Grief through the lens of Ego Death At a Bachlorette Party

By Staff Writer Erika Liu

In pop-punk icon Hayley Williams’ latest album — Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party — the now 36-year-old artist takes the opportunity to look back upon her career with newfound maturity. Having spent a majority of her life in the public eye, Williams is best known for her  success as the lead singer and frontwoman of the band Paramore, wildly popular in the late 2000s alternative scene. Having grappled with exploitative record labels for decades, her professional conflicts within the industry continue to inform her modern works. With the end of her contract with Atlantic Records, Williams finds ways to explore this facet of her struggles within solo work following Paramore’s indefinite hiatus. Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, released August of this year, continues to expand upon these themes, exploring the balance between fame and authenticity with an introspective voice.

With her third studio album and first solo work since 2020, it is evident that Williams’ music has come a long way since she first entered the industry. This evolution is most apparent in the album’s genre — the music here leans further into indie and pop, with only mild echoes of Williams’ past alternative musical influences, a transformation representative of her willingness to explore new sounds. Distorted vocals and glitchy background noise raise frenetic, churning anxiety within “Ice in My OJ,” the album’s opener and arguably strongest track. “Mirtazapine” leans into shoegaze, making use of crackly vocals and heavily-reverbed guitars to form a dreamy cataract of sound. The relatively eclectic influence and emotive vocal delivery makes for a strong start; yet, the album grows unfortunately uninspired in its latter half. Diluted by a host of weak and boring songs, most tracks following “Disappearing Man” convey little emotional weight. Williams tries to conclude the album on a strong note with “Parachute,” and yet this track feels lackluster, a sign that the album itself is a far call from her most memorable works. Though Williams aims to expand her already versatile discography in Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, she slips into fatigue and mediocrity, making for an overall middling album.

Nevertheless, it must be observed that Williams’ divergence from classical Paramore is deliberate and, in some ways, necessary. As a self-portrait of  her own experiences as an artist, the album finds its strengths in its lyrical maturity, taking on a slower cadence in order to better express her personal and professional issues. Her relationship with Atlantic Records, which siphoned profits and revenue from her since she was 15, is bitter: in “Ice in My OJ,” Williams denounces the label as “A lot of dumb motherf*ckers that I made rich.” Williams further expands upon this bitterness — expressing her need to “tear” Paramore apart — in “Discovery Channel.”  “I can’t heal, you keep ripping me apart,” she reiterates throughout the song. Though Williams pivots to expressing nostalgia for her pop-punk career through the jaunty “Good Ol’ Days,” ultimately, the album is a reflection upon the superficiality of fame, as evidenced by its title track, “Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party,” a statement on the dissolution of self through the performativity of a social event. Throughout this album, Williams pushes to find a more authentic voice as an artist, untethered to big name record labels. In a way, she succeeds through the anti-commercial release of the album itself, which was published erratically on her website, as well as the themes discussed within, which often tackle the exploitative nature of fame and the music industry. This desire for authenticity is a message her audience of largely alternative youth can resonate with, and a point she manages to hit soundly.

The album comes not without its drawbacks — it is very sonically bland, and overstays its welcome after the first few tracks. It lacks replayability, too, which is a shame considering Williams’ history of crafting engaging, catchy hooks. However, it must likewise be acknowledged that her evolving from her past emo/alternative influences does contribute to generating a more contemplative project, fitting to the messages Williams aims to evoke this time. Paramore’s strengths, after all, have always lied in its authenticity and emotional resonance, qualities which the album delivers with much more tact and maturity upon deeper analysis. Williams finds her identity beyond Paramore, here — and, in this way, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, despite its shortcomings, serves its purpose.

Grade: B-