Things didn't improve as the band became more successful. Williams's father, Paramore's tour manager "would constantly threaten to 'pull the plug' on the whole band if we complained about anything, suggesting that we were hired guns and Hayley was the real artist".
There was also the matter of faith. Farro suggests Williams has undergone a spiritual drift away from Christianity. Many of the lyrics on Brand New Eyes "were really negative and we didn't agree with [them]", he wrote. "For example, 'The truth never set me free', which contradicts what the Bible says in John 8:32 ('And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free'). We fought her about how [Hayley's] lyrics misrepresented our band and what we stood for, but in the end she got her way."