Paramore plays ‘Misery Business’ again after retiring it due to lyrics controversy
The emo-pop band revived its breakthrough single “Misery Business” at its tour stop in Bakersfield, California, on Sunday, playing it live for the first time since retiring it in 2018.
At the time, lead singer Hayley Williams said the band would stop playing the song “for a really long time” largely due to listener backlash.
A few critics found "Hopelessness Business" chauvinist, especially for one verse that alludes to one more lady as a "prostitute."
However, following quite a while of fans safeguarding the melody and Williams emphasizing her obligation to women's liberation, the band felt open to playing it live once more.
“Four years ago, we said we were gonna retire this song for a little while, and I guess technically we did,” Williams told her audience at Sunday’s gig, according to Rolling Stone.
“But what we did not know was that, just about five minutes after I got canceled for saying the word ‘whore’ in a song, all of TikTok decided that it was OK.”
When she and the band launched into the song, the audience cheered wildly, per footage of the concert shared online by attendees.