The song appears on the band’s recently released album This is Why
Contrary to the name of the track Paramore performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live Tuesday night, the band made it to the late-night stage without any schedule-related issues, rocking out to “Running Out of Time” in a rather timely manner.
“Never mind, I hit the snooze on my alarm twenty times/But I was just so tired,” Hayley Williams sighed dramatically while singing, worn out from recalling all of the tasks she meant to complete but never got around to. “There was traffic, spilled my coffee, crashed my car, otherwise/Woulda been here on time.”
With an arsenal of excuses ready to go, the singer whips up metaphorical fires and hyperbolic deadlines on the track to explain her habit of delayed arrivals. But on the Kimmel stage, backed by four additional band members, Paramore shrugs off their abysmal time management skills to deliver a high-energy performance with the heated rush of running late.
“Running Out of Time” captures some of the many themes Paramore encapsulated on their newly released album This is Why. Ahead of its arrival, the band – made up of Williams, Taylor York, and Zac Farro – shared a comprehensive list of feelings and sensations that inspired the record. Among them were “confused about the difference between selfishness and self-preservation,” “cabin fever,” and “complete and utter apathy.”
“This was pretty early on in writing the album,” Williams told Genius in a breakdown of the song. “And I got the music for the chorus first. I was like, I have to write the coolest shit ever to it because this is the best shit, so I have to make good. I was like, oh, it’d be really funny to roast myself for how disorganized I am and how it impacts my everyday life. Every day, I run out of time.”