Music Review: Paramore "Ain't It Fun"

Paramore

Ain’t It Fun

Album: Paramore

Year: 2014

            Hayley Williams sticks it to an old former classmate in the blunt “Ain’t It Fun. "

 An indifferent guitar opens the single, setting an unsympathetic tone. The look on his face was priceless. She giggles to herself, recalling the memory. She kept her voice soft and told him she appreciated his friendship. However, that’s all it would ever be. He put on the biggest, fakest smile and waved his hand in the air, saying it’s nothing. He still thinks of her of the outcast, willing to hold onto anything, grateful for his attention. A couple weeks later, he’ll probably try asking her out again. Unlike the women he meets now, she would remember him as the popular football player lauded as a star athlete. His mischievous grin would cause every girl’s heart to flutter. Teachers praised him and bent over backwards over him. Post-graduation, as she found out on Facebook, hasn’t been as kind. He’s been fired twice and likely going to be gone from his current job soon. His co-workers are “out to get to get him” and he’s just astounded at the nerve of people talking about him. He expects people to automatically like him and doesn’t realize that in the workplace, no one cares if he scored a touchdown the night before at a pick-up game. (“I don’t mind, letting you down easy but just give me time/If it don’t hurt now but just wait, just wait a while/You’re not the big fish in the pond no more/You are what they're feeding on.”)

In the pre-chorus, he isn’t sure how to handle being disliked and not having his every word taken with the utmost importance. (“So what are you gonna do/When the world don't orbit around you?/So what are you gonna do/When the world don’t orbit around you?”)

          In the chorus, she sees it as his turn (though delayed) to experience the pettiness and nastiness of people. Thanks to his friends, she learned it early on and dealt with her loneliness by reading everything she could. She doesn’t feel the least bit sorry for him at all. (“Ain’t it fun?/Living in the real world/Ain’t it good?/Being all alone.”)

In high school, if he decided someone wasn’t worth talking to anymore that person was cast aside and throughout the halls, teased for all to see. Girls would fight over him. With one word, he would pick a girl but not before seeing them rip each other apart first. As one of the favorites, he was shielded from the disappointment of not being good enough to be on a team and unaware of the resentment from other classmates to be able to do whatever he wanted. (“Where you from?/You might be the one who’s running things/Well you could ring anybody's bell to get what you want/You see it’s easy to ignore trouble/When you’re living in your bubble.”)

             In the pre-chorus, she wonders how he will deal once he knows people see through him and view him as immature adult who can’t let go of his glory days. . (“So what are you gonna do/When the world don’t orbit around you?/So what are you gonna do/When nobody wants to fool with you?”)

 The chorus is sung again.

She adds he has no longer has a crowd of people to boost his self-esteem and has to look out for himself. He’s an average person just like everybody else now. (“Ain’t it good to be on your own?/Ain’t it fun you can't count on no one?/Ain’t it good to be on your own?/Ain’t it fun you can't count on no one?/Ain’t it fun?/Living in the real world.”)

        In the bridge, he can whine to his parents about how mean everyone is to him. However, he has to know that it’s just the way the world works. (“Don’t go crying to your mama/‘Cause you’re on your own in the real world/Don’t go crying to your mama/‘Cause you’re on your own in the real world/Don’t go crying to your mama

/‘Cause you’re on your own in the real world/Don’t go crying to your mama/‘Cause you’re on your own in the real world.”)

          In the second chorus, she says he’s considered mediocre and written off, just like she used to be. (“Ain’t it fun? Ain’t it fun? Living, now you’re one of us/Ain’t it fun?/Ain’t it fun? Ain’t it fun?/Ain’t it fun?/Living in the real world/Ain’t it good? Ain't it good?/Being all alone/Ain’t it fun?/Living in the real world (‘Cause the world don’t orbit around you)/Ain’t it good? Ain't it good?/Being all alone.”)

 The bridge, now extended, is sung again to end the single. (“Don’t go crying to your mama (To your mother)/‘Cause you’re on your own in the real world (Don’t go crying)/Don’t go crying to your mama (To your mama)/‘Cause you’re on your own in the real world/Don’t go crying to your mama/‘Cause you’re on your own in the real world (This is the real world)/Don’t go crying to your mama/‘Cause you’re on your own in the real world (This is the real world, this is the real world)/Don’t go crying to your mama (Don't go crying)/‘Cause you’re on your own in the real world/Don’t go crying to your mama/‘Cause you’re on your own in the real world/Don’t go crying (Don’t you go, don’t you go crying)/Don’t go crying (You’re on your own)/Don’t go crying (Don’t go crying to your mother)/Don’t go crying.”)

Williams’ flippant vocals enjoy every trip and knock he receives as he spirals into invisibility. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving person. She is completely justified in her cold response.  In high school, she was passed up for opportunities for not being considered pretty or fun by her classmates while the popular ones skated through. She was told then that life wasn’t fair. Now, she can tell him the same thing.

 
       The sarcastic “Ain’t It Fun” unfurls years of animosity while keeping its bitterness in check.