Moses Sumney and Paramore’s Hayley Williams may seem like unlikely collaborators, but on “I Like It I Like It,” they meet in a shared emotional register: yearning, edged with hesitation. Co-produced by Sumney alongside Quickly and Rob Bisel, the track floats on a sleek, slow-burning groove—synths shimmer, percussion stutters, and everything leaves just enough space for tension to bloom.
It’s a song about desire, the kind that flirts with discomfort. “I turn cactus when we touch,” Sumney sings early on, setting the tone. Williams joins in with sly restraint: “Honesty is a boner killer,” she offers, her voice smooth but clipped. The two move around each other like a slow dance where neither partner wants to make the first real move.
Sumney has said that Williams and Paramore were part of the soundtrack to his anxious youth. Calling her the “queen of yearning,” he brings her in not as a foil, but as a mirror. They don’t harmonize so much as hover in tandem—most clearly on the bridge, where they trade lines like: “I don’t wanna sing if it’s all a dream / That means nothing to you.”
The lyric video keeps things playful. In platinum wigs, they pose in a photo shoot—cool, composed, deliberately distant. It’s a wink to the image-making machinery of pop, but it also reinforces the track’s central tension: looking perfect while feeling unsure.
“I Like It I Like It” doesn’t try to be an anthem. It’s smaller than that, and sharper—built on subtle contrasts, shared glances, and just enough space between the lines to let the feeling in. For two artists who’ve built careers on emotional nuance, it’s a fitting collaboration: precise, seductive, and quietly piercing.
