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Critic Reviews
100
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.
9y
100
This isn’t simply about Paramore producing what feels like the best pop album of the year. Sharing everything, it’s hard to think of another band on this scale who offer such honesty on such a grand scale.
6y
100
Album five is different. The band are still a band but there are no brave faces here. There’s no hiding behind an idea, or pretending because you have to. Instead ‘After Laughter’ is ok with not being ok.
8y
100
An album that’s ultimately OK with not being OK, it’s for that reason alone that it may just be perfect.
8y
90
For their fifth album, After Laughter, they’ve almost completely shed their emo rock past completely and blossomed into one of the finest pop bands around.
9y
87
An undeniably hooky record that strays from its grunge-rock roots and finds the band in a place where they’ve found the fun in their craft once again.
9y
82
With 'After Laughter,' Paramore take the retro '80s step a lot of bands are taking without stumbling, delivering one of the year's best pop albums.
9y
82
They definitely haven’t perfected this new sound yet, but for the first time since their debut we can look at Paramore and truly say they are doing something different.
9y
80
Williams has managed to get out from under the pressure of having to be the perma-grinning frontwoman, and the emotional uncertainty that’s exposed is fascinating. 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.
9y
80
Paramore may lose a few of their pop-punk fans but they’ll gain a lot more with this stylish reinvention.
5y
80
Paramore’s talents have never been merely surface level, but a biting attitude underneath. Don’t let the candy-colored album cover fool you, the band’s sour punch is still alive and well.
6y
80
Excluding the syrupy "26" and seething "No Friend," After Laughter could be one of the year’s best pop albums.
8y
80
After Laughter – candy-coated bitterness at its best – may steer them away from the Kerrang! crowd, but one thing remains consistent to Paramore’s emo roots – the theatrical mellifluence of internal angst.
9y
80
A gorgeously produced, hook-studded record with cocked-eyebrow trepidation adding a jittery edge – a combination that's very of-the-moment in 2017, even if it veers outside of pop's rigid lines.
9y
80
Stripped of all their teenage angst, despite all its sunny hooks, After Laughter is a deep album with plenty to say. It’s easily the most honest and mature Paramore have sounded yet and also probably, one of the best pop albums you hear all year.
9y
80
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.
8y
80
Catharsis is never usually this joyous, but sometimes smiling through the pain works better than crying.
9y
75
Williams boasts undeniable talent, but her gusto requires the sharp songwriting and clever instrumentation of her bandmates, and After Laughter testifies to what happens when a singer like Williams is met with a group of quality instrumentalists.
9y
75
Just as this album highlights Williams’ most existentially despondent musings to date, it is also the most fizzy record Paramore have ever recorded.
9y
70
After Laughter, Paramore's first album in four years, finds the pop punk band going through a synthpop metamorphosis.
8y
60
What lets this album down is its delivery: as colourful and pleasant as it is, it’s far too safe and cheery.
3y
people are probably gonna pretend to hate this record to keep up their niche & experimental persona, but, this album is good as fuck
after seeing them live this gets an 8, I am in LOVE with Hayley Williams and would give a testicle to have dinner with her.
What a fun album! Paramore is certainly one of those bands, that you just NEED to listen to when you're in a bad mood.
This is my 3rd time trying them out, and they did not disappoint me one single time... I'm extremely thankful to one of my friends, who are sadly not on this site, that they recommended me them. What a fun ride!
'After Laughter' is one of those albums, that just looks for something new and fresh - so basically, an experimental album. It's different to ... read more
Might be my favourite album from paramore
Reminds me a bit of talking heads, but with sadder lyrics that goes kinda unnoticed since the album sounds so fun
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Track List
| 1 | Hard Times 3:02 | 94 |
| 2 | Rose-Colored Boy 3:32 | 90 |
| 3 | Told You So 3:08 | 86 |
| 4 | Forgiveness 3:39 | 81 |
| 5 | Fake Happy 3:55 | 89 |
| 6 | 26 3:41 | 84 |
| 7 | Pool 3:52 | 88 |
| 8 | Grudges 3:07 | 83 |
| 9 | Caught in the Middle 3:34 | 86 |
| 10 | Idle Worship 3:18 | 87 |
| 11 | No Friend 3:23 | 71 |
| 12 | Tell Me How 4:20 | 83 |
Total Length: 42 minutes
Year End Lists
| #3 | / | Dork |
| #8 | / | SPIN |
| #8 | / | Time Out New York |
| #13 | / | Drowned in Sound |
| #14 | / | The Skinny |
| #15 | / | Billboard |
| #15 | / | Sputnikmusic |
| #20 | / | NME |
| #23 | / | Baeble Music |
| #25 | / | Rolling Stone |
| #25 | / | Rolling Stone (Australia) |
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By landlalt
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4d
I hate the fact that I will always associate this album with the worst years of my life and still listen to it because it's my favorite album of all time because it's me explained as an album
