Paramore's time opening for Taylor Swift's colossal Eras Tour in Europe and the UK seems to be getting to Hayley Williams. She might not be on quite the same level as her good pal headlining, but some would certainly still call the Paramore frontwoman a pop star; she makes hit records and tours arenas, and even has a (retroactive) writing credit on Olivia Rodrigo's "good 4 u," a bonafide pop hit.
Williams, however, relishes her degree of remove from the online pop stan wars that dominate the fandom conversation in 2024, and weighed in on the topic in some since-deleted Instagram Story posts after performing in Hamburg, Germany.
"Something I've been thinking about a lot, and why I don't really love it… Especially in the music world, whether it's the pop girls or any scene, really, people only give a fuck about numbers now, and stats. And that is so lame," she observed, speaking off-camera in a video clip [as transcribed by Stereogum]. "It's very fun, don't get me wrong. It's sick. We've had a No. 1 album and top this and that albums, yes. That shit is great… but I just remember a time when that was not so important, and that also wasn't a gotcha for a stan-war type of situation."
Williams continued, "Anyway, I just think it's really fucking annoying. My side of the internet, which is basically not really the internet, I just get to support all the pop girls. Maybe that's privilege because I'm not a pop girl, but I just think everyone should cool it and let people make really great music and shit… I'm over it."
She ended her thinking aloud with a screenshot from what appears to be a sea turtle from Finding Nemo, overlaid with the text, "witnessing stan wars makes me so happy pmore is not really in the pop world. i just get to enjoy the good shit thats come out this year and im sorry some of yall cant thats gotta be tough damn."
As aforementioned, Williams has since deleted the posts, but you can find screengrabs below.