After Laughter
| Paramore
After Laughter
After Laughter is the fifth studio album by American rock band Paramore. It was released on May 12, 2017, through Fueled by Ramen as a follow-up to Paramore, their 2013 self-titled album. The album was produced by guitarist Taylor York alongside previous collaborator, Justin Meldal-Johnsen. It is the band's first album since the return of drummer Zac Farro, who left the band with his brother Josh in 2010, and the departure of former bassist Jeremy Davis, who left the band in 2015.[1] After Laughter represents a complete departure from the usual pop punk and alternative rocksound of their previous releases. The album touches on themes of exhaustion, depression and anxiety, contrasting the upbeat and vibrant sound of the record.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
But just as this album highlights Williams’ most existentially despondent musings to date, it is also the most fizzy record Paramore have ever recorded.
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Rolling Stone
Paramore’s ‘After Laughter’ Triumphs Via Shiny Pop, Moody Lyrics.
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Billboard
On the album after their grown-up album, their unique band identity finally emerges stronger than any particular movement, ready to pivot in numerous future destinations on the rock/pop compass.
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Consequence of Sound
No matter its rocky moments, After Laughter exhibits the enduring trait that makes Paramore so appealing: Even when the situation is dire and emotions are running high, they tell it like it is with smiles on their faces.
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NME
Paramore’s fifth album is a pop triumph – but there’s some serious sadness underneath all the bangers.
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NPR
It's a miserable pop record, a complicated pop record, Paramore's first pop record. Here's hoping for many more.
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SPIN
It’s the band’s brightest, most animated album.
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Plugged In
If there's one set of lyrics that sums up the overall emotional tenor of After Laughter, it's these two Eeyore-like lines from "Fake Happy": "I know that I said I was doing good and that I'm happy now/I should've known that when things are going good, that's when I get knocked down."
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The New York Times
Paramore tries to find itself in the ’80s on ‘After Laughter’.
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GENRE IS DEAD!
Hayley’s vocals are very emotional. She really has a way to either transport the sadness and hurt of a line while being super punchy on other songs (e.g. Idle Worship or Fake Happy).
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DROWNED IN SOUND
Musically, meanwhile, this is as free as they’ve ever sounded. Again: Paramore have always been a pop band. They’ve just never been this proud of it.
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Sputnik Music
Paramore’s fifth full-length feels like the fresh start that Paramore was meant to be.
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DIY Magazine
An album that’s ultimately OK with not being OK, it’s for that reason alone that it may just be perfect.
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Hidden Jams
All in all, After Laughter is an impressive, almost conceptual album that describes real life in a way that is honest yet hopeful.
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Paste Magazine
Once immersed in the pop-heavy album that is After Laughter, it becomes clear that the less angsty outlook of Paramore is something only surface-level.
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Immortal Reviews
Paramore face their dark reality with tragic optimism in After Laughter, the band's fifth record.
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ALL MUSIC
Despite the album's buoyantly pastel new wave tones, it unsurprisingly contains a truckload of hard-won maturity and a growing sense of battle fatigue.
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A DIVERSE SOUND
Musically, After Laughter is a sleek, retro pop album bathed in 80s nostalgia. It’s fun, almost addictively so, but hidden in the nuance is a bittersweet feeling.
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Bearded Gentlemen Music
Aside from rough production pieces and substance lacking on After Laughter, the album is still a fun listen. This is Paramore’s best pop record yet, and it even saw the return of drummer Zac Farro.
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THE ODYSSEY
Overall, "After Laughter" is an incredible comeback album from an incredible band. This album almost didn't exist but I'm so glad Paramore decided to stick around and make this masterpiece.
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THE LINE OF BEST FIT
Paramore’s move away from their roots delivers one of the pop LPs of the year.
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DAILY NEXUS
After Laughter paints Paramore as a magnetic band that creates charismatic pop anthems while still preserving and maturing their emo-inclined expression.
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DESIGN A GIG
Overall this album is such a stand out of all the amazing albums released this year. The new look of Paramore shows that it's an ever evolving band as well as its fans.
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DEAD PRESS
‘After Laughter’ stands as another jewel in the Paramore crown. Gone are their pop-punk years of yore, and with it we gladly welcome in their part 80s/part 90s funk influenced pop-rock of today.
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INFECTIOUS MAGAZINE
Musically, After Laughter features the most relaxed recordings seen on any Paramore album, (“Forgiveness,” “26,” “Tell Me How”), but still manages to keep consistent the tropical vibe that is present everywhere else on the album.
