When it comes to pop stans weaponizing chart positions and record sales in their online feuds — usually centered around women in the genre — Hayley Williams is the human embodiment of the “I’m not reading all of that — congratulations, or sorry that happened to you” and “Damn, y’all live like this?” memes. In a rare social media blitz, the Paramore leader got some feelings off of her chest about the current stat-obsessed state of pop standom from her perspective on the outskirts of it.
“Witnessing stan wars makes me so happy pmore is not really in the pop world,” she wrote in an Instagram Story post. “I just get to enjoy the good shit thats come out this year and im sorry some of yall cant thats gotta be tough damn.” The post was followed up with a since-deleted video where the musician elaborated on her stance. By no means is she entering the conversation as a finger-wagging purist. The rant she posted was recorded in her dressing room, giving a more casual FaceTime call than a public address to the nation.
“The reason the internet is something I’ve been thinking about a lot, and why I just don’t really love it — especially in the music world … whether it’s the pop girls or any scene, really — it’s like, people only give a fuck about numbers now and stats,” Williams said. “And that is just so lame.”
Williams is also very aware that Paramore has achieved many of the accolades that have seemingly overtaken conversations that should, at their core, be about art. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s sick. We’ve had number one albums and top this and that albums. That shit is great,” she continued. “But I just remember a time when that was not so important and that also wasn’t a gotcha for a stan war-type situation. Anyway, I just think it’s really fucking annoying.”
There’s a sense of irony in the fact that Paramore is currently on the road opening for Taylor Swift on the Eras tour. Any conversation about pop — whether it be numbers, fandom, or whatever else — is going to lead back to the singer-songwriter inevitably. It’s not a game that Williams has ever actively tried to play herself or ever really needed to even acknowledge from Paramore’s position in the boundary-free middle ground between rock and pop. And despite her rant, she doesn’t have plans to start now.
“I just like my side of the internet, which is basically not really the internet, where I just get to support all the pop girls. And maybe that’s privilege because I’m not a pop girl,” she considered. “I just think everyone should cool it and let people make really great music and shit. That’s why that’s I’m over it.”
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