Hayley Williams has officially released her new album, ‘Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party’ out now, everywhere. Earlier this month, she dropped a surprise collection of 17 unsequenced singles. Fans took to social media, working up their own tracklistings and even creating hayleysingles.com, where thousands of fans were able to work up and share their preferred order just as Williams had hoped. The final album is inspired by some of these fans’ playlists and includes one never-before-heard song, “Parachute”, which was just named Hottest Record on BBC Radio 1’s New Music Show for August 28th.
Fans can also pre-order the physical album today, out on November 7th. Black and “Zissou Clear-Wave” vinyl are available on Hayley’s webstore and fans can find six additional vinyl colors (Highlighter Yellow, Marble Yellow, Orange Juice Splash, Crystal Clear, Grayscale Metallic Silver and Poolwater Wave) available at various retailers. An extremely limited quantity of CD-R’s are available now for immediate shipping on her website, featuring her handwriting and evoking a mixtape from the early 2000’s. Only 1,500 are available on a first come first serve basis.
‘Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party’ was produced entirely by Daniel James. Williams wrote, played and recorded a variety of instruments across each of the 18 songs, with cross-project contributions from long-time collaborators Brian Robert Jones and Joey Howard, and contributions from Jim-E Stack on “True Believer”, which just earned Williams her first solo Billboard Alternative Sales #1. After 20+ years spent fulfilling their contract for Atlantic Records—a contract Williams signed as a mere teenager – Paramore announced in December of 2023 that they were finally an independent band. This surprise collection is self-released by Hayley Williams on her new venture Post Atlantic, distributed via Secretly Distribution.
In the previous two weeks, Williams has released music videos for the album’s title track, directed by Zachary Gray, and the single “Glum”, directed by her Paramore bandmate Zac Farro and AJ Gibboney. Watch both here: “Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party” and “Glum”.
This album puts Hayley Williams’ full range on display. “Mirtazapine” is a late-’90s alt-rock love letter to antidepressants, while on “Glum”, she subverts her own voice—using vocal presets to striking effect as the track meditates on loneliness. Other standouts include “Whim”, an easy Americana earworm with a songwriting backbone that nods to her Nashville roots, and “Ice in My OJ”, a thoroughly modern track that pairs sharp production with some of Williams’ most biting and humorous lyrics to date. Long-time Paramore fans may quickly recognize the “Ice In My OJ” chorus, as it was first sung by Williams in 2004 on “Jumping Inside” by the Mammoth City Messengers.
All of her talents converge most impactfully on the album’s only previously unreleased track, “Parachute”. It’s a reminder of Williams ability to strike right at the heart, with not only her confessional lyrics, but her unmatched delivery. The album captures all the dynamism Williams has shown throughout her career and collaborations. At its core, these songs are the work of a supremely gifted artist with a voracious, genre-defying appetite for music and creative exploration.
These songs come as the third batch of work released from Williams as a solo artist. The COVID-era saw her release two extraordinary albums—2020’s ‘Petals For Armor’ and 2021’s ‘Flowers for Vases’. Both albums were gorgeous and stark meditations on loss and offered up a contrast to the high-energy and up-tempo muscle she displays in Paramore.
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