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BUST
Overall, this album was refreshing. Though different from any of the band’s previous sounds, I found myself tapping my toes and dancing in my chair throughout listening to it the first time.
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Vendor Culture
So in the current context, After Laughter‘s pleasing rhyme scheme begins to simulate the same reaction the words ‘fun run’ bring to mind; something wretched wrapped up in falsely positive vibes.
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NO RIPCORD
Not only does After Laughter regenerate Paramore's sound, but it rejects the cult of personality surrounding the group. By fusing the pop and rock of the 80s to their punk roots, they are now free to move in any direction going forward.
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PUNK NEWS
It's still emo but coated by their fizziest music to date, channeling every desire they have to make an '80s electro-pop album.
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THE ALTERNATIVE
Ultimately, After Laughter is a testament to Paramore’s ability to change, grow, and “go pop” without producing music marked with the infamous made-for-radio sound that all too often gives pop music at large a bad reputation.
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murlough23
After Laughter may not be a perfect pop album, nor is it a particularly groundbreaking one, but the band hits it out of the park on both a musical and emotional level time and time again, and that’s an admirable feat for a group this far into its career, especially having started in a genre where it’s far too easy to crank out more of the same from album to album, or even song to song.
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THE SOUND BOARD
As its own entity, After Laughter is the closest the listener has gotten to seeing the documented turmoil within Paramore, a brave approach in its own right and carries plenty of hints for what’s to come next time around.
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Nouse
From its sorrowful lyrics to tropical-pop sound, this release documents a band that is done trying to please.
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Redbrick
However, what can be said for sure is that Paramore’s latest evolution in style has been their best move yet, and in turn has seen them release one of the strongest pop albums of the year thus far.
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Hollywood Life
After Laughter (May 12) is a prime example of what happens when the emo kids grow up, but remain talented.
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STRIFE MAGAZINE
All of the songs on this album are amazing and special in their own way, but closing track “Tell me How” is in a league of its own.
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Newsday
“After Laughter” is packed with potential pop hits that only Paramore could deliver. And that’s the perfect reason for the group to keep going.
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STUDENT EDGE
Paramore, despite all odds, have returned as bona fide pop hook-peddlers.
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HOOLIGAN MAG
Yet, musically Paramore references more mainstream pop projects like “E*MO*TION” era Carly Rae Jepsen or HAIM via bouncy ‘80s inspired bass lines. This combination of emo sentiments with pop-rock riffs is magical.
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B-SIDES
This album pushes forward on the path the band began to forge on their 2013 self-titled effort, that path being in line with the current pop music trend of throwing it back to music you would’ve heard on the radio 30 years ago.
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INVICTA MAGAZINE
After Laughter is an album that Paramore clearly wanted to use to show their maturing sound and to show that they have come out of a tough time all guns blazing.
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BLACKFIRE
On “After Laughter,” the first album after the band’s three-year hiatus, the lyrics are still punk, but the pop is much poppier.
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DAMNED INDUSTRIAL
Ditching the emo-rock sound in favour of a modernised 80’s tinged new wave groove that has more in common with the likes of Talking Heads or Dire Straits even, than My Chemical Romance – After Laughter has catchy tune after catchy tune.
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STITCHED SOUND
Paramore’s newest release After Laughter sees a groovy and aesthetically pleasing era for the band as they take their listeners back to the 80’s.
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WALL OF SOUND
Overall, this release is a display of raw and honest emotion masked with an upbeat pop sound. It’s a great album, holding a unique sound from their past discography, but it still holds that same passion every Paramore album possesses.
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EL BROIDE
‘After Laughter’ is easily the band’s best collection of tracks in over a decade.
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Fortitude Magazine
Lyrically, the album, through each of its tracks, feels like a 12 page book of clarification of the last four years, and the conclusion is everything the music and the melodies make you feel – free.
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THE HIGHLANDER
“After Laughter” is the band’s most emotionally and instrumentally complex album to date which makes for a strong addition to their repertoire.
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TRANSISTOR
After Laughter is the sound of a band finally making the kind of music they’ve been threatening to for years now. And they’re all the better for it.
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The Weekly Spoon
The ’80s are back in vogue, and with their fifth album After Laughter, Paramore are the latest on the bandwagon, joining the likes of Haim and Carly Rae Jepsen in resurrecting the era’s production-heavy, synth-laced sounds.
