(Single from album, "Paramore")
I always thought Paramore were a bit loud, to be quite honest. A bit like an over-attitudinal Green Day with the frontman replaced by a screaming teenage girl and the rock aesthetic hopelessly forgettable and bland. It is one of many observations that I look back on and think, 'what a total idiot'.
"Still Into You" takes the pop-punk perfection of Green Day's "¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré!" album trilogy from last year, and capitalises on the success of the radio-friendly rock sound, filled with pulsating synth backing tracks and a truly beautiful vocal; looking back, many Paramore songs provide evidence that Hayley Williams can sing, and this is no different. The vocals (and even the guitars) were also strong on previous single "Now", though the moody, heavier atmosphere of the track was off of my radar of personal interest.
At the opening, a fat keyboard whirlwind is building; suddenly, it is ended abruptly by a bizarre pinging sound as Williams' teenage-style snarl rips through the sonic landscape, over the bouncy disco jaunts of the verse. Upon it's arrival, the chorus is a brash, pop-punk explosion, just as we know and love it to be. After the first chorus, there is also this wonderful little storm of electronic jittering, which continues in the background through the rest of the song, including the brilliant middle-eight section, a superbly satisfying chord change and one that'll leave you on the edge of your seat for definite, characterised by it's bass-heavy blare and clicking, popping keyboard effects.
The lyric is great as well, chronicling the emotional ecstasy of love and a relationship that, even several years in, is as it was when it began. The sweet, punk vocal sings that '[she] should be over all the butterflies' and that 'some things just make sense, and one of those is you and me'. It's not complicated, and there's no message or deeply intellectual undertone, though this doesn't for one second compromise the sound; it's just too good. You might think I've gone all soft, but I've always felt that there's space for the occasional soppy pop song and as far as I'm concerned, this is the perfect example.
It's also normally my place to condemn the chart success of bands, and I find I can be quite two faced; if a crappy song is at #1, I'll say "oh look, it's at #1 - that means it's rubbish". Equally, if there's an indie band that I like at the top spot, I'll bang on about how deserving they are of the position. So basically, what we can conclude from this is that I make absolutely no sense. That said, taking from the formula of my latter description, it's clear that Paramore's top 30 UK chart success is deserving; I mean, have a listen and see if you're not dancing and humming along to this mental mainstream musical madness. Believe me, you will be.
This song is incredible. It mustn't be overtaken by any other track this year. I want it to be massive and, more importantly, to be my #1 track of the year; so far it's doing better than my normal favourites who have, in many ways, disappointed (Johnny Marr with his let-down debut and Suede with their minimalistic publicity and failure to chart). And to think; until I heard it, I had no idea it even existed!
★★★★★
Versions of “Still Into You”
Album/Single Version - 3:36