Since announcing her pivot to a solo career, Paramore’s Hayley Williams has been highly prolific. Williams has been releasing a new song on a near-weekly basis. The singer compiled five of her singles into the EP Petals For Armor I then shortly thereafter began promoting part two of the project. Williams’ latest track “Why We Ever” arrived last week and now her newly-released single “Dead Horse” arrives as the last track off Petals For Armor II.
Announcing the song’s release on Twitter, Williams wrote: “this one is a little different for me. im nervous. but im ready.” Still true to her sound, Williams tries her hand at a different hook. Rather than opening with instrumentals, Williams uses a sample of her voice saying: “It took me three days to send you this, but, uh, sorry. I was in a depression but I’m trying to come out of it now.” As her voice fades, a cheery beat arrives alongside honest lyricism about remaining in an unhealthy relationship for too long.
She said of the song in a statement:
“PFA II is the perfect interlude between where Petals began and where it’s going… Part III isn’t far behind. I needed these songs to help me get to a place where I could name my shame, take inventory of emotional scars, true friends, awful coping mechanisms, and discover what I desire for my life.
The latest single, ‘Dead Horse’, offers strength back to a younger, weaker version of myself. I feel like all of this needed to be said in order to embody the kind of woman I hope to be”
Just ahead of the song’s release, Williams addressed some of the criticism she’s been facing about the rapid release of singles. In a tongue-in-cheek video, Williams asked for men on the internet to give her “productive advice” on releasing a record to help her “after 15 or 16 years in the industry and five other albums.”
my album Petals For Armor drops – in full – May 8th
listen to Parts l & ll now, wherever you get your internet music. https://t.co/i3uc4v9mQ5 pic.twitter.com/FjDrN868Kw
— hayley from Paramore
(@yelyahwilliams) April 20, 2020
Listen to “Dead Horse” above.
Petals For Armor is out 5/8 via Atlantic. Pre-order it here.
Hayley Williams is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.