The 30 Best Paramore Songs

Rock icons of every decade this century, which Paramore track will come out on top?

Sep 29, 2024

2024 marks the anniversaries of some monumental music releases: whether it’s the celebration of soon-to-be classics turning a decade old (Syro; Piñata) or two Britpop juggernauts entering their 30s (Parklife; Definitely Maybe), there’s plenty to pick from.

One album that won’t get the headlines but still deserves its flowers is Brand New Eyes.

Put it down to 15 not being as eye-catching as other big milestones but you’d have a hard time refuting the impact of Paramore’s third LP. While their compatriots took massive u-turns (Panic!) or took pit stops entirely (Fall Out Boy), these Nashville rockers planted their flag and cemented their claim as one of the most adored alternative acts of the noughties.

And while the band have since tried out different genres, line-ups and hair colours, their grip on this title hasn’t wavered a bit. And I believe this so much that I just had to mark this occasion with a big love letter to the group’s greatest songs!

No need to explain any rules: so long as it’s a song released under the Paramore name, it’s eligible. That being said, in the interest of keeping things fair and interesting I have limited it to five songs per album.

And if you want to listen to any of the songs I discuss today - as well as some honourable mentions - then check out this handy dandy A-Z playlist:

30. Monster

If I asked you to name a turn of the 2010s franchise that Paramore contributed music for, I’d wager that Transformers wouldn’t be your first answer. No judgement here: I too had totally forgotten about Monster before putting this list together but I’m so glad I rediscovered it.

It might not be some avant-garde, genre-bending hidden gem but considering the bombastic, popcorn flick it’s trying to fit into, Paramore did a bang-up job. After all, if faced with the conundrum of

Hearing this three-minute colossal alt-rock track - with some particularly tasty guitars and Hayley’s vocal power turned all the way up to 11 - for 2 and a half hours or…
watching Transformers: Dark of the Moon once

you’d be in need of some serious help if you chose anything but the former.

Side note: Just been reminded that The Only Hope For Me Is You - an unfairly underrated My Chemical Romance tune - was also used in this movie. The emo peeps were well and truly eating in 2011!

29. Brighter

While it’s easy to offer a stream-of-consciousness style critique about a song - fun too! - sometimes a song offers one thing that impresses you so much that it would make additional words seem superfluous.

For Brighter, it’s got to be that vocal timbre on the chorus: Hayley’s voice and its quality will be a recurring theme in this piece but this track goes to show that from day dot, Paramore’s killer weapon was already well unholstered.

28. You First

While I always default to respecting whatever decision an artist decides to make, I do scratch my head when thinking how You First was up for being scrapped from This Is Why. My only guess is that maybe thematically it’s a bit similar to Big Man, Little Dignity which was mere inches away from making it on this list too.

Both songs concern themselves with accountability - specifically the lack thereof by men with power - but sonically they’re different breeds entirely: You First forgoes its counterpart’s perfect spelling and grammar in place of an ALL CAPS ASSAULT, wailing guitars leading the foray as a furious Williams calls the shots.

I also dig the angle of owning your mistakes but still uniting to take aim at those abusing their power - very Phantom Thieves of you, Paramore. Considering how nuance-free a lot of online social commentary can be, it makes the vision here a lot more interesting.

27. Anklebiters

If I had a facial hair follicle for every song about haters released in my lifetime, I could give Rick Rubin beard envy. And yet despite it being done over and over again, a song like Anklebiters seems to be an anomaly in that it doesn’t forget to be good!

That probably has to do with the main focus being more on the solution than the problem. “Someday you’re going to be the only one you’ve got left” could come off as cynical or doomer-esque but considering just how twee this song is - especially that percussion - it’s the kind of positive perspective shift some folk are in dire need of.

26. For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic

Regardless of what your favourite Paramore album is - though you are on the wind-up if After Laughter is at the bottom of your ranking - one unanimous opinion amongst fans is that they know how to open them.

We can waste time and bicker about which one is the best and maybe I’ll just let you do that amongst yourselves while I revel in Riot’s opener, the wonderfully energetic For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic - if they ever make Paramore action figures, that has got to be the tagline.

