An analysis of 'Simmer' by Hayley Williams

The tail end of 2019 seen Hayley Williams celebrate her 31st birthday with an announcement that would make any long time Paramore fan lose their shit; she is finally pulling the trigger on a solo career. Her debut album, ‘Petals for armour’ will reach us on the 8th of May and our first taste of this mysterious project came with the lead single, ‘Simmer’, an ominous and atmospheric alt-pop track with a strong sense of an incoming story. Williams wrestles with her inner demons, grappling with urges of wrath and revenge underneath a mist of gloomy production: a mixing pot of glitched synths, haunting vocal harmonies and a seriously impressive drum pattern that drives the rhythmic intensity of the track.

Despite this being a solo venture, the track benefits from a roster of Hayley’s frequent collaborators, with day one Paramore member, Taylor York, on production as well as Paramore’s touring bassist, Joey Howard, providing the bass and keys. With half of the band onboard this very much could have been a 6th Paramore record but that avenue is interrupted by a clear sense of personal narrative; this is a project about Hayley’s demons and hers alone. She explained the solo projects importance to Apple music, saying “What I’m trying to do—for myself more than anyone else—is reframe my anger and try to learn from it. Instead of pretending it isn’t there, ask it what it wants.”

With ‘Simmer’ we’re lured into the mindset that Hayley found herself in when her repressed trauma started to unravel upon her return to Nashville; post-touring, mid therapy.

Hayley told BBC Radio1, “What happened for me was this sort of emotional whiplash, where I was going through so much before we released ‘After Laughter’ and as problems do, they sort of stay and wait for you if you don’t figure them out”

Paramore’s previous record seen them groove into a neon dipped palette of New Wave synth pop, contrasted with candid lyrics that mulled over themes of pessimism, friendship, existential dread, identity, and loss. The album’s title - ‘After Laughter’- was explained as the look on someone’s face when they have finished laughing, Williams said “I always find it really fascinating to wonder what it is that brought them back to reality” – and with this release she seems ready to share the feelings that plummet her back to reality; the darkness behind the rose-coloured lenses of ‘After Laughter’.

Williams’ relationship with her fury is a complicated one; part of her knows this trauma is unprocessed yet she muzzles her true feelings in order to maintain a breezy façade. The tracks introduction represents the frantic struggle between wrath and mercy inside Hayley: buzzing beacons paired with “mmm” represent her inner rage, evocative of an alarm- symbolising the pressing need to face these feelings, while sharp syncopated breaths represent her attempts to pacify herself. These two forces reach boiling point when Hayley’s lets out a sedative deep breath, exhaling a transition to the tracks intricate drum and bass arrangement, which really locks in on the brooding atmosphere, bringing a sense of urgency and disorientation to Hayley’s emotional journey.

The first lyric- “Rage”- is left to dangle in the air before Williams shoots it down- “is a quiet thing”. Here she reframes the image of rage; less of a swinging sledgehammer and more of a lurking shadow stalking you- “you think that you’ve tamed it/ But it’s just lying in wait”. Hayley’s delivery is calculated and at points piercing, its deliberately unsettling and enigmatic. Each precise word is poised in a way that echoes Alanis Morrissette, while Hayley unveils a low gutsy register far from the vocal acrobatics of Paramore. This song in particular demonstrates her profound understanding of tone as a storytelling device, as well as showcasing her one of a kind vocal versatility and range.

While the verses explore her unfolding fury, the chorus depicts the ways in which Hayley tries to dodge facing the darkness boiling under her surface- “Control / There’s so many ways to give in/ Eyes closed/ Another way to make it to ten”. Counting to ten as to let anger subside is nothing new for Hayley; she’s referenced this before on ‘Moving on’, one of three interludes found throughout Paramore’s self-titled record. On the chorus, she sings: “Well, I could be angry but you’re not worth a fight/ And besides I’m moving on/ I’ve counted to ten and now I’m feeling alright/ And besides I’m moving on”. Years later she continues to count to ten but the rage is only tamed temporarily; a short fix for long term issues.

Despite being seven years old these interludes are key to understanding Hayley’s ongoing relationship with her rage- she’s shown to be reluctant in letting it be felt and fully owning it as her own. Although on ‘I’m not angry anymore”, she acknowledges the duality and undetermined stability of her mental health, singing bittersweetly: “I’m not angry anymore/ Well, sometimes I am/ I don’t think badly of you/ Well, sometimes I do”. Sonically, the interludes are bright, chirpy and Hawaiian inspired – showcasing Hayley’s tendency to wrap ugly emotions up in pretty packaging much before she did so on After Laughter.

That album in particular explored the immense pressure Hayley feels to exude happiness in both her professional and personal life, whether that be through the deceitful guise of social media or within her own social life. In Fake Happy she sings, “If I smile with my teeth/ Bet you believe me/ If I smile with my teeth/ I think I believe me” – her desperation to be gone of these crippling emotions pushes her to falsify a more agreeable and softer persona, almost trying to placebo herself into real happiness.

The song ‘Rose Coloured Boy’ is Hayley's response to a man in her life with an overpowering blind optimism that makes her feel ashamed of how grim her world view is in comparison. His efforts to push his lust for life onto Hayley tire her out- her pessimism is informed by real life experience and she's exhausted by the societal pressure to appear bright and bubbly when that's not what you feel. If this 'Rose Coloured Boy' is the "fucker" from 'Simmer' we are yet to know, but the track still exemplifies the great shame that Hayley feels towards her darkest thoughts- and with this new music we're beginning to see her examine them more freely.

