It’s been a busy year for Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams, who released her solo debut album Petals For Armor back in May. The artist also dropped a series of song covers including Bjork’s “Unison,” Phoebe Bridgers’ “Smoke Signals” and Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now,” earlier in the year.

Williams has now debuted a new cover of Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees,” which was originally featured on their acclaimed 1995 studio album The Bends. This cover is done in the style of a serenade and features Williams performing the song with a simple acoustic guitar and her voice. Her stripped back take is honest in the song’s interpretation, as her voice explores her emotional depth, giving it a personal meaning.

“so many times people thought they were at their best only for them to bloom more beautifully into something unexpected and unequivocally better,” Williams wrote on Instagram. “for a time i pretended to be over Radiohead (iiii knowwww) but good good things always find you and welcome you back. so, in admiration of one of the best bands of all time – and in humility to everyone who did *not* ask for this – here’s a self-serenade of ‘Fake Plastic Trees’. enjoy it if you can.”

 

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for a while, anyway. the top requested song throughout my brief career in self-serenadism has been a @radiohead song. seemed sacrilegious at first until i realized that the band themselves have never once regarded what they do as precious or never-to-be-toyed with. they are never beholden to any one version of their expression and public affections don’t seem to sway them. so many times people thought they were at their best only for them to bloom more beautifully into something unexpected and unequivocally better. for a time i pretended to be over Radiohead (iiii knowwww) but good good things always find you and welcome you back. so, in admiration of one of the best bands of all time – and in humility to everyone who did *not* ask for this – here’s a self-serenade of “Fake Plastic Trees”. enjoy it if you can.

A post shared by hayley williams (@yelyahwilliams) on Aug 7, 2020 at 11:44am PDT

Williams previously released music videos for “Pure Love,” “Sugar on The Rim,” “Watch Me While I Bloom,” “Simmer,” “Cinnamon,” “Leave It Alone.” “Over Yet,” “Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris,” “My Friend”and “Why We Ever.”

Photo Credit: Mehreen Rizvi