Hayley Williams didn’t give much warning before releasing her sophomore solo LP Flowers For Vases / Descansos, which she announced just one day before its debut. Williams takes a vulnerable approach to songwriting on the project, touching on themes of mental health and self discovery. Further explaining how her life’s experiences shaped her songwriting, Williams says that she’s beginning to unpack how she’s been impacted by generational trauma.
Williams sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe for an interview about the Flowers For Vases / Descansos album. After touching on things she’s learned in therapy, Williams said she’s been examining the generational trauma passed down through the women in her family:
“My mom and I have been talking a lot about the effects of generational trauma and generational prayer. And I think generational trauma has come up a lot because of what we talked about over the last year. Finally, more people are willing to talk about systemic racism and what this has done to a lineage of folks. But for me even, just in my own family story, women went through a lot of sh*t way before I was an idea, and certainly before I was born. I think I just picked up on that at a young age. We actually ran to Nashville two times. The first time we kind of got found. […] I think my mom is a super brave and super resilient person.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Williams explained how writing the album was cathartic for her. “It’s such a culmination of the lessons I’ve learned throughout multiple relationships that just felt like my own body was eating itself,” she said. “I just haven’t had a good enough relationship with myself to receive pure and simple stuff, like romantic relationships. I’ve been in therapy now since we got home from [touring in support of Paramore’s 2017 album] After Laughter, and I still go every week.”
Watch Williams’ conversation with Lowe above.
Flowers For Vases / Descansos is out now via Atlantic. Get it here.
Hayley Williams is a Warner Music artist. .
