Ego (Hayley Williams album)

Last updated

Ego
Ego (Hayley Williams album).jpg
Compilation album by
Hayley Williams
ReleasedJuly 28, 2025 (2025-07-28) (Williams's website)
August 1, 2025 (2025-08-01) (streaming)
Genre
Length55:00
Label Post Atlantic (independent)
Producer
Hayley Williams chronology
Flowers for Vases / Descansos
(2021)		Ego
(2025)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Clash 8/10 [1]
NME Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [2]
Paste 9.0/10 [3]
Sputnikmusic 4.7/5 [4]

American singer-songwriter Hayley Williams released 17 songs onto streaming services and digital retailers on August 1, 2025, three days after she temporarily uploaded them to her official website. Marketed as standalone tracks and not a studio album, the project was dubbed Ego and categorized as a compilation album by music publications and fans. Williams self-released it under her independent imprint Post Atlantic, two years after her departure from Atlantic Records. The compilation was entirely produced by Daniel James, who was accompanied by Jim-E Stack and Brian Robert Jones on select tracks.

Contents

Release and marketing

On July 23, 2025, the Nashville public radio station WNXP reported that a new song by Hayley Williams would be premiering on the station that night. [5] The announcement was accompanied by a video of a person holding the CD of the song, which had the words "Mirtazapine" and "Glum" written with a marker. [6] The song with the former title, named after the antidepressant of the same name, premiered as scheduled without any detail regarding its official release. [6] [7] It was Williams's first solo release since her 2021 album Flowers for Vases / Descansos . [8] On July 28, the singer uploaded 17 new songs—including the aforementioned—to her official website. [9] The tracks could only be accessed after entering a 16-digit code that was sent to fans who purchased a product from Williams's hair dye company Good Dye Young. [10] [11] Music publications gave the untitled collection of songs the title Ego, the same name of the yellow dye product from Williams's brand. [11] [12] The website featured a similar style as 2000s Microsoft Windows desktop displays, including the unordered tracks in a MP3 file format above a yellow background with pictures of her dog. [13] [14] Around 24 hours after its publication, the collection was removed from the site, which disclosed the message, "Thank you for listening." [15] [16]

Williams surprise-released the 17 songs for streaming on August 1, 2025, as individual singles. [17] [18] It marked her first independent release following her departure from Atlantic Records in 2023—more than 20 years after the beginning of the contract as part of Paramore—and was published under an imprint listed as "Post Atlantic" and distributed via Secretly Distribution. [19] [17] [20] [21] In an Instagram story, Williams said that the collection would be issued physically, although not meant to be considered an album. [22] She also revealed that she was "listening to potential track-list orders and still trying to create [her] own", hinting at a future re-packaging. [23]

A music video for the track "Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party", directed by Zachary Gray, premiered on August 5. [24] The video was set in Nashville and features a cameo from the politician Justin Jones. [25] In an interview with Billboard , Williams's manager Leah Hodgkiss said that the release marketing was motivated by their idea to "make music tangible" and "an experience" again. She elaborated on how people tend to "not even pay attention to what [they are] listening to" due to curated playlists on streaming platforms, such as Spotify and Apple Music. Williams wanted to refer to the songs as individual singles as she did not think of an album throughout the writing process. [26] The track "Glum" also received a music video, which was co-directed by AJ Gibboney and the Paramore member Zac Farro, and premiered on August 18. [27] [28]

Composition

Ego is an alternative pop album, [3] which features elements of alternative rock, trip hop, [12] indie rock, folk, [29] and synth-pop. [30]

Track listing

The tracks are not listed in a specific order. [11] All songs were written by Hayley Williams and producer Daniel James, except where noted.

