On “Airplanes”, Fans, Artists, and Hayley Williams

If you were to check twitter tonight, you might see that the most popular trending topic in the United States (2nd worldwide) at present is Hayley Nichole Williams, best known as the lead singer for Paramore (who headlines the Honda Civic Tour with Tegan and Sara, which kicks off tonight). But if you looked at the most resonant tweets (those that have been shared the most), you’d see something along these lines:

Hayley Nichole Williams is NOT that girl in the Airplanes song and is not from the band that did that song in Twilight She is in PARAMORE!<3

Other than the obvious punctuation challenges suffered by the author of that statement, two-thirds of that statement are just factually incorrect. Hayley Williams is in Paramore, but she also collaborated with B.o.B on current summer jam “Airplanes” and in 2007 Paramore wrote “Decode” , which…wait for it…appeared on the Twilight soundtrack.

In all likelihood, the author of this tweet already knew all of these things, but used this method to express frustration at the fact that an artist most recognized for a pop punk band has gained visibility for a hip-hop song and a soundtrack to a polarizing book and film franchise. In this case, I have bad news for the multitude of fans who apparently feel the same way; there is, in fact, nothing wrong with this. I’m not going to try to defend the Twilight franchise because I simply can’t do it with a straight face, so instead I’m going to take apart the inexplicable complaints about Ms. Williams’ appearance on “Airplanes”.

It’s a tough pill to swallow, but an artist only need answer to fans up to a certain point. Yes, if an artist (in this case, Hayley Williams) chooses to take part in a project that earns the scorn of some fans, that disgruntled group can express displeasure in the form of not buying the song/album, not going to shows, and just generally being unhappy. But rarely do fans actually get to prevent an artist from performing in a certain manner. Yes, I’m sure there are plenty of people unhappy that the lead singer for Paramore is garnering fame for a hip-hop song (this is probably tied to an offensively baseless argument that hip-hop isn’t music, but that’s a fight for a different day). But it’s not the fans call as to whether or not that happens.

The artist’s job is to keep making art, full stop. Whether that means finding what they do best (read: most successfully) or trying to branch out and try something new is up to the individual artist. So like it or not, it’s perfectly acceptable for Hayley Williams (or Chris Cornell or any other artist) to, in essence, go slumming in a different genre or style just to see what happens. To get upset because an artist of which you are a fan does something outside their norm is not only unfair to the artist, but it suggests that perhaps the angry fan wasn’t a particularly devoted fan in the first place.

Now, if displeasure comes from musically valid reasons, that’s one thing. A summary dismissal of a song or project based on genre, however is not, and by all indications the sudden twitter backlash toward “Airplanes” isn’t about the song and more about fans of one style of music being unable or unwilling to coexist with another style, which again is unfair to artists in general.

In short, musicians can do anything they want musically, and frankly, it’s the responsibility of the fans to support musical endeavors until such time as there’s a critical reason stretching beyond “rap/hip-hop isn’t music” to stop doing so. Until then, please try to remember it’s supposed to be about the music above all else. And to the new batch of “Airplanes” haters, suck it up. It’s a good song, and if you disagree, disagree for the right reasons.

B.o.B – Airplanes (feat. Hayley Williams of Paramore) [iTunes]

Got something you’d like to add? Feel free to start a dialogue in the comments; I’d love to hear what other people feel about this.

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