Paramore Heads To Grammys More ‘Unified’ Than Ever

They are nominated for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals for the hit “The Only Exception.” The nomination comes after two of Paramore’s founding members quit the band late last year.

Lead singer Hayley Williams said the rest of the Tennessee-based band is staying positive.

“Losing members is not a fun thing to go through, but I think that now we really feel unified,” she told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “We feel strong, and we’re going to be stoked to represent Nashville and represent our band and our fans at the Grammys.”

The split was less than amicable. The band’s official statement said that brothers Josh and Zac Farro had been planning to leave for a couple months and had seemed unhappy with the band for the past year. But ultimately, it wished them well and expressed hope that they would find happiness elsewhere. The brothers responded to the statement with a scathing blog post, largely blaming Williams for dividing the band.

Despite the downsizing, Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis and guitarist Taylor York have big plans for the band’s future. They’re touring South America starting Feb. 16. in Brazil.

“We’ve only been one other time, but it was crazy,” said Davis. “The venues are growing, and it’s pretty exciting.”

After that, they have cleared their schedules and will concentrating on making new music.

“We just want to take the chance to do anything we’ve ever wanted to do that we’ve never had time to do,” said Williams. “We’ve always wanted to do an EP. Our fans want us to do acoustic stuff. We do want to do collaborations, but I guess we’re just going to let it unfold itself.”

The Grammy nomination marks a turning point for the band in more ways than one.

“This year what makes it so cool is the fact that we’re nominated for a pop category,” said Williams. “It’s really cool, because we’ve always been that rock or pop-punk band that’s kind of a little bit the outcast, not really the outcast, but sort of on the outside of things. So this will be awesome to bridge the gap.”

Williams is nominated separately for best pop collaboration with vocals. She sang the hook in the song “Airplanes” with B.o.B. and Eminem.

“I’ve wanted to be ‘that girl’ on a hip-hop song for a really long time, and it seems like I sort of landed myself on a track with two of my favorite hip-hop artists,” she said. “Bob is such a great new artist, and he’s young, and he’s fresh. Obviously, (I’m) so obsessed with Eminem. So, if that wins anything, I’m just going to be beaming.”

The platinum-selling band has released three albums, with hits including “Misery Business.”

The Grammys air Feb. 13 on CBS.