“The Only Exception” the third single from Paramore’s brand new eyes was co-written between Hayley Williams and Josh Farro at a time when the band was a quintet, the song is a soft ballad, which provides musical diversity to the album. Hayley Williams explained to Kerrang! in 2009:

I’ve never written lyrics like this before. The first verse is about where I think the fear to be open or vulnerable started. Ever since the first story in Kerrang!, everyone has known about my family issues and domestic whatever, it’s something that’s kinda stayed with me and I’ve learned from. I played this song to my mom and there were tears. It was kind of embarrassing.

Hayley Williams told Alternative Press in 2010:

This is the first love song I’ve ever written. And even if I’ve tried in the past, this is the first one that I’m really proud of. I like that I was able to express the fact that I have always been really afraid of love – and I still am at times – but the excitement and the hope that it exists is still very evident in the lyrics. So it’s not like I’m a total cynic! Love is a good thing, kids.

In terms of its success as a single, it notably reached 24th on the US Billboard’s Top 100 and 31st on the UK’s Single Chart.