Shoutout to this song’s bridge: what came before already helped to place it as one of the stronger pop-punk openers but just how pulverising those guitars are cements it as an all-timer.

25. Told You So

While this is one of the earlier listings and one of the first tracks I’ve reviewed for this feature, I can tell I will - like many Paramore reviewers and fans - get carried away with praising Hayley Williams.

And while she definitely helps this track to shine - the deserved pettiness on here radiates - her co-stars deserve a lotta love too. Not that I’ll give certain individuals that credit but in the case of lead guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro, I absolutely will.

For a band that has gone through more line-up variations than an injury-stricken Liverpool squad, both these lads seem to be nailed in as permanent fixtures and it’s not hard to see why. Told You So may as well be their CV, those guitar grooves being the epitome of playful and taking on a new life as they have a jolly jaunt with the drums during the chorus.

24. Emergency

In a post The Only Exception world - a much-loved track that narrowly missed out on this list - Emergency hits all the harder.

With time, it’s clear that Williams learned some hard but worthy lessons from her parents’ failed marriage. At the time of writing this though, she was only 16 years old and Emergency is the result of her contesting with this dissolution at such a young age: the chorus taking on a begging quality that gives it a heartbreaking tinge.

23. The News

When it was announced in 2022 that Paramore’s upcoming album would be primarily influenced by indie rock icons Bloc Party, I had a lot of thoughts: only half of which were the standard ones about what I was having for dinner that day.

While I was still a bit worried that the fruits of this noughties love were going to be about the media - a topic whose exploration is usually a bit trite - The News is anything but.

It’s not like Paramore have never been political but such out-there social commentary looks good on them: Hayley’s lyrics go beyond just denouncing the news cycle’s 24/7 exploitation, showing how even the most selfless and charitable of individuals can be burned out by exposure to the never-ending supply of the world’s woes.

The performances help to give it an extra edge with Farro’s drumming deserving of some well-earned praise.

22. Future

I’ve been served a menu’s worth of curveballs from my favourite acts - here’s looking at you, Only Acting - yet to the uninitiated, listing Paramore’s self-titled album would cause some shock. Liam, you’re telling us that record with the sickeningly sweet Still Into You - banger btw - left your jaw on the floor?

And you could have mocked me all you want, right up until its closing moments as I’d get the last laugh with Future: what better way to close your band’s far poppier u-turn than with a meaty seven-minute post-hardcore closer?

Instrumentally this is Paramore’s most ambitious track to date - perhaps even overall - and while I could say it’s because of how out there it is, it’s really down to how well it works as a bookend. Not only does it sonically tie into the album’s theme of optimism in the face of adversity - with listeners themselves facing a colossal beast bordering on doom metal - but it’s a sign from the band too.

Whether it’s for fans, themselves or both, Future is a way for Paramore - a band that has faced jeopardy time and time again over the prior decade - to show that they’re more formidable and indomitable than ever before.

21. Hard Times

The fun - see: embarrassing - thing about reflecting on the music you reviewed in your early years is that it’s very easy to look like a flip-flopper. Blame it on my pre-frontal cortex developing a few years back but I no longer care if I commit an act of cringe and will admit that…I didn’t really like Hard Times when it came out.

Blame it on the exotic-sounding percussion that - to my uncultured ears at the time - only really reminded me of Crash Bandicoot or some of the effects on Hayley’s voice but it all just felt off to me on first listen.

Thankfully I’ve grown up a bit and while there are a few other cuts off After Laughter I prefer, choosing it as the lead single was the right call: it’s definitely the most unabashedly fun song on the record and even if it’s not inherently upbeat - setting the stage for all of the late 20’s depression-fueled crises the album would explore - I can’t help but have an absolute blast when it comes on.

All the aspects that originally turned me off have 180’d and become some of my favourite bits. And on reflection, there’s even more to it that I initially brushed off in my ignorant haste like that android party in between the last two choruses - if Astro Bot could have cleared the copyright, that bit would play every time you finish a level.

