RIOT! Album overview and personal thoughts
RIOT! The second studio album by the band Paramore, and the first one to get the name Paramore into the mainstream. This album falls into the category of Pop-Punk, or if you want to be more general, just call it rock. Fronted by a female lead vocalist, this band has an interesting chemistry that many other bands do not have, but is that a good or bad thing?
For a Pessimist, I'm pretty optimistic is the lead song off of the album RIOT!, and it is a very good introduction to the band, and the album. A hard-rocking, fast paced and energetic piece, and an ok message in the song at best, I would say. While the song is a jam, and the lyrics have a good message to them, after about 10 listens to the album, the song seems to have less staying power than some of the rest of the songs, perhaps it's the slightly repetitive chorus, perhaps it's the "generic" use of the guitars. Either way, while there is plenty I can dislike about this song, I still think that it is a good song, and I think it was the right song to have at the start of this album.
That's what you get, the second song on this album, and the fourth to become a single, started off a little weak for me. It mostly sounded like just your average pop-punk/rock song, with a happy tune, not bad by any means, but nothing to stand out. As time went on though, as I started singing and as I listened to the album more, I found this one was a lot better than I originally gave it credit for. It's nothing amazing or deep lyrically, although I do really like the lines "That's what you get when you let your heart win" and "I drowned out every sense with the sound of it's beating" basically saying, don't let falling for someone take your common sense. This song definitely was a good choice for a single in my opinion, one of the better songs on a nearly stellar album so far.
Hallelujah, Third song from this album, and I believe the third single released from this album. A very generic song title, but is the song as generic as the title suggests? I would say kind of. This song is much less about deep lyrics, and more about really top notch instrumentals and vocals. The song starts off with a high note, literally, and continues this trend throughout the song. The guitar in this song has a distinct sound to it, unique to the rest of the album, sounds good (to me at least) and flows pretty well with the rest of the song. The biggest takeaway from this song is it's less deep than almost every other song on this album, similar to the first song.
This is where the album gets good. Misery Business, the first song to become a single from this album, and an absolutely awesome song. Fallout Boy has Centuries, Green Day has Basketcase, and Paramore has Misery Business. The song is about how a girl plays all her cards perfectly just so she can get the guy she wants, meanwhile hiding a lot of things. A rather simple message, but it's guitar and instrumentals, heck, even the vocals are probably the best on the album. Some of the fastest almost-rap like vocals, some hard rocking guitars and good drumming, this song takes the cake for energizing song you can put on your workout playlist for sure.
This next song is my personal favorite, though you may find that hard to believe with all the good things I said about the last song. When it rains, 5th song on this album, and my personal favorite. Why you might ask? Well, for starters, the song starts off with nice, gentle, controlled vocals in contrast to the rest of the album so far. The instrumentation is also on point to match the vocals, and the lyrics also are some of the best from the album, I think. With lines like "You made yourself a bed at the bottom of the blackest hole, and you say it's not the reason you don't see the sun anymore" and "When it rains, you always find an escape. Just running away. From everyone who loves you" When it rains, it refers to times in your life when it's dark, when you don't want to go on. But that's when you need to stick with the people who love you. This is why I love this song. This song really spoke to me on a deeper level than most songs do.
Here is where all the Paramore fans could possibly get angry with me, the next song is Let the flames begin. This song I must say, I do really love this song, but it is probably my second least or least favorite song on this album. Either people know something I don't, or my taste is different, but a lot of Paramore fans I know of absolutely love this song to death, and I don't like this song all that much. This song is definitely a great song, the vocals are top notch, the song has a really nice sound to it, just the lyrics are quite simple. That being said, the line "What a shame we all became. Such fragile broken things." is one of my favorite Paramore lines, probably my top 5.
The seventh track to this album, Miracle, is a pretty standard track in comparison to the rest of the album. It's a good song with some good lines in it, but nothing super spectacular. Good but not great instrumentation, pretty good vocals. Lyrically, I would put this song above the first two songs, and on the top half of the album. Lines like "I'm not going. Because I've been waiting on a miracle.", "I've gone for too long living like I'm not alive." and "It's not faith if you use your eyes." are all some great lines from this album, my favorite is the "It's not faith if you are using your eyes.", she is saying that if you can always see it, it's not faith. Faith would require believing in something that you can't always see or trust in, this is something I've experienced personally.
