Bonnaroo 2018 - Friday
Paramore at Bonnaroo 2018 (photo by Adam Fricke)

Hayley Williams covers Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" (listen)

Paramore’s Hayley Williams released her great debut solo album Petals For Armor earlier this year, and though she hasn’t been able to tour in support of it, she’s been keeping busy in other ways, including with a series of solo quarantine covers. Following her recent rendition of Bjork’s “Unison,” Hayley put out a cover of Radiohead‘s ’90s classic “Fake Plastic Trees,” which she says will be her “last self-serenade for a minute.” She stays pretty faithful to the original but gives an affecting performance and really plays it like she wrote it. Hayley says:

for a while, anyway. the top requested song throughout my brief career in self-serenadism has been a @radiohead song. seemed sacrilegious at first until i realized that the band themselves have never once regarded what they do as precious or never-to-be-toyed with. they are never beholden to any one version of their expression and public affections don’t seem to sway them. so many times people thought they were at their best only for them to bloom more beautifully into something unexpected and unequivocally better.
for a time i pretended to be over Radiohead (iiii knowwww) but good good things always find you and welcome you back. so, in admiration of one of the best bands of all time – and in humility to everyone who did *not* ask for this – here’s a self-serenade of “Fake Plastic Trees”. enjoy it if you can.

It’s a great cover, as you can hear for yourself right here:

Meanwhile, Hayley had originally planned to reschedule her Petals For Armor tour, but now it’s been officially cancelled. She writes:

hi friends,
yes, it’s true. the remaining dates for Petals For Armor have been officially cancelled. this year has been hard on everybody for lots of different reasons. im sorry to add to that list… sorry for myself and for yall. refunds are available.

there are no immediate plans to schedule new dates. until promoters and venues are able to schedule shows for a less chaotic (and hopefullymuch safer) time.
this feels like the responsible thing to do. get those refunds and when/if i have new news, i’ll let ya know.

In other news, Hayley gave WWE wrestler Bayley her blessing to use Hayley’s song “Simmer” as her entrance music at Wrestlemania 37, which is currently scheduled for March 28, 2021:

Hayley also very recently did a solo acoustic performance of that song on her porch, and it’s very cool to hear it reworked this way:

Hayley also put out a lyric video for “Pure Love,” which is made up of footage of Paramore’s After Laughter tour, including tons of fan interaction. “Thank you for participating in this video compilation,” Hayley says to her fans. “To the good ol’ days and the future ones too…”

This Friday (8/14) at 9 PM ET, Hayley will join Mark Hoppus, Lauren Mayberry and others on Best Coast‘s Crazy For You 10th anniversary livestream.

Last but definitely not least, Hayley approves of viral drumming grandma Dorothea Taylor’s “Ain’t It Fun” cover:

https://twitter.com/yelyahwilliams/status/1281244308323086338

Paramore Album Guide