20. Rose-Colored Boy

Similar to how You First was my preferred part of its pairing with Big Man, Little Dignity, Rose-Colored Boy is also a member of an After Laughter duo: the latter of which we will get into later…

Considering it’s on this list to begin with, you’ll know I still really rate this track and what it stands for. Only recently have things like “toxic positivity” become part of our modern-day vernacular so for Paramore to take a stab at it seven years ago was quite uncharted.

And it helps that just because it’s a bit cynical doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to listen to. Rose Coloured Boy got the memo about the After Laughter dress code and dons the kind of vibrant glow that is so alluring that it might distract you from its tear-smudged eyeliner.

19. crushcrushcrush

Is this the moment where I go “Don’t sweat about the position, it’s still a really good song”? Let’s see…

It’s not hard to see why crushcrushcrush is held in such high regard by fans to the point of commonly being one of their top picks, if not the all-out #1.

That count-down pre-chorus and its reference in the actual chorus? Equal parts smart and satisfying.

And those powerful, searing guitar licks that make this song’s inclusion on World Tour a no-brainer? Just as iconic.

It is my list though so some tough decisions have to be made but if you have any heated, hate-filled messages you’d like to send me, my email is pitchfork@aol.com.

18. Figure 8

As will have become apparent by now, I have a deep appreciation for Hayley Williams’ lyricism, especially with how she can have unique spins on overdone topics. One of This Is Why’s more overlooked cuts definitely fits this bill with Figure 8’s title alone being a snappy summation of the rumination-fuelled people-pleasing cycle.

The production really does give these vulnerable lyrics an extra edge: the layering on Hayley’s laments about not being able to stop once her negative thought loops start gives it all a foreboding aura.

And when it all ends with that cacophonous conclusion - Hayley belting out a scream that feels like it’s been brewing for decades - you can’t help but come out of it feeling exorcised.

17. That’s What You Get

While I can remember a lot of my early experiences with the band’s work, my first proper taste of Paramore came in the form of That’s What You Get: an early hit that was as much cynical as it was catchy.

I’ll try to refrain from going on a nostalgia tangent but to this day, if you ask me to name my favourite Paramore music video moments, Hayley Williams singing in a garden while people party behind her will be the go-to of my three go-to answers. Whether it’s due to its unintended metaphoric importance or just because I watched it a bajillion times on Kerrang TV and Scuzz, I’ll leave up to you.

What is not up for discussion however is how much of a quintessential mid-noughties banger this track is. From those guitars so packed with attitude you can feel them smirking to those dated but no less delicious gang vocals, That’s What You Get is to young millennials/old Gen-Zers what any Abba song is to your mum.

Even just thinking about Hayley’s pronunciation of why - “WA-HIIIIGH!” - is enough to get the dopamine flowing.

16. Pressure

As much as this article is a gushing declaration of adoration, I won’t engage in any acts of naivety. All We Know Is Falling is a fine debut album - as can be deduced already by the inclusion of Brighter and Emergency - but it’s definitely not in the same echelon as the rest of Paramore’s discography.

However, one of the main complaints that could be levied against that record cannot be applied to their debut single. While I’ve avoided the stan brain rot of thinking big stats equate to quality, it’s evident that Pressure’s raw power can’t be mistaken for being undercooked as it’s struck a chord to the tune of nearly 90 million listens.

I’ve always had a soft spot for this song and if I’m being perfectly honest/nostalgic again, part of that probably can be attributed to one of my earliest Paramore memories being this song’s inclusion in The Sims 2.

*BUT* it also comes down to it showcasing their knack for a capital C catchy chorus so early in their career.

Then there’s the moody adolescent agenda it so expertly spouts: “melodramatic” is seen as a dirty word by some reviewers but when Paramore weaves with that style in mind, it pays off in dividends in a way few acts have been able to muster.

15. Crave

It’s wild to think that despite being not that much older than myself, Hayley Williams has been putting music out for two decades - at a push, I couldn’t name you anything that I’ve done so consistently outside of the necessary voluntary bodily functions.