The eighth song on the album, Crushcrushcrush, is a good jam like Misery Business. At first listen, I preferred this song over Misery Business, and had very similar thoughts about this one in comparison to Misery Business, but after more listens, this one has stuck with me slightly less. It's a little shorter than the other, and it is a little more repetitive than the other, but it has a line in it I really appreciate, "I'd rather waste my life pretending, than forget you for one whole minute." It's a reminder to who ever the singer is singing to, that they are important to them, and that they shouldn't waste their time trying to hide it.
The ninth song on the album, and probably my least favorite song on the album, We are broken. The song itself is fine, although a little slow for my taste. But this song seems a little off of the norm for this album, even for being a quieter song. It is the most quiet song on the album, and it is written out almost like a prayer the singer is singing to God. My favorite line would be "Keep me safe inside your arms like towers", like she's talking to God and asking, pleading with him to keep her safe. From my standpoint, I really respect that they can make a song that is like this, that refers to God in such a way, but I don't really like how it is so different from the rest of the album.
Tenth song, Fences, is yet again a headbanger. It's more hyper than most of the songs on the album, with possible exception to misery business. It starts with mellowed down instruments and minimalist vocals, then as you get more and more into it, it keeps turning up the rock. As you might expect, a song called fences is about setting boundaries, with the line "Well you're just a mess, you do all this big talking." She's calling out those who make themselves so public and put on such a facade, that they honestly can't have boundaries, because if they tried to set boundaries, they would have to give up part of the facade.
Eleventh song, to finish of the album. Born for this is a perfect end to this album. Like fences, it's super hyper sounding, this one being about the radio airwaves. Starting of somewhat similarly to the last track, when you start getting into the chorus, she starts singing "Everybody sing, like it's the last song you will ever sing. Everybody live, like it's the last day you'll ever see." I think that line describes this song perfectly, she sang this song like she knew she was going out, and wanted to go out with a bright flash.
Overall, RIOT! is one of my favorite albums ever, (you can tell that I might be biased.) I will not even try to claim this album is flawless, the two biggest things I have problems with in this album is that it's short, only 11 songs, and while none of the songs sound the same, I think there could have been a little more diversity on the album. (That's ironic I say that, because I said I didn't like the quiet song on the album.) Also I don't believe this is the best album by this artist either, I'll voice my thoughts on that in the future. I would rate this album as a 9.0 out of 10, most o the points coming off from there not being a 12th or even 13th song.
Ranking
11: We are broken
10: Let the flames begin
9: Hallelujah
8: For a pessimist I'm pretty optimistic
7: Born for this
6: Miracle
5: Fences
4: That's what you get
3: Crushcrushcrush
2: Misery Business
1: When it rains
Hallelujah, Third song from this album, and I believe the third single released from this album. A very generic song title, but is the song as generic as the title suggests? I would say kind of. This song is much less about deep lyrics, and more about really top notch instrumentals and vocals. The song starts off with a high note, literally, and continues this trend throughout the song. The guitar in this song has a distinct sound to it, unique to the rest of the album, sounds good (to me at least) and flows pretty well with the rest of the song. The biggest takeaway from this song is it's less deep than almost every other song on this album, similar to the first song.
This is where the album gets good. Misery Business, the first song to become a single from this album, and an absolutely awesome song. Fallout Boy has Centuries, Green Day has Basketcase, and Paramore has Misery Business. The song is about how a girl plays all her cards perfectly just so she can get the guy she wants, meanwhile hiding a lot of things. A rather simple message, but it's guitar and instrumentals, heck, even the vocals are probably the best on the album. Some of the fastest almost-rap like vocals, some hard rocking guitars and good drumming, this song takes the cake for energizing song you can put on your workout playlist for sure.
This next song is my personal favorite, though you may find that hard to believe with all the good things I said about the last song. When it rains, 5th song on this album, and my personal favorite. Why you might ask? Well, for starters, the song starts off with nice, gentle, controlled vocals in contrast to the rest of the album so far. The instrumentation is also on point to match the vocals, and the lyrics also are some of the best from the album, I think. With lines like "You made yourself a bed at the bottom of the blackest hole, and you say it's not the reason you don't see the sun anymore" and "When it rains, you always find an escape. Just running away. From everyone who loves you" When it rains, it refers to times in your life when it's dark, when you don't want to go on. But that's when you need to stick with the people who love you. This is why I love this song. This song really spoke to me on a deeper level than most songs do.
