The 17 singles Hayley Williams released earlier this month have taken on unique forms across numerous playlists created by fans. Listeners crafted their own versions of the tracklist, with some choosing to begin with the heavy energy of “Hard,” while others preferred to start with the playful bounce of “Love Me Different.” Now, everyone can compare their choices to the official sequence, as Williams unveils Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, the whole album arranged in its proper order, with a bit of influence from her fans.
Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party kicks off with “Ice in my OJ,” a song where Williams clears up any doubt as she chants: “I’m in a band, I’m in a band.” The project closes with the heartfelt commitment of “I Won’t Quit on You.” This album marks her third solo full-length outside of Paramore. Her debut Petals for Armor arrived in 2020, followed by Flowers for Vases / Descansos in 2021. The new release also includes the previously unheard track “Parachute” as its finale.
“I really did want to shirk the responsibility,” Williams told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about releasing the songs individually at first. “I was kind of interested in other people’s perspective, also because there’s just a point where you’re in the eye of that storm, like you’re making things, you’re going through shit, and you can’t possibly have perspective. So it’s been exciting.”
Williams is sharing Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party under Post Atlantic, the independent venture through which she self-released the project. It is her first since finishing her contract with Atlantic Records, which spanned two decades. “I’m a freer artist today than I was then because of not being on a label. I never really imagined what this phase of my career might feel like,” she explained. “I think maybe I thought it would be over by the time I got here.”
She partnered closely with producer Daniel James, while also bringing in Brian Robert Jones and Joey Howard, along with Jim-E Stack, on “True Believer.” Williams handled the writing across the project herself and shaped the production with her own instrumental work.
“Regardless of what is going on in the band member’s personal lives, it’s abundantly clear that Williams has entered a new groove in her solo work,” Rolling Stone wrote in its review of the collection. “Never has she sounded more certain with a sonic landscape that is all her own.”
Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party Tracklist
- “Ice In My OJ”
- “Glum”
- “Kill Me”
- “Whim”
- “Mirtazapine”
- “Disappearing Man”
- “Love Me Different”
- “Brotherly Hate”
- “Negative Self Talk”
- “Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party”
- “Hard”
- “Discovery Channel”
- “True Believer”
- “Zissou”
- “Dream Girl In Shibuya”
- “Blood Bros”
- “I Won’t Quit On You”
- “Parachute”
