Hayley Williams on the Challenges of Promoting an Album During a Pandemic

This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

Hayley Williams talked with Billboard about releasing and promoting an album during a pandemic:

“We wanted to approach this differently from anything Paramore had done,” says Mercado. “The truth is, the material necessitated it.” While the band has long released its music through Warner Music Group-owned punk label Fueled By Ramen, Williams set Petals For Armor apart by releasing it on Warner’s Atlantic Records, where chairman/COO Julie Greenwald assembled an entirely new, nearly all-female team for the project. “When it’s a new set of eyes, it’s all fresh thinking,” Greenwald says. “Every part of this campaign is reading, ‘I am Hayley Williams.’”

The gradual rollout has also allowed the team flexibility at a time when that’s proven especially crucial. Amid the pandemic, Williams was able to make the last-minute decision to release the Part II tracks piecemeal instead of all at once, offering fans in lockdown something new to look forward to every week. With each song, she has released treats like behind-the-scenes clips, Instagram dance tutorials and cinematic music videos, several of which build on a storyline in which Williams enters and escapes an insect-like chrysalis.
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i have found it nice hearing a new track each week, and as hayley mentions, something new to look forward to each week. on the other end, i see a lot of other musicians postponing their album releases because of the pandemic. out of curiosity, is that due to financial reasons?

 

Most likely. The way I think you have to look at it is you can only launch an album once and right now people don't have a lot of disposable income; plus you can't do promotional appearances and touring which would help boost the album's profile. Then again, some artists are launching albums specifically because people are stuck inside and some of those are doing quite well. It's all trade-off.

 

Looks like it leaked. Which sucks for this one even more. I preordered so I’m gonna wait until I have the whole album in hand. Hope this one does well in the current atmosphere!

 

Loved the first single from this project then never really connected with anything else. Disappointing to see everything get cancelled and postponed, she was planning on doing a surprise set at Bonnaroo this year.