Here is where all the Paramore fans could possibly get angry with me, the next song is Let the flames begin. This song I must say, I do really love this song, but it is probably my second least or least favorite song on this album. Either people know something I don't, or my taste is different, but a lot of Paramore fans I know of absolutely love this song to death, and I don't like this song all that much. This song is definitely a great song, the vocals are top notch, the song has a really nice sound to it, just the lyrics are quite simple. That being said, the line "What a shame we all became. Such fragile broken things." is one of my favorite Paramore lines, probably my top 5.
The seventh track to this album, Miracle, is a pretty standard track in comparison to the rest of the album. It's a good song with some good lines in it, but nothing super spectacular. Good but not great instrumentation, pretty good vocals. Lyrically, I would put this song above the first two songs, and on the top half of the album. Lines like "I'm not going. Because I've been waiting on a miracle.", "I've gone for too long living like I'm not alive." and "It's not faith if you use your eyes." are all some great lines from this album, my favorite is the "It's not faith if you are using your eyes.", she is saying that if you can always see it, it's not faith. Faith would require believing in something that you can't always see or trust in, this is something I've experienced personally.
The eighth song on the album, Crushcrushcrush, is a good jam like Misery Business. At first listen, I preferred this song over Misery Business, and had very similar thoughts about this one in comparison to Misery Business, but after more listens, this one has stuck with me slightly less. It's a little shorter than the other, and it is a little more repetitive than the other, but it has a line in it I really appreciate, "I'd rather waste my life pretending, than forget you for one whole minute." It's a reminder to who ever the singer is singing to, that they are important to them, and that they shouldn't waste their time trying to hide it.
The ninth song on the album, and probably my least favorite song on the album, We are broken. The song itself is fine, although a little slow for my taste. But this song seems a little off of the norm for this album, even for being a quieter song. It is the most quiet song on the album, and it is written out almost like a prayer the singer is singing to God. My favorite line would be "Keep me safe inside your arms like towers", like she's talking to God and asking, pleading with him to keep her safe. From my standpoint, I really respect that they can make a song that is like this, that refers to God in such a way, but I don't really like how it is so different from the rest of the album.
Tenth song, Fences, is yet again a headbanger. It's more hyper than most of the songs on the album, with possible exception to misery business. It starts with mellowed down instruments and minimalist vocals, then as you get more and more into it, it keeps turning up the rock. As you might expect, a song called fences is about setting boundaries, with the line "Well you're just a mess, you do all this big talking." She's calling out those who make themselves so public and put on such a facade, that they honestly can't have boundaries, because if they tried to set boundaries, they would have to give up part of the facade.
Eleventh song, to finish of the album. Born for this is a perfect end to this album. Like fences, it's super hyper sounding, this one being about the radio airwaves. Starting of somewhat similarly to the last track, when you start getting into the chorus, she starts singing "Everybody sing, like it's the last song you will ever sing. Everybody live, like it's the last day you'll ever see." I think that line describes this song perfectly, she sang this song like she knew she was going out, and wanted to go out with a bright flash.
Overall, RIOT! is one of my favorite albums ever, (you can tell that I might be biased.) I will not even try to claim this album is flawless, the two biggest things I have problems with in this album is that it's short, only 11 songs, and while none of the songs sound the same, I think there could have been a little more diversity on the album. (That's ironic I say that, because I said I didn't like the quiet song on the album.) Also I don't believe this is the best album by this artist either, I'll voice my thoughts on that in the future. I would rate this album as a 9.0 out of 10, most o the points coming off from there not being a 12th or even 13th song.
Ranking
11: We are broken
10: Let the flames begin
9: Hallelujah
8: For a pessimist I'm pretty optimistic
7: Born for this
6: Miracle
5: Fences
4: That's what you get
3: Crushcrushcrush
2: Misery Business
1: When it rains
Nice reviews! I don't listen to Paramore much though.
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