Out now, Hayley Williams released the R&B-tinged earworm, “Good Ol’ Days”.
Last night, she debuted the song live at Rolling Stone’s ‘Musicians on Musicians’ event at The Beacon Theatre in New York City with Bleachers. The event celebrated the release of the November issue, which features Hayley and Jack Antonoff on the cover.
The track is one of two new songs that will appear on the final physical form of her album ‘Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party’ which arrives in stores on November 7th. To celebrate the album’s release, record stores worldwide will host EGO NITES release parties – including events in Southeast Asian cities such as Singapore, Manila, and Jakarta on November 5th.
‘Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party’ originally dropped as 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 share their preferred order just as Williams had hoped. Later the album was released digitally with 18 tracks including the single “Parachute”, and has been streamed over 110 million times in the 7 weeks since its digital release. Fans can still pre-order the physical album today, and a series of live listening events have been planned in record stores around the world.
‘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.
Williams has released music videos for the album’s title track and “Parachute”, directed by Zachary Gray, and the single “Glum”, directed by her Paramore bandmate Zac Farro and AJ Gibboney. Earlier this month, she gave a stirring performance of her song “True Believer” on the Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.
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. But perhaps 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.
‘Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party’ Final Tracklisting
1. Ice In My OJ
2. Glum
3. Kill Me
4. Whim
5. Mirtazapine
6. Disappearing Man
7. Love Me Different
8. Brotherly Hate
9. Negative Self Talk
10. Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
11. Hard
12. Discovery Channel
13. True Believer
14. Zissou
15. Dream Girl In Shibuya
16. Blood Bros
17. I Won’t Quit On You
18. Parachute
19. Good Ol’ Days
20. ???
