Hayley Williams says Morgan Wallen inspired her lyric about a “racist country singer” on a track from her new album.
Hayley Williams isn’t afraid to name names. In a recent interview with The New York Times, the Paramore frontwoman and solo artist confirmed that the “racist country singer” she references in her song ‘Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party’ is Morgan Wallen.
The track appears on Williams’ third solo album of the same name, and features the lyric: “I’ll be the biggest star at this racist country singer’s bar.” When asked directly by Times podcast hosts Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli if she was referring to Wallen, Williams didn’t hesitate. “It could be a couple, but I’m always talking about Morgan Wallen, I don’t give a sh*t,” she said. Laughing, she added: “Find me at Whole Foods, b*tch! I don’t care. I just don’t care.”
Wallen has faced criticism since 2021, when video surfaced of him using the N-word alongside other expletives in Nashville. Despite industry backlash, his career has otherwise remained commercially successful. Williams, meanwhile, has continued to use her platform to speak on race and other social issues.
“I’m never not ready to scream at the top of my lungs about racial issues,” she said during the interview. “I think it’s so intersectional that it overlaps with everything from climate change to LGBTQIA+ issues. When you’re passionate about something and you really believe in something, and have the will to spread that, yeah, talk about it.”
Williams also discussed other lyrical inspirations from the record, including her nod to Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’ in the song ‘True Believer.’ She reflected on weaving local history into her work, citing Franklin, Tennessee, where land once purchased by a formerly enslaved man is now preserved. “Franklin and Nashville are being gentrified all the time,” she said.
“I’m really proud of the fact I wrote about my city, and I was also able to inject some of this history I’m aware of, and feels really important to pass on.”
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