Hayley Williams Reflects on Paramore’s Bond With Black Fans

Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams is opening up about how the band’s relationship with its Black fans has evolved over the years, crediting their music and broader cultural impact for helping create a more inclusive fan base.

In a recent conversation with The New York Times, Williams reflected on how Paramore’s trajectory shifted during their 2013 self-titled era. Williams was asked about Paramore’s diverse fanbase, particularly Black people, and she admitted that it was something she’s “feeling now more than I did growing up.”

“It definitely shifted around the self-titled record,” said Williams. “We started saying yes to a lot more. We were playing The Voice. I think a lot more people got introduced to our band during that time — people that maybe weren’t welcome in the scene that we grew up in,” she said.

Williams also cited the group’s crossover single “Ain’t It Fun” as a turning point, noting the creative influences behind it, saying, “Songs like ‘Ain’t It Fun,’ when Taylor and I were writing that, we were playing these synth parts and going, ‘It’s like Stevie Wonder, you know?'”

COMPLEX SHOP: Shop the brands you love, anytime and anywhere. Uncover what’s next. Buy. Collect. Obsess.

That sense of connection deepened during the making of their 2017 album After Laughter. Williams shared that watching Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense live film had a profound impact on her: “I’ll never forget watching Stop Making Sense while we were recording After Laughter and the camera panning across the crowd, seeing how diverse it was. I just got really teary. And obviously, there are some of the best Black musicians onstage with them, and they’re all working together. It just felt like this celebration of humanity. And I was like, ‘That’s what I want to feel like.'”

Though Paramore first emerged from the predominantly white pop-punk and emo scene of the mid-2000s, the band has consistently found resonance with fans of color, many of whom have spoken about how the group’s lyrics on alienation, resilience, and self-definition mirrored their own experiences.

In recent years, Williams has been vocal about her awareness of that connection, praising Black fans for holding space in a subculture that hasn’t always embraced them. She also showed she’s an ally when she admitted to referring to Morgan Wallen as a “racist country singer” on the song “Ego Death” during the NYT interview.

“I’m always talking about Morgan Wallen and I don’t give a shit. Find me at Whole Foods bitch. I don’t care,” said Williams.

During a 2020 interview with Okayplayer, Hayley Williams reflected on the support she’s received from Black fans, saying she wants them to enjoy her music because celebrating Black joy makes her heart “soar.” She recalled her childhood in Mississippi, sharing memories of dancing to Outkast with a friend, singing D’Angelo with another, and playing basketball with Rodney Hood, who went on to become an NBA player.