The Paramore Renaissance is in full swing and it's giving us plenty of precious moments that we'll be cherishing forever. Case in point: an impromptu duet from lead singer Hayley Williams and PinkPantheress.
Paramore — who recently announced their upcoming sixth album This Is Why — played both weekends of the 2022 Austin City Limits Music Festival held at Zilker Park and proved that second chances do matter sometimes and people things do change. How exactly? Well, the trio decided to spice things up during their second set by bringing out the 21-year-old English artist, who was also part of the festival's lineup, to perform their 2007 smash hit "Misery Business."
As captured by a fan on TikTok, PinkPantheress, who confirmed her real name is Vicky, joined Paramore on stage making quite the entrance. The singer was clad in a very Y2K ensemble, complete with shield sunglasses, a long-sleeved shirt with mesh and embroidered graphic details, a denim miniskirt, a mini shoulder bag, and black tights. Something that was noticeably missing from the 'fit? Her shoes.
"I'm so sorry! My shoes are in my bag. They are hurting my feet," the singer shouted, addressing the crowd with Hayley's wired mic. After that, she's given her very own mic, and it only takes a millisecond for her to get teary-eyed doing her introduction, sharing that Hayley was one of her biggest inspirations to take up music in the first place. "I just love you so much," she tells Hayley through a teary smile. (Excuse me, I have something in my eye.)
Hayley then tells PinkPantheress that the crowd is now hers, and she takes on the song's iconic bridge. "I watched his wildest dreams come true / And not one of them involving you / Just watch my wildest dreams come true / Not one of them involving," PinkPantheress sings, and lots of headbanging and jumping follows. Still barefoot, she stayed onstage for the final chorus, and she and Hayley ended the song with a quick hug.
"We just watched her wildest dreams come true," someone commented on the TikTok video that captured the interaction, referring to the young star. We agree, and we're living vicariously through her. You know PinkPantheress is really starstruck when she shares her real name. (Also, while we're here, can we also get a collab?)
Seeing "Misery Business" live is no small feat. Back in 2018, the band announced they had decided not to perform the hit song live because a line could be interpreted as "anti-feminist." That changed earlier this year when Hayley Williams joined Billie Eilish to perform an acoustic version of the track at Coachella, which omitted the controversial lyric.
Now, the take with PinkPantheress is more faithful to the original. Though Hayley herself visibly covered her mouth during that particular part of the song, the crowd did not hesitate to sing along — which prompted a shy "we're in trouble" murmur from the singer. "I'm telling your mother, and your fathers, and the whole internet," Hayley quipped immediately after.
Back in 2015, Hayley already expressed her remorse about the line in a Tumblr entry. "Those words were written when I was 17… Admittedly, from a very narrow-minded perspective. It wasn't really meant to be this big philosophical statement about anything. It was quite literally a page in my diary about a singular moment I experienced as a high schooler," she wrote then. So, yes, people do change.
