Reviewed by Minahil Zaki || 1 May 2021

This year, Hayley Williams released her second album as a solo artist, FLOWERS for VASES / descansos. This album serves as a prequel to Petals for Armor, her charged and empowering debut album about rage and self-love. FLOWERS for VASES / descansos is more on the softer side; with overarching themes of nostalgia, this album explores the melancholic feelings surrounding Williams’ past divorce and her journey of self-acceptance.

Williams starts the album off with “First Thing To Go,” lamenting the lost memory of her ex-husband’s voice and questioning the accuracy of the memories that remain. Over the soft strumming of her guitar, her voice flows through smooth vibratos that almost sound like ghosts, creating a haunting atmosphere that coincides with the nostalgic lyrics, “Why do memories glow the way real moments don’t?” The song moves in an ebb and flow; her decrescendos fade to lulls between the lines, which allows the sadness surrounding the loss of her relationship to really sink in. Williams’ resonating portrayal of her complex emotions makes this song a good and memorable starter to the album.

The next two tracks, “My Limb” and “Asystole” are more upbeat with their fast-paced tempos; however, “My Limb” focuses on codependency and “Asystole” is about an increasing awareness of that codependency. “My Limb” begins with Williams’ forward tone over percussive acoustics, giving the song a charged punk vibe reminiscent of Paramore’s sound. The chorus consists of the repetition of the phrase “my limb,” with certain lines landing on the whispered phrases, “don’t let go,” or “let go,” continuing on the haunting atmosphere established in the first song of the album. The repetition in “My Limb” seems to mimic the cyclical nature of the codependency that Williams sings about; overall, it’s a solid song that manages to get its point across with subtle musical elements.

“Asystole,” contrary to the literal meaning of the term—the stopping of a heart—sounds more lighthearted as Williams sings the lyrics, “I don’t live for you, I live for me / If only that were true / If only I could prove that on my own, I’m worthy,” in an almost-staccato style over similar acoustics. Williams utilizes repetition in the chorus of this song as well, but here it’s just the word, “asystole,” which on a metaphorical level seems to refer to the ending or flatlining of her marriage. At the end of the song, she calls for her ex to “Revive [his] love,” and states, “My eyes, they see the poisoned devotion in me”; here, the phrase, “poisoned devotion” highlights her awareness that her relationship was unhealthy. Reminiscent of Williams’ earlier work with Paramore, this track complements the previous one nicely by bringing out Williams’ self-awareness.

FLOWERS for VASES / descansos also includes more nostalgic tracks like the first one, delving into complex, almost bitter emotions without losing the overall softness of the album. In “Over Those Hills,” Williams begins the first verse singing in her lower range; she sings, “Over those hills, I bet you’re somewhere dreaming / I take my pills every night and in the morning,” referring to her medicine. Combined with the lower range she starts this song in, the contrast between her assumption that her ex is “dreaming,” or relaxing, and her attempts to heal from an illness—which may have been caused by her previous relationship—conveys a dry, jaded tone. Even though she does sing more optimistic lyrics, such as, “We can look out together at those hills forever,” her tone at the beginning subtly adds a jarring quality to the song that makes the optimism less believable and suggests that it’s really about wishful thinking. A part of why this song in particular is so compelling is that it diverges from the straightforwardness of the beginning tracks and remains in this complex space.

“HYD,” a later track on the album which stands for “How You Doing?”, has the same nostalgic sound to it, although it’s more melancholic as Williams wonders about how her ex is feeling. This song is slower than “Over Those Hills,” allowing Williams to lean into some of the lyrics and, therefore, add intensity to this track. At the peak of the song, Williams sings, “I know it’s hard for you to take a compliment / But my life began the day which you came in it”; the intensity and the hyperbolic compliment create a loving tone, which contrasts against the subtle bitterness heard in “Over Those Hills.” She also sings, “On a night like this, it’s just me and the kid / And there’s a chair for you where you’d always sit”; here, Williams takes on the perspective of a mother and invokes the haunted image of a broken family. “HYD” manages to explore both the nostalgia and heartbreak that comes with the end of a relationship and maintain its simple level of intensity, making it one of the most complex and detailed songs on the album.

In the penultimate and mainly instrumental song, “descansos,” we can hear children laughing and talking; at one point, we hear a man, perhaps a paternal figure, speaking as well, after which Williams starts to hum, layering high notes over low. The voices and the layering again continue the haunting atmosphere of this album and suggest a mourning of a lost childhood.

The theme of lost youth carries over into the last song, “Just A Lover,” in which Williams sings, “Once upon a time when we were school kids / Mix CDs and carpool kids / No little cameras to witness / Really hope we don’t wreck this,” reflecting on her childhood with poetic lines that follow a ghazal-like format. In between the verses, she sings, “Love has turned me into many others, now I guess I’m just / Just a lover,” conveying that love has shaped her identity; the relaxing instrumentals after this short, one-line chorus conveys her acknowledgment and acceptance of this. Williams’ framing of her identity as “just a lover” also hints at a loss of personhood that may have occurred as a result of her relationship. Even with its simple melody, the deep focus on loss in this song definitely makes it an emotional closer to the album.

Overall, FLOWERS for VASES / descansos is a well-developed album; the majority of the songs have multiple layers to them, suggesting careful musical and lyrical intent on Williams’ part. The first part of the title makes a lot of sense in that certain songs in the album complement each other, much like home decoration. And the second part—“descansos,” which denotes signs placed at a place of a violent death—coincides with the theme of loss present throughout the songs. Some of the ideas, such as the loss of childhood, could be touched upon on a deeper level; at parts, the nostalgia is presented in a sentimental manner, which only brings out surface-level emotion. Nevertheless, FLOWERS for VASES / descansos manages to explore deep and complex emotions surrounding heartbreak while maintaining its simplicity, making it a pleasant listen.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5