I use this tangent not to fret about my own life but to emphasise just how impressive it is that all these years in, she can still put out a song that exemplifies her excellent lyricism.

You’d think at this point she would be running out of ways to describe the most crippling of lows and asphyxiating of highs and then she hits out with a simple stunner like “I romanticize even the worst of times / When all it took to make me cry was bein' alive” and all doubt is erased.

That’s not even mentioning the feel of this song, the drowned-out sound of the guitars perfectly emphasising Hayley’s nostalgia-glazed glasses to put Crave in the running for Paramore’s most underappreciated track.

14. Last Hope

I’m going to draw a comparison between Paramore and another band and you have to promise not to get mad, okay? Last Hope is really giving Coldplay vibes isn’t i-

Joking aside, really think about it: when it comes to the blueprint of an arena rock song that will get the phone flashlights out and everyone swaying, Fix You is perhaps the first song many would think of. So drawing a comparison between it and Last Hope couldn’t be more of a compliment!

And I can personally attest to this appeal. Despite not thinking much about it before, the penny dropped when I got to see this live for the first time last year. At that moment, it all just clicked into place: the piece-by-piece build-up got the goosebumps popping and as those closing two minutes played out, I realised I was witnessing the kind of life-affirming payoff a musician can only dream of.

I could go on some spiel about how invigorating the lyrics are and while they are certainly important to this song’s quality, it is - and I hate to use the word - the overall vibe that is so immaculate that I just want to take it all in, not separate chunks.

13. Brick By Boring Brick

It’s not controversial to call Brick By Boring Brick one of Paramore’s most extravagant tracks, a mean feat for a band not known for half measures: it’s a Brothers Grimm epic that ensures every fibre of its being can accomplish such a vision.

The tale of someone putting out this dishonest perfect version of themselves and not being true to themselves to their detriment is pretty timeless but has only become more relevant 15 years later.

And whether you revisit it for the opening stretch with that satisfying bulky bass; the whiplash bridge that flips the intensity on its head; or the glorious closing containing the best “ba-da-bas” this side of Shania Twain, you’re absolutely spoiled for choice when it comes to this track and its highlights.

12. Fake Happy

Here comes Rose Colored Boy’s equally pissed-off but gaudier sibling Fake Happy: a song so fed up that it isn’t keen on wasting time with a playful title.

A song that can go head with our previous entry for brilliant “ba-ba-ba”s, Fake Happy excels in being beautifully blunt and details the deception of others and yourself when all you want is to curl up into a wee ball and cry. How the chorus blasts through the glitzy verses - embodying that final straw on that poor camel’s back - is the exact kind of text painting I love to see from this trio.

The euphoria that follows after the bridge, Hayley flaunting her freedom after casting off these shackles of emotional suppression, will always put a totally authentic smile on my face.

11. Careful

There’s a certain hairspray-afflicted scuzziness to early Paramore songs that is so identifiable that all it takes is one strum and I can make it out like an obedient sniffer dog.

No song seems to wear this trait with more honour than Careful, a song not only responsible for leading to its most annoying member leaving the band but also the track given the honour to open up Brand New Eyes.

With such an empowering message of taking life by the reigns and riding it how you like - all delivered via one of Hayley’s most passionate vocal performances, which is saying something - it’s not hard to see why it was given this duty and even harder to argue that it didn’t succeed in extraordinary emo fashion.

10. When It Rains

TW: Mentions of suicide, depression

I am of the opinion that an artist can write a song about a whole host of topics without having had that lived experience. There are, however, some things I feel are off-limits or at least fall a bit flatter if they’re not coming from a sincere place.

Depression is one of those matters and When It Rains goes to show why it’s a sacred cow for me. Trying to process your grief over a friend long gone - especially if it’s to suicide - is an agonising venture to even imagine. So for it to come through like this, emboldened by some tragic metaphors on melancholy that really hit the nail on the head, is a ridiculously impressive feat.

Poor mental health can and is often glamorised so I respect the fact that When It Rains makes an active effort not to be pretty outside of those hauntingly stunning harmonics.

