On July 28,Hayley Williamsshockingly released an untitled album (which fans affectionately calledEgo) exclusively on her website. With no warning, promotion, or expectation, fans noticed that there were 17 new tracks available on hayleywilliams.net, password protected with the code 21G_y+dQQE(9v#Os, made available to fans who bought products fromthe Paramore frontwoman’shair dye company, Good Dye Young.
By the end of the day on July 29, as reported byNME, the album was pulled from her official website. However, days later on August 1, all 17 songs were re-uploaded to the internet onto streaming services like Spotify as stand-alone singles. Here’s each of those songs ranked from worst to best.
17"Brotherly Hate"
Track 8 of Hayley Williams' Ego
The best way to talk about and rank Hayley Williams' collection of new singles is to treat it like an actual album, or at least a body of work as it was originally released through her official website. In that context, it’s important to acknowledge the songs in the order in which listeners heard them on day one.
In that sense, “Brotherly Hate” arrives after “Ice in my OJ,” a song where Williams alludes to frustrations within the music industry. Those frustrations vehemently spew into anger and, well, hatred on “Brotherly Hate.” It almost feels essential to hear both songs back-to-back to catch that story unfolding. Unrelenting rage seers through the bridge of this record.
16"Disappearing Man"
Track 16 of Hayley Williams' Ego
Readers will quickly come to notice that this collection of songs is very country-driven. It’s obviously not a country album per say, but elements of the traditional country song can be found in songs like “Disappearing Man.” This song specifically may fall into the category of country pop, no different thanChappell Roan’s “The Giver.”
In blending the two genres together, “Disappearing Man” offers a perfect marriage between the two in a way that suits Williams' tastes. Her signature wailing on an infectious track remains sound with her track record in the pop genre, while the production and instrumentation itself tackles the spirit of country.
15"Zissou"
Track 9 of Hayley Williams' Ego
Appropriately, for a song referencing the movieThe Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, listening to this song sounds like coasting along an ocean, either by boat or just by allowing the ocean to catch against one’s back. The track is serene in that regard. It also feels elegantly modern, referencingrap star Megan Thee Stallion’s"monster soup" description of the ocean.
At face value, it’s merely a funny way to describe the ocean, but as a testament to Williams' craft as a songwriter, she adds new layers of depth by saying that the humans who enter the ocean are the real monsters. She expounds further, but that one comparison is such a fascinating way to look at it.
14"Mirtazapine"
Track 6 of Hayley Williams' Ego
The tracklist includes “Mirtazapine,” a single Williams premiered last week on WNXP Nashville radio on June 17, 2025. At the time, as the song was played exclusively for Nashville radio, Williams made no indication as to when or if she would release the song to streaming services, but miraculously, it appeared as part ofEgo’sline-up.
Those who didn’t initially hear the song’s Nashville debut were stunned to hear such a fun-loving hook attached to a sound that’s almost reminiscent of hearing the collective Paramore of old. A song like this wouldn’t seem out of place on their self-titled album, or even their more recentThis is Whyproject.
13"Hard"
Track 13 of Hayley Williams' Ego
One of the best aspects of Hayley Williams' skill as a songwriter is just how she’s able to create such vivid imagery for the words that she splashes upon the page. “Hard” is no different, as Williams likens her ribs to hard metal cages made to guard her heart, and getting married in combat boots.
It’s vivid imagery made to speak on a very specific experience: harnessing a feminity that clashes with one’s masculinity. It’s about the need to be hard because it is all one knows, perhaps as a means to keep one from getting hurt, like a soldier who is overprepared for a war.
12"Discovery Channel"
Track 11 of Hayley Williams'
If the chorus of “Discovery Channel” sounds familiar, it’s because it interpolates The Bloodhound Gang’s “The Bad Touch,” most recently heard inTheUmbrella Academy’ssoundtrack. By evoking the spirit of a fun classic laced with innuendo, Williams turns it into a vicious practice. She details teeth gnashing under kisses, bloody lips, and “barbaric bliss” as she’s ripped open.
She takes a silly song about sex and turns it into something raw and personal. One can argue that Williams' version is still about sex, as if this song is about two people hiding hurt from each other, maybe even hurting each other on an emotional level, but passion is what keeps their spark going. What a complex interpolation.
11"Glum"
Track 15 of Hayley Williams' Ego
Through “Glum,” Hayley Williams sounds reminiscent of classic female songstresses of old, both referring to solo artists andbeloved rock bands fronted by women. It’s hard not to think of female singers like Alanis Morissette and Avril Lavigne (especially when the opening instrumentation sounds like “My Happy Ending” at the start) while listening.
It’s a song that simplyfeelsgood. It’s just as lyrically sound and heartfelt as any other record on this collection of songs, but it evokes a special feeling for this one. It captures that feeling of butterflies engulfing a stomach. It is just as pleasant a feeling as possible while listening.
10"True Believer"
Track 2 of Hayley Williams' Ego
Compared to the first track, “True Believer” is a more consistently low tempo song, but a resting low tempo is where Hayley Williams often excels best. With Williams being so notorious for Paramore’s energetic pop-punk legacy, it’s easy to forget how some of Williams' best work comes from songs of a lower energy, particularly on her last two solo projects.
While “True Believer” does not achieve the same high-energy build as “Kill Me,” it does maintain the same lyrical brilliance that evokes strong imagery. Williams speaks of God and foretells reanimating a ghostly lover’s bones to suit their liking, just as one would morph their perception of God and His testament.
9"Ice in my OJ"
Track 7 of Hayley Williams' Ego
Hayley Williams plays around with interpolations throughout this collection of singles (or unofficial album, if addressed in the order the songs originally appeared on her website). One of the more unexpected comes in “Ice in my OJ.” The hook interpolates lyrics from “Jumping Inside” by Mammoth City Messengers, a Christian band which Williams was a part of in 2004.
By retracing her roots, Williams gets to reflect on her present, as she calls out the “dumb motherf****** that I made rich” before contemplating if she ought to return to her native Meridian, Mississippi, perhaps to escape the industry that has exploited her. It’s a tongue-in-cheek track that allows the"Misery Business" songwriterto speak about her truth.
8"Love Me Different"
Track 12 of Hayley Williams' Ego
As herAfter Laughteralbumas part of Paramoregoes to show, Hayley Williams excels at singing through an optimistic melody, whether the lyrics themselves match the tone or not. Here, the lyrics are just as beautifully optimistic as the upbeat tone as Williams speaks on leaving a relationship that no longer serves her.
This isn’t a breakup song or a heartbreak song, at least not in a mournful sense. Instead, she remains positive that although this current love is gone, she is deserving of someone who will love her differently and is confident that she will find that love somewhere. The song remains hopeful in a world that needs hope.
