Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris

Album: Petals for Armor (2020)
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Songfacts®:

  • Here, Hayley Williams sings about how she'd like women everywhere to realize their worth. The songstress uses flowers as a metaphor for growth and self-discovery as she thinks of "all the wilted women" moving toward the light.
  • Williams explained to Pitchfork that she set out to "write poetically about being a woman and relating to other women, especially being in an industry in which women are pitted against each other a lot, even still."

    For many years, Williams was in a difficult relationship with New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert. Because she had little faith in their relationship, it was hard for her to trust anyone around her, particularly other women. It was only in her late 20s when Paramore started touring with other females, such as Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, Julien Baker, and Soccer Mommy, that Williams found herself surrounded by women she could relate to. She wrote this breezy feminist meditation about "discovering just how powerful and profound the connection is between myself and other women in my life."
  • Boygenius, the project of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus, sing ghostly backup vocals. Williams said: "I was so honored. They are three really important women in our music scene that are telling truths in unique ways."

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