Review: Paramore – Brand New Eyes

Sergio reviews Paramore’s ‘Brand New Eyes’.

Artist Name: Paramore
Album Name: Brand New Eyes
Year: 2009
Genre: Pop Punk/Rock

After nearly calling it quits recently, Paramore managed to regroup and release their third studio album, Brand New Eyes.

Inspired by the internal conflict that plagued the band for so long, Brand New Eyes is an emotionally-fuelled release. But before you go put your Paramore-loving friends on suicide watch, just realise that great art often takes much frustration and rage in order to flourish.

Hayley Williams’s voice really manages to take an ordinary rock sound and turn it into a smash hit – every song becomes that much more listenable and appealing because of Hayley’s sweet melodies. Just listen to ‘Brick by Boring Brick’ – she makes the track go from okay to wow!

I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of the bonus track ‘Decode’, because I really like that song but I don’t want to buy the Twilight soundtrack – sorry, I’m a Bram Stoker fan, Stephanie Meyer.

On a negative note, I feel the lyrics are a bit tedious and adolescent at times. It feels like I’ve heard it all before sometime in the 90s – you know what I’m talking about, the typical “you don’t like me, well I don’t like you either” stuff. But I guess they are catering for the younger audience who deal with these issues more, so I’ll overlook this little blip when giving my final rating.

Overall, Brand New Eyes is a very radio friendly album, with numerous acoustic ballads and teenage angst-driven pop punk tracks, and it has already become the top-selling Paramore album. I may not be a Paramore fan, but I have to say that this album is possibly one of the best rock releases of 2009.

Best Tracks: ‘Ignorance’, ‘Brick by Boring Brick’ and ‘The Only Exception’

87/100

- Sergio Pereira
sergio@musicreview.co.za