Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party

パラモアのボーカリスト ヘイリー・ウィリアムスによる17曲のシングルトラックを収録したアルバム。「Mirtazapine」は90年代後半のオルタナ・ロックに向けたラブレター。「Glum」では自身の声をヴォーカルプリセットで加工し、孤独をテーマにした展開を演出。ナッシュビルのルーツを思わせる「Whim」は、アメリカーナ調で耳に残る楽曲。そして「Ice in My OJ」は、シャープなプロダクションで、これまでの作品の中で最も皮肉とユーモアに富んだ歌詞を融合させた現代的な楽曲。今作にはこれまでのキャリアやコラボレーションを通じて彼女が見せてきたダイナミズムが収められており、その核心にはジャンルの枠にとらわれない音楽的探求心が込められています。

Hayley Williams is sad and dealing with it on her third solo album, 2025s intimately rendered Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party. The follow-up to 2020s Petals for Armor and 2021s Flowers for vases/descansos, it also arrives two years after This Is Why, her Grammy-winning sixth album with pop/rock outfit Paramore. In contrast to that albums angular post-punk dissonance and cutting political invective, Ego Death finds Williams in a ruminative mood, coming to terms with her depression, romantic desires, and sometimes difficult relationships with her Paramore bandmates. Produced with Canon Blue songwriter/instrumentalist Daniel James, the album showcases a modicum of sonic exploration, whether it be the fuzzy 90s shoegaze of "Mirtazapine," the childlike vocal processing in the Beck-like "Glum," or the gauzy, Karen Carpenter-esque multi-tracked harmonies of "Dream Girl in Shibuya." Yet these are relaxed, organic productions where the experimentation never gets in the way of the pure emotions at the core of each song. There is a diaristic quality to Ego Death and one could easily assume Williams is writing about specific people in her life. Are Paramore siblings drummer Zac Farro and former guitarist Josh Farro the subjects of "Brotherly Hate?" Probably. Is the bass-heavy "Hard" about the fall-out from her divorce with New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert? Most likely, yes. Often, theres overlap, as in "Ice in My OJ," where Williams embraces a rappers swagger, singing "I got ice in my OJ, Im a cold hard b****/A lot of dumb mutherf***ers that I made rich." That she also repeatedly screams "Im in a band" on the chorus speaks to the raw, end-of-a-rope emotionality of the album. Yet the answer to whether a rumored romantic relationship with Paramore guitarist Taylor York is at the center of much of Ego Death remains enticingly elusive. Is he the titular subject of "Disappearing Man" with his "wild hair and stare that could melt stone"? Or is he the lover Williams thought was always going to catch her and now has to "watch me fall" in "Parachute?" Regardless, Ego Death certainly feels like a break-up album, both literally in terms of a relationship ending and as a metaphor for Williams own personal and creative rebirth. On "True Believer" she reckons with her conservative Christian Southern roots, especially as a California-honed rock singer who continues to live in Nashville. There are also hints that even the best relationships can have problems, as in "Love Me Different," where a buoyant synth groove evoking Paramores "Hard Times" belies romantic troubles. She underscores this sense of emotional bottoming out on the title track, singing "Can only go up from here." Musically, all of this hangs together with the relatable warmth and engaging lyricism that mark the best of Williams work with and without Paramore. With Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, Williams has crafted an album about letting go and finding a way to move forward honestly, and perhaps most importantly on her own terms. ~ Matt Collar