Hayley Williams, going solo from her band Paramore, has released the second single off of her upcoming studio album ‘Petals For Armor.’ The new single, titled “Leave It Alone,” and its cinematic music video shows Hayley Williams coping up with death and what it takes emerge unscathed off of it. Let us explore the lyrics and meaning behind this song.
“Leave It Alone” follows Hayley Williams’ debut solo single “Simmer” from her upcoming debut solo album ‘Petals For Armor.’ This album is expected to wind around the singer’s personal experiences, struggles and coming out of it all. The new album has a scheduled release date of May 8, 2020, hence, we can expect a few more singles and videos out of it.
In an interview with Beats 1, Hayley Williams talked about the inspiration behind “Leave It Alone;”
My family went through something insane in the middle of… I’m working. I’m doing all this work on childhood stuff and traumas, and I’m terrified of losing people obviously. And my Nana, who was my mom’s mother, had this terrible fall. And it was right after, it was the day after… Her and I share a birthday. She’s 50 years older than me, so she’s 81 now. The day after her 80th, my 30th, she fell like all the way down my mom’s stairs and [suffered] head trauma. Like the kind of thing that we had said goodbye to her. Right? And in a weird twisted… The weirdest thing is that she got better, but it prolonged the grief because she’s not really here with us. She doesn’t really remember everything. Thankfully she knows who I am, she knows who my mom is, but she really doesn’t. It was so tough and felt like there was a lot of death at the time.
In the song, Hayley Williams details that due to a cruel twist of fate, just when she regained her strength to live on, people around her start dying. This makes her question life itself.
Watch “Leave It Alone” Music Video by Hayley Williams
Verse 1
Hayley Williams is questioning God himself. She wants to know why God has cruel twisted humour about him. Just when Williams has packed up her inner demons and found the will power to live on, people whom she loves most start leaving this world. This can take a massive toll on someone’s sanity.
The lyrics get even darker in the latter part of the first verse. She talks about a noose, loop at the end of a rope in which the knot tightens under load and can be loosened without. A noose is commonly used to commit suicide. Becoming friends with a noose, again, is to say that Hayley Williams is having suicidal thoughts again. She wants to untie it and use it for something better, but the stronger their friendship gets, the harder it becomes to untie the knot.
Chorus
Hayley Williams knows the truth of this world–death is inevitable. But it tastes so bitter that it is not a pill that she wants to swallow. But she cannot ‘leave it alone’ nonetheless. The “truth is a killer” but you have to face it regardless. This is the bittersweet nature of life.
Verse 2
This second verse is completely dedicated to Hayley Williams’ grandmother who suffered a fall and trauma as she detailed in her interview above.
Her grandmother’s fall left her in an almost vegetative state. Fortunately enough, she recovered some of her memory to be able to recall Hayley and her mother. But this far from “living.” As she clearly states, it just prolonged the suffering for both her grandmother and her family.
Hayley Williams questions how much more suffering she has to go through witnessing the deaths of people she loves! She is not ready to bear these. But will she ever be?
Verse 3
In the press release for the song, Hayley Williams said: “The more you love, the more you stand to lose.” This is a core principle in Buddhist teachings. This same theme carries on in the third verse of the song with some valuable advice.
Hayley Williams says that from the moment you start to love, you should be prepared to let it go. The stronger you hold on to something, the stronger it will hurt when it eventually leaves. There is nothing in this world that is permanent and without change. Even love, a concept considered as timeless, changes over time. And more than any physical pain, emotions hurt a thousandfold more.
Hayley does not advise us not to love, but rather to accept it with the knowledge that it has the potential to leave you stranded. She says to accept love with an ‘open heart.’ This means that our hearts should be open enough to know that love subjects to change and disappear. This way, when it does leave, you will be far better with controlling the pain and despair. This way, it will not lead you to an emotional breakdown and other side effects such as depression, anxiety and stress.
Hayley Williams has some important and valid messages in the new catalogue of songs she is putting out. We are excited about more lessons off of her life in this upcoming album. Let us hear what you think about this song and the music video in the comments below. Rate and share this article with your friends to spread this important knowledge of life.