Hayley Williams Releases New 17 Tracks With a Small Twist

Hayley Williams just dropped 17 new songs into the world. Yet, in true Hayley fashion, she’s dodging the traditional route.

Earlier this week, the Paramore frontwoman quietly uploaded the tracks to her website as a series of password-protected files. No tidy album rollout, no curated playlist, no elaborate concept. It’s just a digital scatter of songs, each one click-ready, like old-school files left loose on your desktop.

Hence, now, the songs have been officially released via her own newly minted label, Post Atlantic. It’s a pointed name, considering Paramore just completed their longtime run with Atlantic Records. Distribution comes via Secretly, a nod to the indie infrastructure she’s leaning into.

So, instead of an album, Williams is calling these “17 singles.” Yes, singles. Plural. One by one. There is no tracklist or hierarchy, just songs meant to live side by side. However, fans want to arrange them. On her Instagram Story, Williams reposted a tweet suggesting the open-ended format was intentional. So, it was an invitation for listeners to create their own order, their own meaning.

The songs themselves are a genre-splitting swirl of emotion and experimentation. Hayley Williams crafted the collection alongside familiar collaborators: Paramore’s touring members Brian Robert Jones, Joey Howard, and Daniel James. Producer Jim-E Stack, who’s worked with Lorde and Bon Iver, also lent a hand. Notably, he has worked on “True Believer.” It’s a fierce critique of American evangelicalism that echoes Williams’ recent criticisms of the Christian Contemporary Music industry.

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While “Mirtazapine” initially served as the advance drop, the new focus has shifted to “GLUM.” It’s a track that bends Williams’ unmistakable vocals through layers of vocal presets. There’s also Ice in “My OJ,” whose roots trace back to a chorus she first sang in 2004. This isn’t just a project. It’s a collage of eras, influences, and instincts. Thus, it is woven together with the looseness and edge we’ve come to expect from Williams’ solo detours.

And though fans have started referring to the collection as “Ego” or “Ego Death.” There is no official title has been confirmed. Only these unfiltered drops of pure Hayley.

It’s a bold move, but one that makes perfect sense for an artist as genre-resistant and future-facing as Hayley Williams. Unburdened by label constraints and traditional release formats, she’s free to play. That’s exactly what these 17 tracks feel like. They are sonic sandboxes, messy, sincere, and brimming with possibility.

Listen to the full set now, however you want to arrange it.