"Ego Death is Williams' first LP since fulfilling the terms she committed to practically a lifetime ago, and she easily could have chosen to make it a hard-earned celebration or a justified victory lap. Instead, she sits in the aftershocks of that original choice, tracing how the tremors rippled out beyond her professional world. Scaly synths on "Hard" mirror the tough exterior she's developed to survive; her deeper feelings about that sacrifice erupt on the chorus, where her voice rises in forceful anguish."
"It's hard to grasp the monumental business decision Hayley Williams faced before she'd even gotten her driver's license. By the time she was 15, she had signed a 20-year contract with Atlantic Records-an agreement that would keep her tied up with the major label longer than she'd been alive. The "360 deal" made it so labels could profit from all parts of an artist's work at a time when file sharing siphoned revenue from music sales."
Hayley Williams signed a 20-year 360 deal with Atlantic Records at 15, giving the label percentages from touring, merchandising, publishing and more. Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party is her first full-length record after fulfilling that contract. The album avoids triumphant celebration and instead examines the professional and personal fallout of the deal, tracing aftershocks beyond work. Musically, scaly synths on "Hard" reflect a hardened exterior while the chorus reveals forceful anguish. Retro pop-rock "Glum" delivers a confessional self-realization with a surreal adolescent-sounding vocal. The record centers grief and masked hurt, exploring adjacent emotions rather than direct collapse.
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