Paramore Go ‘Daydreaming’ in New Video
Two friends fly to London to see Paramore live in the group’s latest video, “Daydreaming,” or is it all a dream? The clip focuses on a blonde and a brunette who look to live in what frontwoman Haley Williams describes in the lyrics as “a city of sleepless people who all know the limits and won’t go too far outside the lines,” which comes off the group’s latest, self-titled album. They pack their bags, go to the airport, needlessly block the expanse of a moving sidewalk and kiss the airport floor. Meanwhile, Williams & Co. perform the song, in black and white, and huddle up backstage. When it’s revealed that the young women have arrived in London, the clip depicts them navigating the tube and riding the city’s giant Ferris wheel known as the London Eye, all with clips of them back in their small town.
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Eventually they make it to the venue, and that’s when the real daydreaming begins. Somehow, the couple is able to sneak in backstage, peer in at Paramore in their dressing room, get a wave and a smile from Williams and then, respectfully, move their way to the main, audience-saturated concert area and ultimately find a spot up front to watch the band (now in color). It’s a fun fantasy, and it’s really never quite clear what’s real and what’s not.
But the clip does capture one reality: the love of the crowd for Paramore. In our review of the group’s tour-opening Seattle show last month, we found that “even when she sat down behind a keyboard for ‘Daydreaming’ and ‘When It Rains,’ the audience remained rapt.” Interestingly, songs like “Daydreaming” weren’t conceived with a live audience in mind. When we spoke with Williams in October, she told us, “This record, we were a little bit less concerned with the live aspect. In the past, it was like, if we can’t pull it off with two guitarists, bass, and drums then it doesn’t feel real to us. So we really did open up our minds and wanted to make something that sounds good. We thought we’d figure out the rest when we got there.”