Watch Hayley Williams Cover Björk’s “Unison” Solo-Acoustic
Earlier this year, Paramore leader Hayley Williams released her impressive solo debut Petals For Armor. Williams had a big solo tour lined up behind the album. She obviously can’t do that, so instead, Williams has been sitting at home and sometimes singing other people’s songs for the internet — a pretty cool way to use your time, if you’ve got time to spare. Thus far, Williams has covered songs like Phoebe Bridgers’ “Smoke Signals,” Tegan And Sara’s “Call It Off,” and SZA’s “Drew Barrymore.” Last night, she took on a Björk classic.
Björk’s “Unison,” from the great 2001 album Vespertine, is not exactly the kind of song that lends itself to the solo-acoustic treatment. How do you make an acoustic guitar stand in for harps and choirs and jittery electronic beats? But Williams makes it work, shortening the song and doing some cool things with its arrangement. Her take sounds casual, but it also sounds too good to be casual.
On Twitter, Williams writes that she’d been hoping to cover a different Björk song live. This raises the question: Which one? This is a deeply basic suggestion, but I think it’d be a lot of fun to see Hayley Williams sing “It’s Oh So Quiet.” Watch the “Unison” cover and the video for the Björk original below.
Petals For Armor is out now on Atlantic. Read our We’ve Got A File On You interview with Williams here.