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Contact Music
Catchy songs do of course make for a good album, but where ‘After Laughter’ excels is hinted at in the title itself – it is lyrically full of despair, doubt and sadness in general.
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HAUS OF HOOT
After Laughter is a pop album, make no bones about it. Its unapologetically catchy, its exciting, its clever. In parts it drags you up and makes you feel super happy, while other times it'll drag you to the depths of the bands fifi-zone.
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Cryptic Rock
The album is a beautifully pivotal evolution in the Tennessee threesome’s career, though they remain deliciously likeable here, as always.
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Others Magazine
After Laughter is a pop album about growing up, losing faith, finding it, finding new directions, fighting with friends, and reconciling again. It might, however, be a risk with long-term listeners. Paramore is growing up.
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DISTORTED SOUND
After Laughter is so inoffensive that, for all its feel-good factor, it’s actually a little upsetting to listen to knowing what they used to be like.
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LEMON WIRE
“After Laughter” was unimpressive and painfully average
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SURREAL RESOLUTION
Overall, After Laughter is a pretty solid listen that finds Paramore feeling more inspired and rejuvenated than before.
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Backseat Mafia
After Laughter is a rebirth for Paramore, the songs seem more natural and have more meaning now than ever.
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brent music reviews
Paramore have a hit on their hands ladies and gentlemen. As a more casual fan of the band, this album is impressive.
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Out Loud
With just 12 tracks, their latest album After Laughter manages to land hit after hit, solidifying the band’s progression toward a reinvented sound.
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POPFECTION
I think it has some of their strongest songs however, and that is what puts this album apart from most albums released this year, or whatever is in the charts.
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CONCERT CRAP
This to me is probably the best album Paramore has made and I’m so happy to finally hear what they’ve been working on for the past two years.
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The Guardian
The grooves they always possessed are brought to the forefront on this peppy, vibrant record, a contrast to its lyrical themes, which cover masking misery (“I’m going to draw my lipstick wider than my mouth”), spiralling depression and the anxiety of ageing, only with a knowing wink.
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THE DAILY LISTENING
Their brand new album in four years, After Laughter, hits you right into your whole being even when you claim you’re dead inside; it’s happy yet it isn’t at all. As much as their self-titled was a significant record for the band, it was merely in broadening their sound musically.
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STARS AND SCARS
After Laughter explores new wave and 80’s music influences, but the band maintains their uncanny ability to write widely-relatable lyrics inspired by their personal struggles.
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NYLON
With After Laughter, Paramore has their audience where they want them now. They've found the sweet within the bitter and aren't letting rancor hold them back.
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Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life
This is a chore of an album to get through. Any hope that it might try something beyond bland pop songs with an 80’s vibe is lost when Pool, Grudges & Caught in the Middle fails to light even the smallest fire under your seat.
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Evening Standard
'They’ll gain fans with this stylish reinvention'
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Ranting About Music!
After Laughter runs further afield of pop-punk, and instead pushes deeper into the glossy post-punk and New Wave influence seen on the self-titled.
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The Student Playlist
After the pop misadventures of their previous effort, Paramore are back on the right track with fifth album ‘After Laughter’.
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DIAMOND IN THE GROOVE
Undoubtedly, After Laughter comes together as one of the most graceful and devoted transitions by a rock group to a pop-orientated style in quite some time, and when taking a step back and appreciating the album as a whole, it genuinely seems as if Paramore went into the construction of this record with a clear vision for the way in which they wanted this crossover to pan out.
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Highlight Magazine
From beginning to end the album almost completely maintains its synthy 80s pop vibe making this one of Paramore’s most cohesive records.
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GIGAMOV
‘After Laughter’ is the perfect collection of upbeat summer tracks with an edge, brilliantly juxtaposed with dark themes and solemn undertones.
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NOIZZE
After Laughter is a definite must listen and is sure to satisfy both die-hard fans of Paramore, and due to its distinctive indie-pop sound, open up a multitude of new fans.
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MOSH
After Laughter is lyrically and sonically the best and most mature album that Paramore have released to date.
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Read DORK
It’s a coming of age record for when the world says you should have it all figured out by now.
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OUTRIGHT GEEKERY
Paramore have produced a fun album that has some catchy hooks like on the track ‘Caught in the middle’. This album is there best so far as it reaches out to a wider demographic and this is easily a contender for pop/rock album of the year.
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RENOWNED FOR SOUND
On their fifth record; After Laughter, the band have embraced their unashamed enthusiasm for the music they make.
