Why Paramore Stopped Playing Misery Business Live (& Then Brought It Back)

American pop-punk outfit Paramore exploded onto the scene with their 2007 album Riot! - thanks in no small part to the hit single "Misery Business." While the band found moderate success with their debut album, All We Know Is Falling, their sophomore release, Riot!, took Paramore into the mainstream. The album was certified triple-platinum, with singles "Crushcrushcrush," "That's What You Get," and, of course, "Misery Business," all charting. The group would go on to have later hits on albums like Brand New Eyes and Paramore, but "MizBiz" (as the fans call it) maintained its position as one of the best songs played at Paramore's live shows.

"Misery Business" is essentially the story of a romantic rivalry over a teenage boy (a "paramour" if you will). The lyrics describe the ultimate victor gloating, with lines like "She's got it out for me, but I wear the biggest smile," and "Whoa, it was never my intention to brag / To steal it all away from you now." Reading between the lines, there's a sense of betrayal underlying the bitterness; it's easy to read the song as two friends breaking up over a guy. To quote a teapot, it's a tale as old as time.

"Misery Business" Was Dropped For Its Misogynistic Lyrics

Hayley Williams Felt Uncomfortable Playing "Misery Business" At Shows

Lead singer Hayley Williams wrote "Misery Business" when she was just 17, and it reflects the mentality and maturity level of a lovesick teenager. As Willams wrote on the band's Livejournal in 2007, "the song was written at a time in my life that I [sic] felt very bitter towards a girl, who I [sic] still haven't forgiven." Over the years, Williams has elaborated further on the situation. In a 2020 interview with Vulture she revealed that the song was written about Paramore's Josh Farro, who left the band in 2010; Williams "had a crush on" him when she was 13 or 14, but he didn't return the feelings (they would later date).

Although "Misery Business" was well received at release, by the mid-2010s, public attitude had shifted. The song sparked minor controversy around 2017, with people in particular taking issue with the lyrics "Once a whore, you’re nothing more / I’m sorry that’ll never change."

Not long after, Williams stopped singing that line in performances, acknowledging the problematic lyrics in her interview with Track 7. Then at a Nashville show in 2018, she announced the band would no longer perform it at live shows: "Tonight we're playing this song for the last time for a really long time. This is a choice that we've made because we feel that we should, we feel like it's time to move away from it for a little while" (via X).

What Paramore Said About Bringing "Misery Business" Back To Its Live Setlist

Paramore Started Performing "MizBiz" Again In 2022

True to her word, Williams stopped singing "Misery Business" at Paramore shows after that Nashville set; however, in 2022, they took the song out of retirement. Williams sang the song onstage at a Billie Eilish show in April of that year, then in October, she and her band announced the song's return mid-set at a Bakersfield show. “Just about five minutes after I got canceled for saying the word ‘whore’ in a song, all of TikTok decided that it was OK,” she told the crowd (via Rolling Stone).

Williams later commented on the decision in an interview with WWD, stating that after taking a break, the band was comfortable performing "Misery Business"again and that there was an even greater appetite for it. "We retired "Misery Business" for a few years, and it happened to be the few years that we took time off. So when we came back, there had been this huge resurgence of that era of music... And we were just like, if we’re not going to give it to them, then what are we doing?"

Paramore Would've Struggled To Stop Playing "Misery Business" Forever

"MizBiz" Was The Pop Punk Girl Anthem Of 2007

Ultimately, it's not surprising that Paramore brought "Misery Business" back into their rotation. Bands have retired problematic songs before, but there's usually a catch. The Rolling Stones stopped playing "Brown Sugar" (for obvious reasons) and even Burton Cummings stopped playing his signature "Stand Tall" for a time (because he was having trouble hitting the high notes); in both of these cases, the artists have a significant backlog of well-known hits to fill the setlist. Paramore does not have that luxury.

Sure, Paramore has lots of great songs. "Ain't It Fun" won the 2015 Grammy for Best Rock Song, and "Decode," which was featured on the Twilight soundtrack, has nearly 540 million views on just the official YouTube music video alone (not to mention various live videos that each top 1 million views). However, "MizBiz" is such an iconic pop-punk hit from a very specific stage of the band's history that its absence is very obvious. It's the song fans want to hear, and it makes sense that Paramore would want to give it to them.

It helps that Williams and the band put so much thought into their decisions surrounding "Misery Business" and how the lyrics have aged. It's also worth keeping in mind that certain words have different connotations now, with some groups reclaiming language that was previously seen as offensive. At any rate, with their careful consideration of "Misery Business"and how fans view it, Paramore has earned the right to do whatever they would like with the song, including returning it to their setlist.

Source: Paramore (Livejournal), Vulture, Track 7, Rolling Stone, WWD