Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams has released a surprise 17-track solo album titled Ego through her official website earlier this week. The album arrived without a formal rollout or major label push. Instead, it appeared on a custom-built webpage designed to resemble an early-2000s download hub, complete with a yellow background tiled with photos of her goldendoodle, Alf, and scattered Windows XP-styled icons. Fans can only stream the songs through a built-in player using a code that comes with purchases from her haircare brand, Good Dye Young.
The album doesn’t follow a fixed tracklist or traditional format. Songs appear out of order and play at random, offering a listening experience more in line with old iTunes libraries than curated playlists. Among the 17 songs is “Mirtazapine,” which premiered earlier this week across local and independent radio stations in the U.S. The material leans into alternative rock, trip-hop, and alt-pop, with Williams exploring new tones without chasing a specific genre or structure.Ego is her first solo release since Flowers for Vases/Descansos in 2021 and Petals for Armor in 2020.
Since then, she’s lent vocals to Turnstile’s “Seein’ Stars” and Moses Sumney’s “I Like It I Like It,” and returned to Paramore for the band’s 2023 album This Is Why. Williams’ latest surprise drop feels less like a major commercial statement and more like an artist leaving the door open, letting people in on her own terms.
