“Re: This Is Why

9.28 – This Is Why

10.2 – Why Is This?

10.6 – Is This Why?”

pic.twitter.com/W4hVAEzWHY

— paramore (@paramore) September 25, 2023

The Tennessee trio didn’t keep fans waiting long, as they announced a companion album to their 6th LP This Is Why, released earlier this year on February 10th, that will feature remixes, reworked and rewritten tracks, as well as some collaborations and an unreleased demo.

Earlier today, Paramore revealed the track list for their upcoming release, which showed a variety of artists taking on a song from the album and making it their own. Artists featuring on Re: This Is Why include UK acts such as Wet Leg, Foals and The xx singer Romy.

Re: This Is Why. The Tracklist.

1. This Is Why (Re: @foals)
2. The News (Re: @thelindalindas)
3. Running Out Of Time (Re: @pandabear)
4. Running Out Of Time (Re: @zanelowe)
5. C’est Comme Ça (Re: @wetlegband)
6. Big Man, Little Dignity (Re: @DOMiAndJDBECK)
7. You First (Re:… pic.twitter.com/flTS59qSH6

— paramore (@paramore) October 4, 2023

The band took to Twitter to share “We’ve long wanted to recognize the connection we have with some of the artists who’ve influenced us as a band and/or who have cited our band as an influence. Re: This Is Why is almost a remix album. Some of the songs have been remixed sort of classically, while others were reworked or rewritten. It’s incredible to hear all our worlds colliding. Out 10/6.”

We’ve long wanted to recognize the connection we have with some of the artists who’ve influenced us as a band and/or who have cited our band as an influence.

Re: This Is Why is almost a remix album. Some of the songs have been remixed sort of classically, while others were… pic.twitter.com/X3BpsFhD7s

— paramore (@paramore) October 2, 2023

Oxford based band Foals, who joined Paramore on their North American tour earlier this year, are taking on the album’s title track. Back in 2022, Paramore front-woman Hayley Williams praised the English band on an episode of her podcast Everything Is Emo, and spoke of their evolution.

Williams stated “I really respect this band’s journey and how they continue to evolve. I think it takes a lot of guts too. I think of every time we’ve gone home to write a new album, or we have an album in the can but haven’t presented it to the world, it’s a really scary feeling. It can be nerve-wracking to present yourself in a new way and essentially, grow in front of the world. Any time a band re-emerges with a new picture, a new frame of mind, I think it’s courageous and cool and I’m really enjoying their evolution.”

Re: This Is Why will be released this Friday (October 6th).

Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a little longer to truly appreciate Romy’s banger, because it’s practically begging to be played in a club. This total burst of energy is certainly reminiscent of some of the major 90s dance-floor fillers – and also, I would point out, an eighties synth vibe of the Tears For Fears variety. To me it also has just a twinkle of ‘Life In A Northern Town’ about it. What I’m saying is, if ‘Lifetime’ had come on at the eighties night at university, it would hardly have been out of place.

Romy wants us to understand that dance hits are important to her, from the eighties to the Ibiza scene; she wrote on social media, “I’ve always loved club classics that unite a room, big emotional dance songs, that you can sing along to as well. I’m excited to have the opportunity to show my love for dance music with ‘Lifetime’.

She added with a bittersweet note, “I loved working with a very talented and inspiring group of people on this song, thank you so much Fred again, Marta Salogni, Joy Anonymous and Jamie xx. I had dreamt that we could be dancing in a room together to this song by now, but until then I hope you can dance to it wherever you are!”

Afterwards I’ll be premiering the lyric video on YouTube at 6:45pm BSThttps://t.co/bdGeQDzGpu

— Romy (@romyromyromy) September 28, 2020

Beneath its catchy, neon, dance surface, ‘Lifetime’ is wrestling with greater concepts of time and making the most of everything. “Once in a lifetime / something matters,” Romy declares as the music falls away and we are suspended in the moment, thinking about how special everything is. She has spoken about the song wanting “to appreciate the moment before its gone”.

We’re all familiar with this urge these days, and Romy is clear that the moment could be anything, from a huge night out to a quiet moment with your loved ones – “simple moments of togetherness, meant the most to me,” she began to realise during the pandemic. But it also feels like the perfect sentiment for those few minutes on the dance floor where you’re having the time of your life and its all lights and colours and you don’t know what the time is or how long you’ve been there. Inevitably, clubbing can’t sustain that perfect haze for very long, but the stars might just align for three minutes when you hear ‘Lifetime’ on the dancefloor for the first time.