Advances in music technology and production techniques have rather levelled the playing field when it comes to the sound quality of modern rock songs, so every now and then it's nice to be reminded of the pure talent which has elevated certain artists above the multitudes.
A case in point is a video currently circulating which shows Paramore's Hayley Williams recording her vocals for Still Into You, the second single released from her band's self-titled fourth album. The clip is actually a snippet of a longer three minute 46 seconds video of Williams' first take vocals on the song, which the singer filmed on her iPhone in the studio in Los Angeles.
The song was a celebration of the love between Williams and her then-husband, New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert, with the singer telling Spin, " it's definitely a love song. It's definitely happy. But to me anyway - and obviously I wrote it so maybe I'm biased - it's not a sappy love song."
The full version of Williams' vocal performance was uploaded to YouTube by the singer herself in June 2013, at a time when Paramore were encouraging their fans to send in clips of themselves singing along to songs by the Franklin, Tennessee band for a 'Paraoke Contest'.
Williams' original caption beneath the original post stated: "So excited about these entries for the Paraoke Contest! I decided maybe I should share my own video with you guys. This is literally the entire first vocal take I did for Still Into You in the studio last year. I took it on my iPhone and was saving it for the right time to post. Hope you like it! Sorry about all the weird faces and the dancing awkwardly all by myself."
Having discovered the clip for the first time, The Internet has reacted positively. “She doesn’t need autotune, autotune needs her” reads one typically approving comment.
Watch the shortened clip on X, and the full video uploaded to YouTube, below:
Hayley Williams' raw vocals on "Still into You" is perfection pic.twitter.com/IegReXIxkAMay 28, 2024
The second single from Paramore, the song's video currently has 247,891,145 views on YouTube, and has been streamed 773,269,348 times on Spotify, with only Misery Business being played more on the streaming service. The album topped the charts in both the UK and US when released in April 2013.