Unlike more popular songs on this topic that do this struggle a disservice - you know the one - Hayley captures the complexity of the situation, that closing plea of “take your time, take my time” being the final gut punch of a terrific tribute.

09. Turn It Off

Considering the scope of this list I can’t go into massive detail about every entry and it’s not as if Turn It Off is lacking in material to explore: in an act of self-restraint, I’ll save any potential religious analysis for a more explicitly-named track in a wee bit.

I will however gush about what I think is in the Top 5 for Paramore bridges: to have one that tears - and induces tears - as much as this does, encompassing all of your existential pain points in such a cathartic manner is one that even the staunchest of atheists can appreciate.

Also, those gorgeous, purely instrumental closing 40 seconds really do not get the hype they deserve by…whatever we Paramore fanatics are supposed to call ourselves. A song that does not come close to getting the love it is worthy of.

08. This Is Why

By 2022 most people were happy to leave the scourge of 2020 in the rear-view mirror but Paramore certainly weren’t part of that pack.

While there aren’t any on-the-nose mentions of COVID, the antsy and anthemic chorus declaration of never leaving the house is an overt one and is the catalyst for This Is Why’s punky, paranoid persona.

That on-edge erraticness is one that hasn’t dulled two years later. Sure, it is a time capsule of sorts but it still appeals to a certain brand of anxious person, paralysed by their inner thought tornado as they begrudgingly resort to their security blanket: whether it be a literal one or not.

Having the sound of this record tie into these feelings helps it to go the extra mile. Fans who wished for the band to return to their pop-punk routes got a nice compromise with This Is Why taking After Laughter’s admittedly tongue-in-cheek preppy bubbliness and letting some of that colour splash outside the lines.

Nowhere is that more evident than the bridge with its suspicious and subdued percussion, and guitars that sound like they’ve never heard of caffeine addiction. All of this culminates in a spikier version of an act that still retains its pop sensibilities but plays about with them in a whole new way - exactly the precedent you want to set with your lead single.

07. Misery Business

What to do with a song like Misery Business?

While it was unapologetically praised back in its heyday, over time it has become the pop-punk community’s Fairytale of New York. The discourse has catapulted over the last decade or so - at one point leading to the song being retired in 2018 - and while it’s not for this man to decide on what is and isn’t sexist, we can all agree this song is a banger, right?

Considering what other pop-punk bands had spouted before, at the time and after, I don’t think it’s really fair to eternally tank Misery Business - the epitome of teenage romance angst, written by a then 18-year-old who has since chosen not to sing its more egregious lines.

Yes, it is petty, it is pedantic and it is immature butttttt isn’t that the whole point?

Enough about the lyrics - god knows you don’t need a thinkpiece from me about them - because Misery Business hasn’t become Paramore’s most popular song solely due to those.

No, it’s also an absolute corker of an anthem, the kind of song so wild and wonderful that it would solo most bands’ greatest hits compilations. Try listening to it without air guitaring on the floor, spinning on the floor like that Homer gif as the bridge kicks things into top gear. If you can, just consider yourself a [Track 8 on This Is Why].

06. Playing God

We’ve discussed some tough topics today so why don’t we wind back a bit and talk about…RELIGION?!

Thankfully Playing God isn’t the logistical nightmare to dissect that its title might imply. Taking the common criticism of someone thinking they’re a God and playing about it with some extra imagery is the kind of move that makes Paramore’s multi-generational appeal blatantly obvious.

And you can’t discuss Playing God without mentioning one of the band’s best-ever bridges: one that acts as its own responsorial psalm with those tense keys in the background upping the stakes to biblical proportions.

05. All I Wanted

While not weak in the closer department, you’d have to embark on quite the excursion to find a Paramore fan who would list an album closer higher than All I Wanted.

I had to make an active effort not to use the word passionate before talking about this song so that I didn’t dull it via overuse because boy, is this song passion incarnate.

Not the kind you would think, a start-to-finish overflow of emotion. No, it’s the patient kind, the one where it’s been turned up ever so subtly that when that triumphant belting of “all I wanted was you” occurs, it slams into you t-bone style.

