For a moment in late July 2025, it feels like 2006 again. Social media is abuzz among the Paramore fandom, as they feverishly exchange passwords to access Hayley Williams's official website. Upon entry, they're greeted by 17 brand-new singles displayed across the homepage in a style reminiscent of a Windows 98 desktop screen — all of which can be clicked on and played at will, with no predetermined structure. In the month that followed, the singles hit DSPs and fans began assembling their sequencing ideas for a 17-song album they'd collectively dubbed Ego. Fan-made playlists ranged from sorting the songs alphabetically to creating sequences that held an emotional through-line from beginning to end, carefully placing the pieces of the puzzle together to create the ultimate listening experience for this new collection of songs. This past Friday (August 29), fans finally got Williams's own sorting of her smattering of singles, with the album now being officially sequenced, titled Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, and featuring one additional track, "Parachute," as the closer. EDAABP is far and away the best solo material of Williams's career. Her songwriting is sharper than ever, as she laments on love, loss and trauma in a manner that plays like reading a journal of her innermost thoughts. It's the kind of raw, cathartic writing that we often see newer artists attempt; however, in this instance, it's an experienced songwriter that fans have grown to know and love since she was just a teenager, now in her mid-30s and coming to terms with herself and her place in this world — even if that means accepting that she'll never quite be certain about the latter. Opening the album with the strutting "Ice in My OJ" feels appropriate, as the celestial vocal runs that begin the song ease the listener into the world that Williams is crafting on this record. The song features a re-recording of the chorus to "Jumping Inside" by Williams's first band, Mammoth City Messengers. It's a fun Easter egg for diehard fans, but additionally, harkening back to likely her earliest known recording is a clever way to kick off such a deeply personal record: a cinematic flashback to our protagonist in their early moments before delving into where they are now. That story is one that currently feels mired by heartbreak and sorrow. Immediately after the opener, "Glum" sees Williams bogged down by the loneliness that haunts her daily life, questioning if she's the only one feeling this way, wondering, "Do you ever feel so alone / That you could implode / And no one would know?" On "Kill Me," Williams explores the weight of taking on the responsibilities of being the firstborn daughter. She meditates on the need to break the cycle of familial generational trauma and deviate from the expectation that she'll serve as a maternal figure eventually. These are not ideals that she buys into, echoing the sentiment that they should "find another soldier" before noting that she'd rather be killed, as she "can't get any stronger." One of the album's biggest standouts is "True Believer," which explores the gentrification of Williams's hometown of Franklin, TN, with the defiling of the church in her area by megachurches and the corporatization of religion. Williams paints herself as a devotee of the southern values that were instilled in her growing up there, declaring on the chorus, "I'm the one who still loves your ghost / I reanimate your bones, 'cause I'm a true believer." While this is not the Paramore frontwoman's first foray into solo music, as Petals for Armor and FLOWERS for VASES / descansos were released earlier this decade, this is easily the most personal and honest work of her career thus far, while also her most complete and concise. Even if 18 songs may seem a little lofty on paper, not one could have been left on the cutting room floor. In fact, the addition of "Parachute" is a welcome one, and leaves hope for the two additional tracks accompanying EDAABP's physical release in November." Parachute" is some of the best songwriting in Williams's entire catalogue — whether solo, with Paramore or otherwise. The track explores the lack of security in a relationship, using a parachute as a metaphor for her partner catching her, as she's never stopped falling for them. It's a heart-wrenching song, especially in its second verse, as Williams's voice cracks and crashes whilst she bellows out that she "would have done anything" to run off with this person, even at her own wedding. There's a palpable sadness imbued in this record that is so deeply affecting, even on repeat listens; much like depression, it's a constant companion. Seldom do artists more than two decades years into their career continue to reach new heights, but Hayley Williams has done so since the release of Paramore's debut, All We Know Is Falling, in 2005. While her previous two solo records did not quite reach the high bar set by her work with Paramore, this record is in a tier with the group's absolute best, and is Williams's first solo masterpiece. To return with a record so deeply personal and well-written that it feels like a complete reintroduction without any reinvention is an incredible feat, and in this instance, has made for one of the finest LPs to be released this year.