Lady Crush #5: Hayley Williams

Best Known For: Paramore

I suppose it all comes down to red hair.  Sure, I like Paramore plenty.  I'm not their number one fan or anything, but they write catchy tunes, and are great live.  What's not to like about that?  But this entry isn't about Paramore, it's about red hair.

And I'm not talking about natural, subtle red either.  I mean bright, vibrant, could-never-occur-in-nature, how-much-do-you-have-to-dye-that, unapologetically red hair.  Or orange hair. Or pink hair.  Or yellow hair.  It all depends on the week or what mood Hayley happens to be in.  And no, I didn't mean to say blonde.  I said yellow and I meant yellow.

Because it's hard to have hair that bright and loud and not be awesome.  It just is.  So when I first started tapping my toes to Misery Business back in the summer of 2007, and then saw the fiery mane attached to the spunky lead singer that was belting out this catchy tune, I was naturally and instantly quite smitten.

Then I saw that she was 17 and suddenly felt very old and dirty.

But that didn't stop the awesomeness from shining through.  And although I argue that this list is all about that awesomeness factor, I would be lying if I didn't admit that by being a few years into her twenties now, and making me feel much less creepy for having a crush on her, has certainly not hindered her ranking on this list.

Of course, gaining mainstream success from having a song on the Twilight Soundtrack didn't really help matters, but seeing that Hayley seemingly kept her head about her made it a much easier pill to swallow.  If anything, by shrugging off the fame, she became even cooler in the face of stardom, which is not something that you can say about many people associated with the Twilight Saga.  And I use the term 'saga' very loosely.

Plus, she head-bangs and runs around on stage like she just drank 5 Red Bulls, most of her twitter/blog posts are about eating, she hand-crafts a lot of her own on-stage attire (including the ever-awesome Girl Scout Uniform), she's one of the few that actually plugs in her mic at awards shows when most other performers choose to lip sync, and despite being a multimillionaire, she owns an old Mazda, lovingly referred to as Miss Anne, plastered in bumper stickers and flair which would make most of us ashamed to even be seen standing next to it, and yet she drives it around with a sense of pride.  That's pretty much the definition of Awesome Sauce.

She may be down to Earth, funny, and talented, and sure, that's a pretty easy way to get your name on this list.  But to crack the Top 5?  Well for that it takes a little extra.  Something special.  A little je ne sais quoi. And in the end, it all comes down to red hair.

Proof of Awesomeness:

I mean, how awesome is that house?  I know I kind of touched on it with the car, but really, how many times has MTV done a Cribs that wasn't some gaudy mansion?  Suddenly this number 5 ranking feels low...

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