Hayley Williams Explains Paramore’s Near-Breakup: ‘I’m Tired of Losing Friends’

"Hard Times," Paramore's new '80s-tinged single, could certainly be a case of art imitating life: the three-piece group admit in a new interview that they almost fell apart a number of times over the years, and the fact that they've ultimately stayed together seems kind of like divine intervention.

Paramore, who announced the imminent release of new album After Laughter yesterday (April 19), told Zane Lowe in a subsequent interview that they felt kind of exhausted after the release of their fourth album in 2013. The group had already cycled through departed band members Josh Farro, Jeremy Davis, Jason Bynum, John Hembree and Hunter Lamb, and Williams said she was over being at odds with her pals.

"I'm tired of losing friends, I'm tired of doubting myself and maybe if I'm just not doing it at all, then I won't have anything to doubt," Williams reflected. “I was kind of flat-lined and I think that if it weren’t for [guitarist] Taylor [York] the band would be over. That is just kind of the truth. Yeah, I had enough. I’m tired of losing friends or I’m tired of doubting myself, and maybe if I’m just not doing it all then I won’t have anything to doubt. I can see what else I can do."

“I know that people don’t always keep the same friends throughout their entire life but I always thought I would," she added.

York added that — at the time the group was deciding whether to disband — they'd been together for so long that the passion seemed to have drained from the project. But Williams said the return of Zac Farro earlier this year, who quit the group in 2010, sparked new magic. Moreover, she's encouraged that she's mended fences with some previous members.

"I can stand in front of anyone and say there’s so much peace now you know we run into each other around town and it’s so nice to find that," she said.

The Saddest Time Band Members Left The Group: