Hayley Williams – “Fake Plastic Trees” (Radiohead Cover)

Lindsey Byrnes

Hayley Williams – “Fake Plastic Trees” (Radiohead Cover)

Lindsey Byrnes

For the last few months of lockdown, Paramore leader Hayley Williams has been regularly sharing covers of songs that she’s into. She’s provided takes on Phoebe Bridgers, Tegan And Sara, SZA, Björk, and more. At least for now, Williams says that she’s done with her so-called “self-serenades” cover series, but she closed out the series with a big one: “Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead.

“for a while, anyway. the top requested song throughout my brief career in self-serenadism has been a @radiohead song,” she wrote in an Instagram caption accompanying the track. “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.” She continued:

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.

Check it out below.

Williams released her debut solo album, Petals For Armor, earlier this year. Check out our We’ve Got A File On You interview with her.

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