It is without a doubt one of the best six seconds of music ever put out and in a world of music debates about popular noughties alternative acts, All I Wanted is the nuclear option guaranteeing your victory.

04. I Caught Myself

While some would claim that the biggest sin of the trashy but entertaining Twilight franchise is that it exists, I am not one of those.

For one, I don’t think the films are that bad, and two, its actual crime is commissioning Paramore to write I Caught Myself only for it to be barely audible in a throwaway scene.

(I would embed a link but the only YouTube video I can find looks like it’s been filmed via Eyetoy.)

I’ll be tossing and turning trying to decide which of the two Paramore Twilight tracks I should include…pretty much up until I release this feature but when I’m in a pensive mood or just have an itch that only the twangy guitars on here can scratch, I Caught Myself is the track I reach out for.

And while it didn’t need that outro to catch my attention - they already had me in the palm of their distractingly sparkly hands - it doesn’t hurt the song by having it either!

03. Caught In The Middle

If any set of lyrics could act as the Paramore ethos, then it’d have to be:

I can't think of getting old / It only makes me want to die / And I can't think of who I was / 'Cause it just makes me want to cry

A quarter/mid-life crisis anthem probably wasn’t what fans were anticipating from the trio after being away for four years but for those who grew up with them, it’s exactly what the doctor ordered.

Hayley’s lyrics are on another level here, beautiful in just how unceremonious they are like the aforementioned opening verse or the infectious bridge of “No, I don't need no help / I can sabotage me by myself”.

Trying to anticipate what is waiting ahead of you while coming to terms with what’s been is a thread that unites everybody and when something as groovy and joyfully arranged as Caught In The Middle can soundtrack it, it does help that bitter pill go down a bit more smoothly.

And, of course, bonus points for those karate moves Hayley whips out when performing this live: if you were able to listen to this song without thinking about them, those days are now over.

02. Decode

Simply put, Decode is the kind of song that you could easily make a Top 5 Moments list about and still feel like you’re barely scratching the surface.

In fact, let’s do just that:

5. The one-two punch of “What kind of man that you are / If you’re a man at all”

4. That moody opening 13 seconds that automatically conjures up the image of a fog afflicted forest scape

3. One of Hayley’s best deliveries in the form of those passionate “yeahs” during the final chorus

2. That coy but menacing “I think I know” before…

1. the crunchiest closer of the band’s career piledrives you

If you ever find yourself in some Back To The Future-esque scenario where you require items from a time period in order to travel, Decode would be the skeleton key to access any moment during the noughties’ twilight years.

Sorry.

01. Ain’t It Fun

Soon after I turned 27, I decided I was tired of trying to keep a memory bank of my favourite songs ever and would make a playlist I dubbed “Liam-Core”. Out of the honorary songs inducted into this minor hall of fame, you had some expected entries; Run Away With Me; Ribs; Yeah Right.

And, if you’ve borrowed that singular ginger cat brain cell, you’ll have guessed Ain’t It Fun was part of that special squad.

Not to shock you all too much but I wasn’t always the Paramore-obsessed man you read before you. In fact, back in 2013, I thought the direction they had gone with their self-titled album was - in my anti-pop, pro-whatever-was-big-in-NME days - sacrilegious.

This meant I went some formative years without hearing Ain’t It Fun, the kind of life figure in the form of a song that would have saved me a lot of embarrassment.

For one, it would have got me into a poptimism era long before it became the norm. But more importantly, it would have guided me with its much-needed sardonic attitude about how life is…just like that and feeling sorry for yourself won’t get you out of whatever rut you find yourself in.

And how could you possibly pity yourself when this track is just overflowing with unbridled euphoria?!

You can’t swing an XLR cable without hitting some joyful element: from the jubilant xylophone to the piece de resistance that is the gospel choir, Ain’t In Fun reminds us that sometimes in life you just gotta grin and bear it, but at least it does so with some pep in its step!

And there we have it: my favourite tunes by one of my favourite bands! Let me know your top Paramore songs in the comments: