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NEED TO KNOW
Hayley Williams released her third solo album, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, in August
The following month, she confirmed Paramore was on a break
Then on Dec. 2, she appeared on Amy Poehler's podcast and opened up about her decision to pursue her solo music career
Hayley Williamsis opening up about her decision to take a pause withParamore.
On Tuesday, Dec. 2, the singer appeared onAmy Poehler'sGood Hangpodcastand touched on her forthcoming first solo tour for her new albumEgo Death at a Bachelorette Party.
In September, the musician, 36, revealed that thepop-punk band is on a break, but confirmed that the band is not broken up. Since her announcement, she's released her new solo album,Ego Death at a Bachelorette, and is promoting her new tour.
But she told Poehler's that her third solo album has allowed her to start "finding" herself.
"I'm finding myself really nervous because I think I, for my own good, really need to understand who I am outside of the band," she explained. "It's time."
"I'm looking at 40. It's not that many years away, and I'm just like, I should probably know who I am outside of this entity," she candidly shared.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler/YouTube
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She added that she's "very excited" for the upcoming shows, because "it might possibly subvert some people's expectations of what they think they're gonna get."
Williams explained that in recent years with Paramore, she's been viewed as a "ringleader," but she doesn't think it's "always a positive thing."
"I feel that, like, it's a huge responsibility to be a mouthpiece for a group of people," she said, in reference to her bandmates, drummer Zac Farro and guitarist Taylor York. "We're all very different individuals," she said. "I wanna speak for myself."
The singer also noted how this part of her career has allowed her for the "first time" to talk to women. "Growing up, it was just no women around."
"I really think it is something to be the only girl in a gang," she said. Later, she added that she tried to write "very neutrally."
"I never wanna give away lyrically that this is a young girl's point of view," she explained. Williams acknowledged by the band's fourth album, when she was in her early twenties, she felt more comfortable "to play around with femininity."
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In the September interview withThe Face, that she confirmed the band is on a break, she also praised her bandmates, "there are no better musicians in the world."
"There are no better performers than [the touring musicians affectionately known as the] Parafour. It's just magic, man," she said. Williams said that she feels "such a vindication in knowing that nobody can discount Paramore."
"But it's also really important for me to strengthen other muscles and these parts of myself that I deflated because I was scared that people were going to notice me too much," she said of her solo endeavors, for which she recently receivedmultiple Grammy nominations.
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