Paramore Farewell Breakup Rumours, Kickstart New Era With Talking Heads Cover
Paramore’s cover of 'Burning Down The House' will feature on the new Talking Heads tribute album, 'Stop Making Sense'.
Paramore (Credit: Zachary Gray)
Paramore will honour their musical heroes, Talking Heads, kicking off the new year with a teaser video of them covering the 1983 classic Burning Down The House.
The snippet of their performance is the first piece of new music we’ve heard from the US rockers since breakup rumours swirled around them, and a subsequent report that confirmed that they are not breaking up but merely free agents was published.
Paramore’s cover of Burning Down The House will feature on the new Talking Heads tribute album, Stop Making Sense, a collection of songs brought together by production company A24 (known for distributing the films Ex Machina and Everything Everywhere All At Once) and 16 artists.
A sneak peek shared on the Paramore and A24 Instagram accounts sees singer Hayley Williams cut open a large cardboard box to find the now-iconic oversized grey suit worn by David Byrne in the 1984 Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense.
The camera and bright light pan to her bandmates, Taylor York and Zac Farro, as the snippet of their cover of Burning Down The House begins. “I’ve got a tape I’d like to play you,” she says, pulling a Talking Heads cassette tape off a shelf before the screen cuts to black. Check out the teaser below.
A24 has announced that A Stop Making Sense Tribute Album is coming soon, and Paramore’s Burning Down The House will be track one. Stay tuned for more details.
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Paramore’s most recent albums, last year’s This Is Why and 2017’s After Laughter, are heavily influenced by Talking Heads, with a new-wave inspiration clear in the band’s slick, colourful present-day sound.
Earlier this week, Variety reported that the band’s recent social media wipe was due to their Atlantic Records contract ending, not a looming breakup, and the trio are now “free agents”.
The social media blackout occurred after the pop-punk heroes completed a world tour in support of This Is Why, thus meeting their contracted 20-year obligations with (now former) label Atlantic Records.
In addition to the online disappearance, once Paramore pulled out of playing at ALTer EGO festival, the already-swirling breakup rumours led to a panic amongst fans. However, a source close to the group told Variety that the cancellation was due to scheduling conflicts.
The report also stated that Paramore are looking at a “fresh start” for their future.
Paramore returned to Australia for the first time since 2018 in November 2023, with writer Anna Rose proclaiming that Paramore delivered “pop-punk for the ages” and performed with “transcendent energy” in a The Music review of the group’s Brisbane (Meanjin) concert.
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