A good music video is an art form in and of itself. Weaving sound, cinematography, choreography, and narrative into one brief package is no small feat. So what exactly does it take to make a solid music video? In this episode of Playback, we give Hayley Williams a chance to answer that question.
While breaking down all the behind-the-scenes details of her newly released music videos for "Simmer," "Leave It Alone," and "Cinnamon," Hayley Williams talks about self-worth, her horror movie influences, and the making of her new record, Petals for Armor.
Watch the entire trilogy below and read on for a rundown of the visuals.
On working apart from Paramore …
"There was a lot of stuff that felt similar, and then a lot of this process for me has been a real exercise in self-belief and self-worth to kind of realize that I am capable of bringing something to life as an individual," she says. "This has been a really scary, incredible moment for me in my life. The process of writing, the treatment, all of it was really my notes from therapy. Therapy is what led me to writing in the first place."
After bringing on Lindsey Byrnes as creative director and Warren Fu as music video director, "that's when it started to really become a new animal and I was able to sort of have this really ongoing conversation about what I was learning in therapy and how we could portray that in the videos," she adds.
On her horror movie influences …
For the "Simmer" music video, Williams wanted to portray some "graphic" scenes. "I knew early on that I was running from something and toward something, and I wasn't sure what that was," she says. "I'm a really big horror movie fan and I love thrillers, and this is exactly the pace that I want."
Her biggest influences at the moment? Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale and Netflix's Bird Box are among her current favorites. "Any movie where there's vengeance and justice, like, taking back your own power, that's kind of what has really inspired me more recently," she says.
Watch the full Playback video above to see what else went on behind the scenes.
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As an associate editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, Chelsey keeps a finger on the pulse on all things celeb news. She also writes on social movements, connecting with activists leading the fight on workers' rights, climate justice, and more. Offline, she’s probably spending too much time on TikTok, rewatching Emma (the 2020 version, of course), or buying yet another corset.
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