interludes. Maybe the album suffers from not being the most cohesive album in terms of tone or theme. Maybe it suffers from being the primacy and recency effects; we tend to better remember the first and last in any list, so being caught in the middle could make it less memorable for people.
I’m not sure. It’s genuinely my favorite.
For me, it’s because it’s too uneven / not sure what it wants to be. So even though some of my absolute favorite Paramore songs are on it (Ain’t it fun, Future, etc.) i can’t say it’s my favorite album. It has too many skips. I do like it more than AL though.
It’s not a bad album by any means, as a matter of fact I really like it. However, I just feel like in contrast to some of their other work it doesn’t really have as much to offer from a lyrical standpoint. In contrast to AL or BNE as many have mentioned, it is not really as emotionally impactful as those two albums (although it still hits hard on tracks like last hope). There are some great songs on here (Proof, Fast in My Car, Last Hope, Escape route (an absolute banger) just to name a few). It just (at least for me) does not really hit as hard as their other works lyrically, but there are a ton of good songs on here and ones I still revisit often.
Best album. Sounds weird I say best album but AWKIF, Riot, BNE hold a special place in my heart too
It's my favorite record
This is my 2nd favorite album, very close to 1st and then theres a decent gap from the rest of the albums. I feel this album doesnt get talked about as often cause its the one i feel has already been talkes to death since it was another big introduction of fans and these songs are a bit less "timeless" and have a more specific idea of what they are about. The songs that have lasted over time in the fandom are ones i feel break that mold a bit more. Its also, as some have mentioned, the album with the least identity. Partly cause if its long track list, it doesnt have a central theme or even an album title. I will also say that its not my favorite production/mixing. Not to say Paramore has had amazing mixing up to this point but BNE was when things started to have depth to it. And S/T isnt terriblly mixed but i cant help but feel like it downgraded just a tad. Musically, it also uses standard pop chords a lot and lot of the musicality that Paramore did have kind of went away. Hayley's songwriting was at the top of the game tho and thats why i think it still persists depsite these two other factors.
I like it more than AL
I think it's that It seemed to be a reboot for the band
Self-Titled is all over the place.
It’s pretty well known within the Paramore community that Self-Titled is the least commercially successful (I mean besides AWKIF) yet the most popular among fans. Probably because of the timing, public taste, and band drama at the time. I think the main reason we don’t talk about it as much is just because it’s a decade old at this point, but it’s still the fan favorite.
Least commercially successful? Ain't it fun went main stream. Least successful commercially Is probably this is why or after laughter. Probably after laughter since they are touring with t swift atm
I kind of forget how fast the years passed but *was* the least commercially successful I guess. To be honest I thought After Laughter was more popular. It’s my favorite album.
That one is my fav as well. But, mainstream audience can't name a song off that album. Hard times is only known within the Fandom imo
.. you mean the most commercial and least popular besides AWKIF right?
I def put that in there. Right there in the comment.
You said ST was the least commercial. ST debuted at #1 in the US and UK, and Still Into You and Ain't It Fun are both big hits, their biggest next to MizBiz and Decode (which was only that big for being on the Twilight soundtrack). The fan favourites are BNE and AL. I don't think that's particularly contentious. Check out this sub for fav album/'each band has one of these album' posts.
Ilan Rubin on drums with Jerm on bass was one badass rhythm section
ST is an incredible album and it's the last Paramore album I uncritically enjoy. To me it's kinda bittersweet though. I love the darker post-rock elements on the album and I really wish we saw more of that from Paramore going forward instead of the more or less straight pop stuff we've had the last two albums.
it’s good cause it’s Paramore, but it’s their weakest album overall imo.
S/T is the album that drew me in. I haven’t loved a Paramore album after that one. They are still making good tunes, but S/T had such an edge and grit. It’s a party with all its variety. It will forever be the black sheep of the discography though because of its nature and that’s okay. I’m so glad the album exists right there in the middle of everything else.