Hi, everyone. Ithony Guesstano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of a bunch of Hayley Williams songs.

Yeah, singer, songwriter, Hayley Williams, most known for being the frontwoman of the legendary emo band Paramore, or at least they were emo at one point. If you've been following the band's creative trajectory, it's been a while since they've done anything directly in that style. And their most recent releases, like After Lafter as well as This is Why, have seen them dabbling in a lot more synth pop and dance punk.

Also, for anybody who has been following the band and Hayley's creative trajectory, you know that Hayley Williams is also no stranger to dropping some solo stuff. In fact, she has put out two solo albums to date, and it wasn't clear whether or not releasing solo music was going to be something she'd return to anytime soon after the last Paramore album did so well.

But about a week ago now, we actually started to get some inklings of Hayley dropping some solo stuff once again, beginning this drip to the fans by releasing a bunch of tracks on her website, which I guess were accessed by some fans with a code. A lot of people were talking about the songs on the internet. They were eventually taken down, only for all of them, I believe, to be released on formal streaming platforms now.

Now we have 17 new songs from Hayley, but these tracks have not been presented as an album or a compilation of any sort as of me shooting this video right now. They've all just been plastered onto these platforms as just individual singles. I don't know. It's presented me with an interesting situation here because without a clearly defined tracklist, and who knows, maybe some of these songs she feels more strongly about than others. Maybe on a formal release, some of these cuts would be "Deluxe" or extra tracks or something like that. Maybe Hayley is just throwing some stuff against the wall to see what sticks for a future release. Who knows?

I mean, I will say the production value across most of these songs sounds pretty high. The vast majority of what's here sounds nowhere near demo quality. So even if she is throwing some caution to the wind and just doing something random to see what the audience's response is, it does sound like a lot of effort went into the recording and mixing and writing of most of these tracks on an individual level.

I'm not really sure how to approach them outside of taking them one by one. Because again, as an entire statement or an album of some sort, I mean, It's difficult to explain what maybe the direction here is stylistically or narratively, especially since the tracks on this thing address a pretty wide array of feelings and experiences. I think the quickest and most efficient way I could round up some of the sounds and writing on these songs is to say a lot of them point vaguely in a '90s direction, but in a pastiche way. You're not getting just simply one '90s type sound or vibe. In addition to that, there are a lot of tracks on this record that make reference to what I read as a breakup of some sort or a falling out romantically. However, there's still a lot of feelings there, or at the very least, sentiments expressed that even though things are over or the person you have feelings for is gone, the love that you've had is still there. You still care about that person.

But again, with that being said, we have the track "Zissou", which to me is like a pop spin on a 2000s Fiona Apple cut. I mean, that's a fine and somewhat interesting direction. "Whim" is like I'm listening to a Sheryl Crow song, but if you sucked any of the country vibes out of it. While I do think Haley's voice works really well over this type of instrumental, I feel like this glossy, acoustic rock with just the overproduced layers of instrumentation leaves the song sounding very stiff, even if I think the tune at the core of all of it is pretty good.

If there is one consistent gripe that I have across a lot of my least favorite tracks in this group of songs, it's probably that. But again, I don't feel like that is the case for every single song on this record.

There's also "True Believer", which is a very interesting cut narratively because it makes reference to not only our surroundings becoming like, blander and more soulless. But Haley also addresses things like the whitewashing of religion, a white Jesus, as it were, with an instrumental that feels very inspired by like, Strange Mercy-era St. Vincent. There are also some pretty damning lyrics on this track, too. This whole tirade about how "the south will not rise again until it's paid for every sin."

"Negative Self Talk" is one of a few songs in this grouping of singles that is a very direct address to mental health issues. And while I do appreciate that angle, this is one more moment that I felt like came across a bit soulless in terms of the instrumentation and the vocals just sounding very washed out and toothless. It feels like such a step down and a jump to go from something as thrilling and as exciting as the last Paramore album to this.

"Love Me Different", though, is like a full-fledged pop song that's almost giving me Vampire Weekend vibes, not only through its vocal melodies, but through how vaguely tropical the instrumentation is. That's certainly one of the stronger tracks here.

There's "Mirtazapine", too, which, again, obviously in reference to mental health, with this being a nod to antidepressants. But what's interesting about the writing here is that a lot of it is spent humanizing the drug as if it's a person who you need in your life. I'm also liking the grungey alt rock guitars that color a lot of the verses. Meanwhile, the chorus has almost like a splash of pop punk to it.

