Review: After Laugher: The Internal War Between Dark Reality and Manufactured Optimism

Alexa F.

“If you watch somebody long enough, there's always this look that comes across their face when they're done smiling, and I always find it really fascinating to wonder what it is that brought them back to reality,” Hayley Williams, lead singer of Paramore described in an interview with IHeartRadio in 2017.

Paramore not only takes this concept, but amplifies it in their fifth studio album, After Laughter.

The lyrics and vocals are as aggrieved as ever-- but the jubilation of the music works against them, displaying the internal war between dark reality and manufactured optimism. Throughout the whole record, you can see this battle taking place in a series of songs: most are constrained, mawkish singing from Ms. Williams sugarcoated with bouncy synthesizers, a vaguely tropical pulse generated by guitarist Taylor York, and 1980’s digital percussion produced by drummer Zac Farro. While in others, the layers of production pull back, which causes the raw emotion to overflow out and create an ocean of pure and utter sorrow.

The premise is the topic of "Fake Happy," which really feels like the center point of the album. The song starts off as a sunny day with a chance of rain. The warm guitar lies under Walliams soft suspendable voice as she sings "And I bet everybody here/ Is just as insincere / Were all so fake happy / And I know fake happy." During the verse grey clouds start to form as raindrops begin to drizzle from the sky. Before you know it, there is a full on storm and the chorus bursts into a daunting plea: "Oh please, don't ask me how I've been / Don't make me play pretend." "Fake Happy" acknowledges that everyone always has cartoon faces on covering up their real emotions. Even if Williams detests the phoniness of it all-- she can't help but simper throughout the whole record.

After Laughter is an auditory installment of the inner thoughts of many people's minds

Each individual song explores what it means to struggle with mental health in a world where psychological issues are both stigmatized and trivialized. The lyrics give your heart a melancholic massage while the music itself manipulates you to believe you’re in for a happy time. You'll reach the last song because you empathize with Hayley, Taylor and Zac and you'll return to the first song because Hayley, Taylor, and Zac empathize with you.