Review Summary: Paramore's debut remains their finest.
Paramore hailed from Nashville, Tennessee, with young Hayley Williams at only 16 years old. With a rather unusual history, they created this ten-track long album as their debut. Many fans are not wrong in saying this is, by far, Paramore's greatest album. It's the one that shot them to success
This album, I'd say, is a mix of three genres. Pop-punk, alt-rock and emo. Especially on songs like "Brighter" do we truly get a sense of Paramore's music. It's pop-rock, though not done in an obnoxious Avril Lavigne way. It's heavier than pop-rock. It's a blend of lots of different styles, all making a solid, catchy album. AWKIF incorporates the band's songwriting skills, and unlike a lot of popular bands right now, the music has not been too overproduced. It can still have loud distorted guitars, though not too much has modified the core rock sound.
The songs from this album didn't fair too well commercially, I noticed. Many failed to reach the top forty anywhere, though this is because the band were still new, and unheard of. The tracks are fantastic, and are still popular to date. "Emergency" still remains my favourite Paramore song. Blending rock to emo lyrics, this song is a four-minute marvel. "Pressure" is also a fan favourite now. A very simple song, though done very well, it doesn't need to be anything more. However, one of the true highlights of the album came right at the end. "My Heart" is a rock ballad. At it's most delicate moments, it's soft, though when the climax builds up, we truly know how heavy Paramore can be. And this sums up the album. With harder tracks like "Emergency" mixed with stripped back tracks like "Never Let This Go", this album shows how Paramore are as artists. There are one or two poor songs, however. "Whoa" felt like a rather poor attempt at a pop song, and as a result, was a noticeable drawback to the album. Some more of the songs had weak parts to them. "Here We Go Again" also felt like a let-down.
This only half an hour long album isn't perfect, though it doesn't have to be. Paramore showed us their genre and who they are, and this album is a brilliant representation of them.
