Hayley Williams, the GRAMMY-winning singer-songwriter best known as the frontwoman for pop rock trio Paramore, has announced her first-ever solo tour. The 22-date trek kicks off with a run of European shows in mid-May followed by a series of performances across North America through late June. The tour, which will wrap with a homecoming show in Williams' hometown of Nashville, Tenn., will feature support from The Ninth Wave on select European dates and Arlo Parks for the North American leg.
The tour is in support of Williams' forthcoming debut solo album, Petals For Armor, which drops May 8 on Atlantic Records. The album features the singer's debut solo single, "Simmer," among other new tracks.
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"Wow. I am going on tour. Myself. It's not Paramore and truthfully, it's just a little terrifying," Williams said in a statement announcing the tour, as reported by Rolling Stone. "But if I know anything, it's that there's no safer place (besides at home with my dog) than to be in a room, on a stage, in front of the people who I've grown up singing my lungs out for. There was a time I thought I wouldn't tour Petals For Armor. What a joke. I must."
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The upcoming tour will take Williams to smaller shows in more intimate venues, according to her posts on social media. She tweeted, "intimate shows. been craving the closeness a long time." She also wrote on Instagram, "i crave INTIMACY. these are small shows - i've been wanting to do this for a long time."
In her tour announcement, she gave more background about the forthcoming shows.
"This is a brand-new adventure," she said. "It's important to embark on something new every now and then just to show yourself that you can… The first run of shows is going to be hot, sweaty and intimate. My brand-newly-formed band and I will be playing rooms that Paramore outgrew a decade ago. It's going to be so satisfying to feel the energy of a crowd that close again, especially while performing songs that feel so vital for me, songs I have never performed before for an audience."
Ahead of the release of Petals For Armor, Williams last month (Feb. 6) dropped her Petals For Armor I EP, which featured the singles "Leave It Alone" and "Cinnamon."
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Petals For Armor follows Paramore's 2017 album, After Laughter. The group has received two GRAMMY nominations across its 16-year career, including a Best New Artist nod at the 50th GRAMMY Awards, held in 2008. Williams, along with bandmate and co-writer Taylor York, won her first and, so far, only GRAMMY at the 57th GRAMMY Awards, held in 2015, winning Best Rock Song for Paramore's "Ain't It Fun," a single off the group's 2013 self-titled album.
In September 2019, Paramore went on hiatus, noting that they were "taking a really nice break after grinding away for nearly 15 years!"