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RUSKIN JOURNAL
For me, the juxtaposition of the up-beat tunes and downhearted lyrics is for me what makes the album special. Yes this album may be sleeker and more pop than punk but it definitely still has the hallmarks of Paramore.
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SPECTRUM PULSE
Honestly, this is one of those projects that while I can respect most of its thematic arc and structure, it's not really one that sticks with me on execution. Which yes, might as well be the tagline to any comments I've made on Paramore, but After Laughter is arguably the most straightforward album that they've ever assembled and also - to some extent - their most honest.
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SHUTTER 16
After Laughter isn’t about finding a way out of the hole you’ve built a home in, or just making it through the day with whatever it takes. It’s about being okay with the fact that you’re in the hole.
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WE PLUG GOOD MUSIC
Overall the album has almost a Caribbean/reggae type feel to it and I predict it will be the perfect pop playlist for the summer time and festival season.
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Diamond In The Groove
Undoubtedly, After Laughter comes together as one of the most graceful and devoted transitions by a rock group to a pop-orientated style in quite some time, and when taking a step back and appreciating the album as a whole, it genuinely seems as if Paramore went into the construction of this record with a clear vision for the way in which they wanted this crossover to pan out.
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USA Today
Paramore is clearly aiming for more radio-friendly music here, but their deceptively moving lyrics and audacious fusing of genres is what makes it such a rewarding listen.
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THE SPEAKEASY
But with the release of After Laughter, the band created a reciprocal relationship that hasn’t existed before.
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The Daily Gamecock
As much as I believe the “After Laughter” album to be a fruitful work, there will always be a piece of me waiting to hear back from the red-haired Hayley that voiced the soundtrack to my teenage years.
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THE ALTERNATIVE NATION
After Laughter has transformed Paramore into more than just a rock band and has really elevated their game to another level
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PUNKTASTIC
'After Laughter’ is a big step away from previous Paramore albums, but it looks like they’re finally moving on from the past.
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MUSIC AND OTHER THINGZ
Over all ‘After Laughter’ seems to show a maturing of the Paramore’s pop-rock sound.
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GOD IS IN THE TV
fter Laughter is a human album where the catchy, upbeat tunes often feel like a coping mechanism for anxious and depressive thoughts.
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HRH Magazine
The later songs of After Laughter continue to infuse pop with more serious undertones. The whole album doesn’t feel like Paramore though – in fact it’s incredibly similar to La Roux’s last release.
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Sounds From Nowhere
Paramore moves into a new dimension with their pop oriented return and knocks it out the park.
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EVERYTHING MUST SWING
. . . After Laughter can stand very firmly and convincingly still on its own, where the good and exciting bits go cast a shadow onto the weaker ones presenting a more than decent overall output.
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MEDIA HYPE
At heart, the lyrics of the new album scream Paramore with its dealing of emotions.
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Volume Magazine
Instead of sounding anything like the group’s previous work, this record is full of late ’80s influenced pop.
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mxdwn Music
Overall, After Laughter is both a bold step forward and a natural continuation down an already existing path
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ATWOOD MAGAZINE
2017’s After Laughter is oxymoronic in sound: the upbeat grooviness is palpable, but the lyrics, as with many Paramore songs, are sometimes downtrodden, this time touching on subjects such as depression, anxiety, grudges, and ultimatums.
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PATHFINDER
The new sound was refreshing and culminated as a catchy hit.
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THE POP PROJECT
“After Laughter” could be better but it’s a great album for the fresh start that Paramore is going for.
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FINDING YOUR NEVERLAND
Overall, we may have been surprised with Paramore’s change in sound, but it was a pleasant one
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EXEPOSE
Four years after their previous release, Paramore have returned with a more mature album and unguarded emotions, and though far from their decade-old ‘Misery Business’ days, this record shows previously pop-punk Paramore remain very much significant in 2017.
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Rafasan Music
Overall this is a very solid album from one of my favorite bands and a fresh reimagining of their sound.
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On Record Magazine
They might let some fans down with the musical compositions of After Laughter, seeing as they’re a departure from the pop punk that made the band famous. After Laughter is, rather, driven by simpler music than the band has utilized in the past.
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AND JUSTICE FOR REVIEWS
Overall, this is pretty good album and I would definitely recommend you to check it out if you have not already.
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Hysteria Magazine
Although it is Paramore’s most blatant appeal to straight up pop, After Laughter is the band’s most mature and realised release.
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