Hayley Williams Reveals Which of Her Colorful Dye Jobs Was Her Least Favorite: 'I Looked Like a Corpse' (Exclusive)
Williams tells PEOPLE she and her hairstylist, Brian O'Connor "mourned" the style
Paramore's Hayley Williams knows firsthand that not every hair color combo is a winner.
Early in her career, the star had made a splash with a signature orange-red hair color and was ready for a change — and where better to do that than on a giant stage?
Williams, now 34, was prepping for her band's big debut at Jingle Ball in New York in 2008, and she decided the best way to turn heads would be to walk out with a brand-new, unexpected hair color.
She turned to her hairstylist and friend Brian O'Connor — who is now her business partner in hair color brand Good Dye Young — for a new 'do.
Brian Ach/WireImage
"I came to him, and I was like, 'Brian, I want purple hair with orange bangs,'" Williams tells PEOPLE exclusively at an event celebrating Good Dye Young's launch in Ulta stores. "It was right before our very first Jingle Ball, the band was just starting to be played on the radio, things are happening."
Williams recalls that at the time, she had grown to "resent" the viral orange "Misery Business" hair color that she'd become known for and was ready for a change.
"I needed to switch it up on them!" she says of wanting to give the fans something new. "But the purple came out on me so dark, and my skin couldn't handle it. I looked like a corpse that year at Jingle Ball. We mourned that for a bit."
Though she was burned by that experience, time, experimentation and some personal growth has taught her that she can still experiment and she doesn't have to always be running away from that look that she has become so synonymous with.
"Just because I'm in Paramore and just because people know me as something, doesn't mean I can't still change and be who I want to be," she says. "Blonde has actually become a favorite. Bleach blonde! Before this tour, I told Brian I was ready to do that. I was still okay with some orange to have some fun, but I wanted blonde."
The result was a fully bleached look with just a hint of orange at the tips to hearken back to the hairstyle that start it all.
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