Paramore’s Hayley Williams Just Delivered A Stunning Cover Of A Radiohead Classic
"For a time I pretended to be over Radiohead (IIII knowwww) but good things always find you and welcome you back."
Hayley Williams has taken on Radiohead’s 1995 classic ‘Fake Plastic Trees’, as part of her cover series that she’s loosely been running throughout the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
Over the last few months the Paramore frontwoman — and now certified solo artist in her own right, after releasing her excellent debut album earlier this year — has covered a slew of tracks, including The Used’s ‘The Taste Of Ink’ and Tegan & Sara’s sad gay anthem ‘Call It Off’.
In a post sharing the cover on Instagram, Williams wrote that the Radiohead track was by far the most requested song from her fans, but she’d been avoiding it because it felt “sacrilegious” to do her own version.
“[It seemed] sacrilegious at first until I realised that the band themselves have never once regarded what they do as precious or never-to-be-toyed with,” she wrote. “They are never beholden to any one version of their expression and public affections don’t seem to sway them. So many times people thought they were at their best only for them to bloom more beautifully into something unexpected and unequivocally better.
“For a time I pretended to be over Radiohead (IIII knowwww) but good things always find you and welcome you back. So, in admiration of one of the best bands of all time — and in humility to everyone who did *not* ask for this — here’s a self-serenade of ‘Fake Plastic Trees’. Enjoy it if you can.”
Listen to the cover below, and listen to ‘Simmer’ , the lead single from her debut album Petals For Armor, while you’re at it.