"Kill Me" is a touch of eerie pop rock that, while I may not love the production here, I do find the narrative very interesting, as Hayley makes reference to a lot of generational torment and trauma that she feels and makes reference to her being like where the bloodline ends. She also likens herself to a soldier on this track who's like, giving up, waving the white flag, and seemingly just doesn't want to fight the battle going on within her mentally anymore.

"Ice in My OJ", I feel like songwise isn't one of the strongest moments here, but there is still some very bold and loud instrumentation and effects laced into this track between the massive vocal harmonies and all the horns and the distortion. Again, there are better songs in this crop of tunes, but maybe these are some sounds and ideas that could be reused on something that's just stronger.

"I Won't Quit on You" is one of the songs I was alluding to earlier in terms of the narrative very clearly being about loving and caring about somebody, even if the capacity with which that person is in your life has changed in some radical way.

As we get deeper into this crop of songs, we get some more left field and experimental cuts that I don't think work out quite as well as just the straightforward rock numbers. There's "Dream Girl in Shibuya", which I think is an okay dreamy vibe, very breezy track. "Discovery Channel" is a very interesting one, maybe the most interesting one, because not only do you get some of the most explicit and intense lyrics on the verses of this track in terms of the physical, and I would say in a way, sensual intensity, but the chorus is also an interpolation of that one Bloodhound Gang single. You know the one. It just does not go over well.

"Disappearing Man" to my ears sounds like the same '90s acoustic rock that you would hear fronting a family drama show like Dawson's Creek or something like that. Just not really my cup of tea. "Blood Brothers" is another moment in terms of just making a statement about a long term devotion to someone, even if that person isn't in your life anymore in the same way. But this time around, just doing it through this very twinkly, acoustic ballad format.

"Glum" is another '90s piece of acoustic rock, which I think the songwriting on this one is very solid, but I think the chipmunk vocals that Hayley works into the whole thing really pulls the track down a few pegs.

"Ego Death at the Bachelorette Party" might be one of the more straightforward songs here, instrumentally, but it has some of the most snarky and hilarious writing. I think one of the best opening lines on the entire record right here.

The song "Hard" is a very funky number that brings together a lot of very odd and disparate elements. There are touches of this song that sound like Alantis Morissette. There are lots of fuzzy distortions, crazy autotune bits on some of the vocals on the back end too. And while it's not a perfect amalgamation of sounds, it all works together much better than you might suspect, given all of the disparate reference points.

And because this whole thing isn't grouped properly into an album tracklist, I almost forgot to mention "Brotherly Hate", which is another track that is giving very strong Fiona Apple vibes.

But yeah, overall, this group of songs from Hayley is, I guess, interesting. They're pretty good for the most part. I mean, if they were grouped all together into a proper album, I would most definitely have my reservations about some of the songs. Yeah, I mean, among all of these tracks, there's most definitely, I guess, a bit of inconsistency going on.

But still, undeniable there are high points and songs that, in my opinion, are far better than anything she recorded on her past couple of records. I don't know, even if all of these tracks are a bit all over the place, I do feel like in the greater sense of things, there is an improvement going on in terms of the overall song quality and also the sense of adventure as well.

I feel like thus far, this is easily Haley's least derivative batch of songs. I guess I liked them pretty good, all these randomly dropped Hayley Williams songs. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if they actually make it onto a record, if they form into a tracklist, a grouping of some sort down the road.

But yeah, I mean, there's lots of good tunes here. I find it interesting that Hayley, in her own way, is just completely subverting the album format or the album expectation and is really just doing an experiment here, saying Fuck it, and just being like, I made a bunch of songs. Here they are. Do with them what you will. Enjoy them however you want.

Maybe in a way, she's meeting fans where they're at because a lot of listeners, a lot of people who I'm sure even enjoy her music, are consuming a lot of the music they love and care about through playlists, through random groupings of songs every day. Maybe the expectation is that a lot of the people who mess with their music are going to essentially take their favorite tracks, put them in whatever playlist they to some of their other favorite songs in and just go from there. I guess we'll just have to see.

I like quite a few songs on this thing, and will be interested to see if any of these ideas or directions turn up on future tracks or releases. But yeah, I'm feeling fine, feeling, Hey, these are a bunch of songs that are pretty decent.

Anthony Fantano, Hayley Williams, Forever.