Hayley Williams Uploads Her Untitled 17-Track Solo Collection to Streamers as Series of Singles

Just days after sending fans on a quest to find her new solo material via a passcode-required website, Paramore singer Hayley Williams has finally released her 17-song collection to streamers. But, as with the previous incarnation, there is a catch.

After asking fans to access the site via a purchase code from the singer’s Good Dye Young hair dye company over the weekend — and then just as mysteriously removing the songs two days later — Williams dropped the full, seemingly untitled project fans are referring to as Ego (or Ego Death) on Friday morning (Aug. 1). In keeping with the mystery around the project, though, each song has seemingly been uploaded as a stand-alone single and not bundled as a traditional album.

Each also has its own bespoke artwork consisting of moody black and white pictures of Williams with her face and body overlaid with gold squiggles, halos, highlights and planets tied to the song’s titles. Williams has not commented on the manner she’s released the songs, confirmed the title or given any indication of when or where they were recorded. Following Paramore wrapping up its contract with Atlantic Records, though, it is notable that the name of Williams’ new label is listed as “Post Atlantic.”

In an Instagram Story, Williams reposted a tweet from a fan’s theory about the manner and method of distribution in which they speculate, “okay wait what if the order of the album just like doesn’t matter bc on the desktop version of the website they were scattered and you could move them wherever and by releasing them as singles she is making it impossible to put in order which is presumably the goal.” The Story then zooms in on a comment on that comment that reads: “your brain is so big.”

On her Insta feed, Williams also uploaded all the artwork from the singles, along with the credits, which reveal that she worked on the songs with touring Paramore band members guitarist Brian Robert Jones and bassist Joey Howard, with production on all the songs by Daniel James, who also co-wrote all the tracks; Lorde collaborator Jim-E Stack is listed as a co-writer and co-producer on the haunting protest song “True Believer.”

Other tracks include “Discovery Channel,” which features an interpolation of the Bloodhound Gang’s signature 1999 comedy pop hit “The Bad Touch,” as well as the Liz Phair-like rocker “Mirtazapine,” an ode to the antidepressant Remeron. Williams recently debuted the latter on Nashville Public Radio’s WNXP a week after the Republican-led Congress voted to claw back more than $1 billion in funds for NPR and PBS.

The collection also includes the dreamy “Kill Me,” acoustic ballads “Blood Bros,” “I Won’t Quit On You” and “Negative Self Talk” and the poppy tunes “Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party” and “Brotherly Hate.” With a spare, confessional feel the songs range from home studio-sounding confections with pitched up vocals (“Glum”), to the hip-hop-adjacent screamer “Ice In My OJ,” which features a drum machine beat and the whisper-to-scream chorus “I’m in a band!”

At press time Williams had not officially commented on the album’s release or whether she considers it the proper follow-up to either her 2020 debut solo album, Petals for Armor, or its more folky 2021 sequel, Flowers for Vases/ Descansos.

You can listen to the 17 new songs on the Spotify playlist below and check out all the single artwork and credits on Williams’ Instagram page.