Hayley Williams shuts down long-running fake Paramore origin story

10 July 2020, 13:09

Hayley Williams hilariously reacts to people saying Paramore “sold out”

By Sam Prance

Hayley Williams also said that Josh Farro's initial Paramore leaving statement was "bs" in a series of candid tweets.

Hayley Williams has opened up about how Paramore got together, and put to bed a long-running fandom conspiracy theory.

Ever since Paramore debuted in 2005, there have been many elaborate rumours as to how they formed and whether or not a label helped put them together. The band may now comprise of Hayley Williams, Zac Farro and Taylor York but they've been through multiple public lineup changes and the mythology surrounding them and their origin has taken on a life of its own.

READ MORE: Hayley Williams just revealed her top five Paramore songs of all time

Now, Hayley has taken to social media to shut down some of the wildest fake Paramore stories that are considered as fact.

How did Paramore form?

Hayley Williams shuts down fake Paramore origin story
Hayley Williams shuts down fake Paramore origin story. Picture: Bonnie Biess/Getty Images, Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic

Yesterday (Jul 9), a tweet about Paramore went viral in which a fan wrote: "I always forget that Paramore was literally created by the music industry because Hayley Williams was trying to be a country singer but the label execs really wanted to jump on the pop punk/emo wave and thought she had the look". The tweet has since been deleted but Hayley spotted it.

Retweeting the tweet, Hayley wrote: "this is my favorite paramore conspiracy ive ever read. funny, i heard this same rumor about avril back when labels were courting me & paramore in 2004. what’s actually true is that dudes just never wanted to believe a 16yo girl could be in a good band w/ her friends. hi sexism!" And I oop.

Fans of Paramore will already know that they became friends as teens and Hayley always wanted to record alternative rock music with her bandmates.

Hayley Williams shuts down fake Paramore origin story (2)
Hayley Williams shuts down fake Paramore origin story (2). Picture: @yelyahwilliams via Twitter

A fan then replied: "I actually heard a slightly different version of this; the theory was that the labels REALLY wanted you to go solo, but you wanted to be in Paramore so bad they signed the whole band. To my memory this came from the Farro’s orig leaving statement."

Hayley added: "the statement Josh wrote was ego-driven, post-breakup bs. he apologized to T and i privately for it after a random run-in at a coffee shop back in 2015. you know i’ll air out all the damn laundry. we’ve told the story ourselves in plenty of interviews."

Hayley also hilariously reacted to someone who tweeted: "I mean... you sold out like 7 years ago so of course your not thirsty for sales." She wrote: "oh we’re still goin? bitchhhh keep em comin. i got thick skin" and posted a video of her laughing saying: "I got time today, y'all. I got time."

We have no choice but to stan.