For countless fans, their introduction to Hayley Williams came through watching the orange-haired vocalist bounce around the stage with Paramore, purging her feelings in impressively measured belts. While Paramore remain a huge part of her story, Williams has also distinguished herself outside of the band — in the vein of multiple solo albums, pop-rap collaborations, and lo-fi side projects. That fearless attitude is also reflected in the way that she rolled out last year’s Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, first dropping the songs on her website, next releasing them as 17 separate singles, then as a fully formed album with extra songs. Just as she revealed new tour dates, we wanted to know the best Hayley Williams songs outside of Paramore, from any year. You can find the top fan picks ranked below.
Read more: Review: Hayley Williams shows up, raw and enthralling
5. “Glum”
A highlight from EDAABP, “Glum” was an early preview of everything to come — presented as the other side of the CD that Williams sent to Nashville radio station WNXP. Tapping into loneliness, inadequacy, and profound existential dread, “Glum” is destined to hold up, anchored by a powerful bridge that confronts the complexities of aging (“On my way to 37 years/I do not know if I’ll ever know/What in the living fuck I’m doing here/Does anyone know if this is normal?/I wonder, I wonder”). As Williams put succinctly in her AP Artist of the Year cover story: “Grief teaches you like nothing else.”
4. “Crystal Clear”
When Williams released Petals for Armor, it was hugely anticipated and totally thrilling, existing in a similar space as Paramore’s After Laughter but taking the synths and anger even further. Its final track, “Crystal Clear,” sees that anger bloom into growth, represented by its airy feel. In a neat Easter Egg, “Crystal Clear” samples part of “Friends or Lovers” by her grandfather, Rusty Williams, who released a long-shelved ’70s album through Zac Farro’s Congrats Records in 2025 (followed by Williams covering the song earlier this year).
3. “Dead Horse”
Back in 2020, Williams opened up about the unvarnished writing that fueled her Petals for Armor song “Dead Horse,” which speaks to her relationship with Chad Gilbert (“I got what I deserved/I was the other woman first”). In an interview with NME, Williams revealed, “I did not want to write about my past that way. I’ve never had a problem singing about the things that make me mad. I’ve done that with Paramore our whole career, but I’ve learned how to articulate it in different ways as we’ve grown up. My angst and rage have been a protective layer for the softer sadness and shame that I feel. ‘Dead Horse’ came just after ripping off the last Band-Aid. It was about finding this bubbling lava underneath a hard stone. It was like digging up bones.”
2. “True Believer”
“True Believer” always held its own on EDAABP, but it wasn’t until its Tonight Show debut that we really saw and understood its power. Joined by a small orchestra, Williams unpacked her complex relationship with the South — specifically her hometown of Nashville — as well as the heavy religious values that permeate the culture. One of the song’s most poignant moments is when she references Nina Simone’s “Strange Fruit” in the prechorus — and she took it a step further on The Tonight Show, where her piano draped a sign that read “Mississippi G-d Damn” (Simone’s 1964 protest anthem).
1. “Parachute”
Released as an extra song on EDAABP’s official drop, “Parachute” is gut-wrenching heartbreak — and a fitting closer. Live, the song has become the new “Misery Business,” where Williams invites friends to join her onstage. That includes H2O’s Toby Morse, American Football’s Mike Kinsella, and, just recently, Anthony Green. Surrounding herself with like-minded peers goes back to something she said in her AP interview: “When I’m holding a lot of grief, I tend to try to keep myself busy… I’m still learning in real time with this album promo cycle that there’s more I could do to edit and take care of myself, and give myself more rest. But the part of it where I’m going to shows and supporting friends, or singing onstage with them, or jumping in the studio with them, that’s been really healing for me.”
