“Running Out of Time” by Paramore, Thursday, September 5, 2024
Last year, when promoting Re: This Is Why, the remix album of Paramore’s sixth studio album This Is Why, lead singer Hayley Williams talked to Jimmy Fallon about her teenage friendship with Taylor Swift. Williams describes the friendship as coming from a time when Swift and she were pursuing music while growing up in Nashville. According to Williams, Taylor Swift’s mother was looking for a friend for Taylor, particularly someone else in music. At this point, neither Taylor nor Paramore were household names, but even as teenagers both Williams and Swift were focused on their goals, which allowed for little time for normal teenage things, especially socializing. The singers’ friendships and careers have intersected several times before Paramore’s opening slot on the Eras Tour. On their latest album, Swift inspired a lyric from an impression she left on Williams.
THERE WAS A FIRE (METAPHORICALLY). After releasing three pre-release singles for This Is Why, Paramore released the album and promoted the single “Running Out of Time.” Musically, the song is consistent with the guitar-driven sound Taylor York had composed for the singles before the album’s release. Some listeners were shocked by the band’s shift in musical direction. The once pop-punk band had shifted to pop rock on 2027’s After Laughter, but last year’s This Is Why trades pop hooks for guitar licks, jazz chords, and frenetic drumming. “Running Out of Time,” is one of Paramore’s most unique songs. When she introduced the song in a concert in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Hayley Williams expressed how she was surprised about how the song turned out. In only three minutes and 11 seconds, the song accomplishes what a similarly styled 70s psychedelic acid rock tune would receive a radio edit of four minutes, cutting down a seven-minute or longer album track. This is not to say that Paramore is better than a '70s psychedelic acid rock band, but in the 2020s, being economical with time is a must. The song’s bridge offers a bit more freestyle to the already loose song. The song serves as a bridge between the album’s hits and the more experimental album cuts like “Liar” and “Crave.” The song also makes the remix on Re: This Is Why “Big Man, Little Dignity” with its hot Jazzstep keyboard finish feel like it isn’t coming out of nowhere.
I HIT THE SNOOZE ON MY ALARM TWENTY TIMES. Hayley Williams told the audience in Tulsa that the lyrics to “Running Out of Time” “aren’t that deep.” She explained the lyrics in a video for Genius. Rather than concealing Easter eggs, Williams gives anecdotal examples with each line, from a neighbor that she tried to do something nice for to the watch she wears “for only decoration.” She elaborated on the lyrics when talking with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, specifically about the song’s inspiration coming from William’s friendship with Taylor Swift. Williams talks about a 19-year-old Swift with a closet full of gifts that she collected to give whenever the moment called for it. Williams contrasted herself with Swift’s togetherness. Hayley said, “There are still Christmas cards or gifts at my house that I have not sent to my friends.” She also said that her “idealized self” is the person who had some extra time, “so I bought my friends some flowers.” In the song, Williams complains that her bad time management skills make her seem like a “selfish prick.” Perhaps those that have their shit together may feel that way, but I think many of us can sympathize with Williams--if not empathize. I, too, admire people who have a clear focus and get things done. I would be one of those people, except I love to be distracted. It’s the distractions that inspire me. But I guess we have to deal with the consequences.
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