Hayley Williams, the lead vocalist of Paramore, has announced that the band will no longer be performing what’s arguably one of their most famous songs, because of slut-shaming lyrics.
“Once a whore, you’re nothing more, I’m sorry that’ll never change,” is the line in the song that has drawn widespread criticism in recent years.
The announcement came at a performance in Nashville on Friday evening, at which Williams told the crowd “Tonight we’re playing this song for the last time, for a really long time.”
The 29-year-old star, who wrote the song at age 17, went on to explain that the band wanted to “move away from it for a little while.”
“This is to every bad decision that led us here, this is to all the embarrassing things we might have said, but we owned up to it and we grew.”
Some fans have questioned the band’s choice to shelve the song, rather than addressing the misogynistic lyric:
However some have pointed out the misogynistic message delivered by the song goes further than one lyric, being central to the song. The music video sees Williams cutting off the ponytail, smearing the makeup, and pulling out the bra inserts of the woman addressed in the lyrics.
Many fans have defended the move, and supported Williams’ right to reflect on and move away from things she said when she was younger:
And Hayley definitely seems confident in that decision. Let’s hope more artists follow suit.