Hayley Williams is fueled by teas, savings and terrifying films

As Paramore releases his sixth album, 'This Is Why,' the singer and songwriter talks about playing in a maturing band - and music, mushrooms and tinctures that have helped this journey.

Hayley Williams is only 34 years old, but she is already two decades into her career as a as the dynamic singer of the pop-punk group Paramore. "I was just saying to the guys, we're too young to be old, but too old to be young," she said with a laugh last month, referring to her bandmates, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. "There are people who think of us the way I think of artists who have been doing this longer than we have. Part of me is 85 and the other part feels like I don't have answers in life. No one from the teenager who formed Paramore in 2004. She survived a painful divorce, the acrimonious exits of several band members (including Farro, who quit in 2010 but returned in 2017), and immersed herself in music. deeply personal material on two solo albums released in 2020 and 2021.

Similarly, Paramore's sixth album, "This Is Why" (released Friday), bears little resemblance to the screaming emo of his youth, reveling in the funkier new wave syncopation spurt of his 2017 LP "After Laughter," all topped off with Williams' lush, versatile vocals. hyper "C'est Comme Ça", winks at his maturity: "I hate to admit that getting better is boring/But the high cost of chaos?/ Who can afford it?"

"We're much better friends with each other," Williams said. "I remember calling my manager two Christmases ago and saying, 'I didn't get you a present except to tell you that we finally figured out how to solve our problems.'"

While preparing for "This Is Why," Paramore's first album in six years, Williams credited her solo debut, "Petals for Armor," with increased confidence in one's own musical prowess. It also allowed her to look outward as she grappled with the trauma of the pandemic and dealt with racial injustice near her home in Nashville during the lockdown. "Most of the time the lyrics are a contempt for resistance to progress," she said. "We've been through it all, and people are still absolute [swear] at each other."

From Farro's rental studio in Nashville, where the goldendoodle of Williams, Alf, was chasing crumbs, the singer and songwriter shared what inspired and comforted her as her band rebounded. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

1. Mushrooms I feel like something happened when [the movie] “Fantastic Fungi” came out. It opened many people's minds to all the ways mushrooms can be used. [Chef and writer] Sophia Roe has this amazing Instagram account and a new show called “Counter Space,” and she uses a lot of mushrooms for plant-based cooking. Mentally too the effects they can have on someone - I'm not speaking from experience here but I'm very excited to do a guided session and see how it affects my journey with depression and PTSD. And "The Last of Us" amazes me; I love that mushrooms have become such a thing that now zombies on a TV show have mushroom faces. Taylor and I were watching it the other night, and I was like, I'm the first person to shoot. I take this coffee alternative called Everyday Dose, and it has all those cordyceps in it. I really suck.

2. Starface Pimple Stickers When I was popping in my early twenties, I was petrified for any show or photoshoot. We opened No Doubt, and I remember trying to ask Gwen St...