Sample and interpolation credits

References

  1. ↑ Way, Emma (July 29, 2025). "Hayley Williams - Ego | Reviews". Clash . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  2. ↑ Shutler, Ali (August 4, 2025). "Hayley Williams' surprise 17-song release is a bold choose-your-own-adventure through hope and heartache". NME . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  3. 1 2 Mitchell, Matt (August 5, 2025). "Hayley Williams, 'Ego' Album Review". Paste . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  4. ↑ Sowing (August 2, 2025). "Review: Hayley Williams - Ego". Sputnikmusic . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  5. ↑ Lapierre, Megan (July 23, 2025). "Paramore's Hayley Williams Is Premiering New Solo Music Today │ Exclaim!". Exclaim! . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  6. 1 2 Singh, Surej (July 24, 2025). "Social media reacts to Hayley Williams debuting new music on Nashville radio station: "One of the best songs I've ever heard"". NME . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  7. ↑ Ragusa, Paolo (July 24, 2025). "Hayley Williams Unveils New Song "Mirtazapine" on Nashville Public Radio: Listen". Consequence . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  8. ↑ Garner, Emily (July 24, 2025). "Hayley Williams just debuted a new solo track, Mirtazapine, on Nashville public radio". Kerrang! . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  9. ↑ Ragusa, Paolo (July 28, 2025). "Hayley Williams Leaks 17 New Songs to Her Website". Consequence . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  10. ↑ Kaufman, Gil (July 28, 2025). "Paramore's Hayley Williams Surprise Drops 17 New Songs on Website". Billboard . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  11. 1 2 3 Brannigan, Paul (July 28, 2025). "Paramore's Hayley Williams has just released a new 17-song solo album, Ego, but you'll need to buy something from her haircare company to get it". Louder Sound . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  12. 1 2 Pareño, Elijah (July 29, 2025). "Hayley Williams Drops New 'Ego' Album via Y2K-Style Website". Rolling Stone Philippines . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  13. ↑ Paul, Larisha (July 28, 2025). "Hayley Williams Premieres 17 New Songs on Website Audio Player". Rolling Stone . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  14. ↑ Carr, Mary Kate (July 28, 2025). "Hayley Williams drops an album's worth of new songs on her website". The A.V. Club . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  15. ↑ Horowitz, Steven J. (July 28, 2025). "Hayley Williams Surprise-Releases 17 New Songs on Her Website". Variety . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  16. ↑ Singh, Surej (July 30, 2025). "Hayley Williams' surprise album 'Ego' has been removed from her website". NME . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  17. 1 2 Kaufman, Gil (August 1, 2025). "Hayley Williams Uploads Her Untitled 17-Track Solo Collection to Streamers as Series of Singles". Billboard . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  18. ↑ DeVille, Chris (August 1, 2025). "Hayley Williams Has Officially Released Those 17 New Singles — Separately, Not As An Album". Stereogum . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  19. ↑ Lapierre, Megan (August 1, 2025). "Hayley Williams Has Now Officially Released Those 17 Songs — but Not as an Album │ Exclaim!". Exclaim! . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  20. ↑ Kaplan, Ilana (August 1, 2025). "Hayley Williams Releases Surprise Collection of 17 New Singles After Sharing and Deleting Them from Website Earlier This Week". People . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  21. ↑ Kennedy, Jade (August 1, 2025). "Hayley Williams Unveils Surprise 17-Song Collection". Rolling Stone Australia . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  22. ↑ Polst, Mark (August 5, 2025). "Hayley Williams Releases Music Video For "Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party"". Consequence . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  23. ↑ Singh, Surej (August 19, 2025). "Watch Hayley Williams' existential new video for 'Glum'". NME . Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  24. ↑ Paul, Larisha (August 5, 2025). "Hayley Williams Is the Biggest Star in the 'Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party' Video" . Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on August 5, 2025. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  25. ↑ Williams, Aaron (August 5, 2025). "Watch Hayley Williams Raw 'Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party' Video". Uproxx . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  26. ↑ Rys, Dan (August 8, 2025). "Inside Hayley Williams' Unconventional Singles Release Strategy That's Kept Fans Guessing" . Billboard . Archived from the original on August 8, 2025. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  27. ↑ Harrison, Dan (August 19, 2025). "Hayley Williams has shared a new video for 'Glum', co-directed with Paramore's Zac Farro - Dork". Dork . Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  28. ↑ Mier, Tomás (August 18, 2025). "Hayley Williams Longs for Home in 'Glum' Video" . Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on August 22, 2025. Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  29. ↑ Ingle, Alex (July 29, 2025). "Hayley Williams has released 17 new songs, sort of via a hair dye?". Dork . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  30. ↑ Georgi, Maya (August 1, 2025). "Hayley Williams Is Fiercely Independent, and Four Other Takeaways from Her 17 Singles" . Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on August 1, 2025. Retrieved August 10, 2025.
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