Paramore- Brand New Eyes

Hey, y'all! It's time for me to talk about another CD on my shelf! As always, I put my iTunes on shuffle, and the CD containing the first song that played is the one I'll be talking about!

Release Date: September 29, 2009

Genre: Pop punk, Alternative

When I bought the CD: If I remember correctly, I got it when it came out.

Track Listing

1. Careful
2. Ignorance
3. Playing God
4. Brick by Boring Brick
5. Turn It Off
6. The Only Exception
7. Feeling Sorry
8. Looking Up
9. Where the Lines Overlap
10. Misguided Ghosts
11. All I Wanted

Paramore lineup on this CD:
Hayley Williams- vocals, keyboards
Josh Farro- lead guitar
Taylor York- rhythm guitar
Jeremy Davis- bass
Zac Farro- drums, percussion

L-R: Taylor, Josh, Hayley, Zac, and Jeremy

About Paramore: 
Paramore has been a band since 2004. So far, they've released 4 CDs: All We Know Is Falling in 2005, Riot! in 2007, Brand New Eyes in 2009, and Paramore in 2013. The band has gone through several lineup changes. I mean seriously, their Wikipedia page has an actual TIMELINE showing the changes:

However, the timeline is partially inaccurate, because Hunter Lamb did NOT play on Riot!, and Taylor York didn't join Paramore until later, and I believe it was 2009. Josh Farro played all the guitar parts on Riot!, and Taylor was a touring member until just before Brand New Eyes.

My Opinion about Paramore:
Paramore was the first alternative band I got into, and they're actually what caused me to begin listening to alternative music. In the gap between Brand New Eyes and Paramore, I didn't listen to them quite as much and they fell down a bit on my list of favorite bands, but they've always been among my top 10 bands, and have been a staple in my ever-changing list of favorites.

About the CD:  

This was the first Paramore CD with Taylor York, and the last one with the Farro brothers. Some of the songs were actually part of the reason that they left the band. Hayley and Josh had dated and broken up, causing Hayley to write songs about it as well as writing some songs that the brothers didn't really agree with. It caused a lot of tension, and with other factors, eventually caused them to leave. Which, as we know, was very traumatic to Paramore fans everywhere.

IMHO: 
I don't think I'd call this one of my favorite Paramore CDs. It's one of those CDs with some really amazing songs, and then some songs that I've maybe listened to 5 times ever. If that. And pretty much every song on the CD falls into one of those two categories.

As always, I'm going to give each song a rating out of 10 and then give a brief explanation of why it got that rating. 

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Careful- 7.5/10. This is one of the only songs that falls somewhere in the middle for me. I thought it was one of my least favorites on the CD, but as I listen to it again, I realize that it's pretty middle of the pack. It's not great, but not as forgettable as some other songs on this CD.

Ignorance- 10/10. First off, the music on this is just really awesome. Hayley's vocals are awesome as always, and the lyrics are really great too. It's just a really great combination of everything.

Playing God- 10/10. This is possibly my all-time favorite Paramore song. I haven't really thought too seriously about what my favorite Paramore song is, but I know that this would be in my top 5, if not right at #1. The lyrics in this song are so phenomenal. There are so many lines that I absolutely love.

Brick by Boring Brick- 10/10. Hayley's vocals are just really cool on this one. I really love the lyrics on this one as well, especially in the chorus. I don't often think about lyrics in a song (typical instrumentalist) but I've mentioned Hayley's lyrics 3 times already. Hayley writes great lyrics.

Turn It Off- 8/10. Honestly, Hayley's vocals and lyrics in the chorus are what I really like about this song. It's not my favorite on the CD, but it's better than most of them.

The Only Exception- 9/10. I think this song had a little too much hype as a single. Everyone seemed completely enthralled with it. I really enjoyed it too, but I felt like everyone made a bigger deal of it than they needed to. It's beautifully simple, and I really like that.  And of course, Hayley's vocals and lyrics are on-point.

Feeling Sorry- 7/10. I get this one and Looking Up confused constantly. The entire song feels like it's going nowhere. It does have a nice high point, but the rest of the song seems pretty flat.

Looking Up- 7/10. I get this and Feeling Sorry confused, and they have the same problems as well. I just feel like most of this song is flat. Once again, there are a few seconds near the end that are nice, but overall, meh.

Where the Lines Overlap- 6/10. If I were to describe this song in one word, it would be boring. I can never remember how the song goes until I listen to it. It's forgettable and boring.

Misguided Ghosts- 6.5/10. Like with Where the Lines Overlap, I always forget what this song sounds like. I gave it a slightly higher rating because I like it better than Where the Lines Overlap, but they have basically the same problems.

All I Wanted- 10/10. Those lyrics. Those vocals. Wow. I have nothing else to say about this song. Just wow.

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Favorite Songs: Playing God, All I Wanted, Brick by Boring Brick, Ignorance

Least Favorite Songs: Where the Lines Overlap and Misguided Ghosts

Video! 

Playing God music video

All I Wanted video

Rating: 8.5/10. It makes me really sad that this CD has so many really amazing songs, but so many not-so-great songs mixed in with it.

Hope you liked my newest "The CDs on my Shelf" post! Have any questions? Do you like Paramore? Let me know in the comments!

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