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Jul 11, 2017An 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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May 12, 2017An 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.
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May 12, 2017The record still varies its tempo from time to time, resulting in some truly gorgeous gems.
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Jun 19, 2017This album is a brave, bold-faced exorcism. While the wounds may still be fresh, the healing has finally begun.
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May 19, 2017Williams 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.
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May 15, 2017Excluding the syrupy 26 and seething No Friend, After Laughter could be one of the year’s best pop albums.
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May 15, 2017After 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.
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May 12, 2017It’s the band’s brightest, most animated album. The sound is crisp, every layer discernible, lacking the blurs and reverberations that constitute traditional rock production and instead drawing from the rhythmic separations that characterize ‘80s pop and freestyle.
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May 12, 2017The 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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May 12, 2017Where 2013's Paramore found the group tentatively transitioning from their pop-punk roots toward a multi-layered '80s synth-pop sound, After Laughter reveals them having beautifully completed the transformation.
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May 12, 2017After Laughter comes over like the earnest, fist-pumping soundtrack to a long-lost John Hughes coming-of-age film.
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May 12, 2017A 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.
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May 16, 2017No 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. You’d be forgiven for missing the seriousness on After Laughter for just how much damn fun it is.
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May 15, 2017Just as this album highlights Williams’ most existentially despondent musings to date, it is also the most fizzy record Paramore have ever recorded.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 566 out of 634
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Mixed: 20 out of 634
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Negative: 48 out of 634
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May 12, 2017
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May 12, 2017
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May 12, 2017