Vocalist Hayley Williams is probably best known for being the lead singer of the band Paramore, as well as releasing her own very emotive and captivating solo music.

Her stage presence is very extroverted, confident and charismatic which helped in gaining her recognition in the industry. During her time with Paramore, she helped the band gain four Top 20 Billboard albums and a Grammy for the single ‘Ain’t It Fun’. Aside from Paramore, Hayley has collaborated with other similar artists including B.o.B and Zedd. In 2019 when Paramore took a pause, Williams began to focus more on her solo career and released the tracks ‘Simmer’ and ‘Leave It Alone’ which were visibly more artistic and meaningful with darker tones. These releases helped to mark the way for her first full length solo album. 

Smart and on-point percussion will drive a song, and in ‘Over Yet’ it is this drum beat that works so well to move the track, no matter what other instruments are in place. I’m massively reminded of Madonna in this, with vocal lines and the final mix does have hints to Madonna of the 80s, with high energy grooves and a vocal that moves over phrases quickly to support the flow of the verse and chorus. The middle has a nice break, with guitar sparring off the drums and a casual vocal that glides over the top before the track comes back in with a bang and the sexy melody that rides quickly is filled out further with floating backing vocal overdubs and sounds that act as somewhat of a time machine to the retro 80s vibe this track is excellently referencing. 

The mood and energy alone in ‘Over Yet’ make it one to watch. I love the way the vocals develop with catchy patterns in the verse and chorus that make you want to move and contrast with the instrumentation really effectively. 

 Singer-songwriter 

Author: Phil Arnold

Phil Arnold is a musician, producer and music reviewer from Devon, in the South West of England. Whilst not writing music reviews, Phil also writes and records under the name of Ugbrooke.