Hayley Williams of Paramore has released 17 new songs today as a surprise. The tracks are not yet described as being part of a specific project or upcoming album, but she did upload them in one go to her website, hayleywilliams.net, behind a password-protected prompt. To receive the password, fans must purchase the new “Ego” shade of semi-permanent hair dye from Williams’ company Good Dye Young.
The 17 songs Williams uploaded appear to be proper studio recordings spanning pop, indie rock, folk, alt-rock, and more. Track titles include “Kill Me,” “Negative Self Talk,” and “Discovery Channel” – the latter of which interpolates Bloodhound Gang’s 1999 single “The Bad Touch.” At least one of Williams’ songs, “Mirtazapine,” aired on Nashville public radio station WNXP last week and got its live debut during Bleachers’ set at Newport Folk Festival this past weekend, during which Williams made a surprise appearance.
In addition to the songs, Williams’ website also includes a folder labeled “Misc.” Inside are images of a t-shirt reading “Hayley Williams Is My Favorite Band” (a play on Paramore’s merch), a picture of lyrics scrawled in a coloring book, a live video of the band Phoenix, and a voice note of a child saying, “I’m sorry that you’re going through something hard!”
Back in 2020, Williams released her debut solo album Petals for Armor and the three-track Petals for Armor: Self-Serenades EP. She followed it up with FLOWERS for VASES / descansos the next year, which she described as “a prequel, or some sort of detour between parts 1 and 2 of Petals.” Since then, Paramore dropped their fifth studio album, This Is Why, in 2023.
Read about Paramore’s After Laughter in “The 200 Best Albums of the 2010s.”
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