In todays world of overstimulation the pressure to appear perfectly content comes to us all, but more so to young women than most. Simmer' feels like a resistance to the easygoing and passive role women are expected to provide, especially in relationships. Anger is universal but it isn’t authorised for women the way it is for men, which may lead to having a palette of bitter emotions much like the one found in ‘Simmer’- especially when you started out as one of very few females in a highly toxic male dominated industry, and genre, from the age of 16.

The second verse finds Hayley almost whispering over a gentle string arrangement; it has a real bite to it lyrically. The pain in her voice is palpable; never have we heard her sound this vulnerable and fragile. There are definite undertones of abuse in this section, we see Hayley ponder her own self-worth and blame herself as victims of abuse have been taught to do: “If I had seen my reflection/ As something more precious/ He would have never” The drums are much gentler here, representing this moment of self-pity.

“I have a tendency to really deny things that I’m feeling, and writing helps me with that”- it is only when Hayley removes herself from the equation that her darkest urges can climb to surface- she imagines her hypothetical child being mistreated in the same way that she was, as the drums regain their urgency she sings, “mmm, and if my chid needed protection/ From a fucker like that man/ I’d sooner gut him/ Cause nothing cuts like a mother”

Williams seems more able to embrace her wrath when she looks at her trauma from an outsider’s perspective, removing the urge to doubt herself. It’s the thought of someone so young and innocent that fires up this very instinctual motherly fury. The first f-bomb of Hayley’s career is said with such catharsis and raw pain, so authentic it’s almost as if said by accident. This venomous pit of withheld emotions is released and it seemingly surprises Hayley as much as it does the listener- her most violent and shameful urges emerge so bluntly. With this verse it’s as if she recognises that as a woman she can be many things at once soft and strong, gentle and vindictive, happy and sad. She told Apple music of the nastier parts of ‘Simmer’, “it was really important for me- even as a woman- step into my own skin for once and not denying the things that I feel”

The sedative bridge section brings in an airy and ethereal atmosphere. It’s the turning point in the song - Hayley comes to a new understanding of the range of emotions coursing through her veins. She sings, “Wrap yourself in petals”- this is the new mindset she adopts once she has finally stopped running from her feelings.

The imagery presented by “petals for armour” is the perfect contradiction: something so elegant, distinctly feminine and colourful being used as battle gear is very interesting- Armour is typically heavy and made of solid manufactured material, while Hayley seems to trade this heaviness for something earthier and more liberating. Williams told the BBC, “for me it’s somewhat of a mantra to try and stay soft in a really really hard world” She repeats this mantra and over in a dreamlike state before she’s snapped out of it as her inner voice urges her to “Give in” – officially pulling her out of the chase.

The upcoming album’s title is ‘Petals for Armour’ because it is only through this new mantra that Hayley can now explore the full spectrum of her emotions and thoughts without guilt, no longer running but now submitting to even the ugliest ones- allowing them to enter her and then leave. She explained that the concept came from an experience she had with a cranial sacral masseuse, “I started having these weirdly creepy visuals of flowers growing out of me and not in a beautiful way, it was very painful and grotesque- I kind of realised in that moment that there was a lot trying to grow out of me and that it was going to hurt to do it”

Hayley’s emotional journey from flight to fight is shown in the music video, an eerie slice of horror movie realness. The music and the video go so incredibly together; each beat synchronised to serve a fitting visual for the building story. It opens with a naked and afraid Hayley bolting through a dark eerie forest as a sinister figure plunges after her. Her predator is surrounded by a red mist; symbolic of rage. We see Hayley hide from it; behind tall trees in the cold blue moonlight, clutching her heart as a strong white light radiates from it- perhaps symbolising her desperation to remain pure and morally above the urge for vengeance.

The rage is represented by red lighting throughout as whenever the backing vocals- “Give in” – are sung we switch to the ominous hunters red washed point of view. This contrasting lighting is used again during the cutting second verse: the camera is up and close with Hayley, paired with a bleak drained lighting, this is until her rage soaked inner voice takes over, we then see a more empowered Hayley flashed with red lights upon the line “Cause nothing cuts like a mother”- Red Hayley is her empowered inner voice.

Williams then flees out of the woods to a familiar house- Taylor York’s- the same house from the ‘Told You So’ music video. It’s important to note Hayley is the only person in the video, completely isolated, and we see this again as she rattles the front door to find that she’s locked out and nobody’s home- these overwhelming emotions sneak up on Hayley when she's left to her own devices, accompanied by nothing but her thoughts.

The dash to Yorks house shows the comfort she finds in the sanctity of friendship and how being around her loved ones can often help hold off the darkness under her surface. We see Hayley break through the window, forcing her way into Taylors house- though this is less of a home invasion and more of a metaphor for how Williams copes with her inner turmoil- she makes it into art- but this time around she has to do it alone.

As the ‘Petals for Armour’ mantra sequence plays out we watch Hayley cover herself in clay in a sort of ritual; moulding her new identity as a woman unafraid to let her ugliness on the inside show on the outside. The masked figure pursues her inside of the house, only to be struck to the floor as Clayley jumps out of hiding to finally face her demons. The now rage consumed Hayley watches in horror as the masked figure is revealed to have been herself all along.

The ‘Wrath & Mercy’ interlude posted via William’s YouTube channel shows Hayley drag the corpse of herself to another room and form a cocoon with it- she can now recognise both the wrath & mercy as crucial parts of her, that they must coexist. This serves as the transition into the follow up single- “Leave it alone” – which sees Hayley explore the subject of grief as she is reborn with her petals for armour- now facing the world and the landscape of her mind with a new perspective: “the way for me to protect myself best is to be vulnerable and be okay with feeling a lot of pain at certain times and also feeling a lot of joy at certain times- and as long as I’m staying soft to those things and staying open to letting those things in and out of me, then I can actually survive the world a lot easier than if I stay hard and I stay with my fists up all the time”