“You can call me Miss Paramour” sings artist Hayley Williams on the closing track of her brand new solo album Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party—this is of course, a play on words alluding to her Paramore fame, of two decades as frontwoman of the band.
Now Williams has come out with her most confessional and raw piece of work to date, with 19 songs, self-released by the artist after the end of her longstanding contract with Atlantic Records. Interestingly, the album has been unofficially released a few times with most of the songs appearing privately on the singer’s website and streaming services, but the song ‘Good Ol’ Days’ was only added to the album upon official release.
The lyrical style of the album is very consistent—maintaining a dreamy quality, with an almost mocking, self-deprecating edge. One of the lyrical standouts is the track ‘True Believer,’ which illustrates the point of being completely devoted to a partner even when the rest of your surroundings have changed, compared to religious influence as well as the landscape of the artists’ city being renovated and changed. The artist takes the chance to make a strong statement here, seemingly aimed at the MAGA movement, calling out the hypocrisy of seemingly “devoted” christians who still support violence: saying “they pose for Christmas cards with guns as big as all their children.”
The production feels charged and heavy at times against Williams’ clear vocals, reminiscent of the 2014 “indie sleaze” era. A highlight is ‘Discovery Channel’, a more stripped back song which interpolates Bloodhound Gang’s 1999 song, ‘The Bad Touch,’ placing the original track’s sexually explicit chorus between a dialogue of contradicting pleasure and hurt between Williams and her addressee. It re-contextualises the original in a new and unsettling way, the quieter production adding to this effect.
It is somewhat rare for an artist’s solo project to be as explicitly referential to previous work, as this album is towards Paramore. Especially the closing track ‘Good Ol’ Days’ which is a candid portrayal of a doomed secret relationship, believed to be about the pitfalls of Williams’ relationship with bandmate Taylor York. Williams even goes as far as referencing “Romeo and Juliet” as well as another famous band relationship: Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham, echoing lyrics from ‘Silver Springs.’ Ultimately, the artist reflects on her fame and devotion, ending the record with the conclusion that “the hard times were the good ol’ days”, referencing Paramore’s 2017 hit ‘Hard Times.’
“Hayley Williams – concierto de Paramore en Bogotá, Colombia (2011) – 5569060233” by Carlos Mario Ríos (@carlosmariorios), photographer and podcaster born in 1980, in Manizales, Colombia. is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.