2025: ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
The Square One team have voted for their top albums of 2025. From major releases and long-awaited returns to the discovery of new bands and artists, this year delivered no shortage of standout records. Below, Dev, Cat, Crimson, Kie, Kayla and Heather run through the albums that made the cut for our top 25 of the year.
25. DJO — THE CRUX
The Crux marks a new milestone in DJO’s production, refining the nostalgic palette that’s long defined his work into something more cohesive and assured. Tracks like ‘Charlie’s Garden’ lean into retro instrumentation, with bassline melodies, pianos, and saxophones evoking a marching-band vibe. This nostalgic sound is anchored by clean, contemporary production that keeps the album firmly palatable to modern audiences.
Elsewhere, ‘Gap Tooth Smile’ draws on a 1950s rock-and-roll feel, pairing distorted guitars with compressed vocals that gradually become sonically cleaner as the track unfolds. That shift creates a subtle, propulsive build throughout the track. Across The Crux, DJO demonstrates a sharp instinct for using production as narrative: soft vocals pair with soft melodies, complementing vulnerable lyrics without tipping into sentimentality.
It’s this careful balance between nostalgia and restraint that makes The Crux one of DJO’s most confident releases to date: a record valuing cohesion and emotional clarity over excess.
Words by Crimson Foster
24. MICHAEL CLIFFORD — SIDEQUEST
SIDEQUEST isn’t just Michael Clifford’s solo debut, it’s a full reintroduction. Expansive, genre-fluid, and emotionally clear, the album explores identity, growth, and fatherhood through shimmering synths, glitchy electronics, and unconventional alt-pop structures. Clifford deliberately avoids echoing his 5SOS roots, instead crafting something intimate, eccentric, and refreshingly untethered to trends.
The cinematic opener ‘kill me for always,’ featuring Porter Robinson, sets the tone with digital chaos and aching vulnerability. Standout tracks like ‘cool’ balance sarcasm and sincerity, offering a self-aware take on insecurity and image, while ‘give me a break!’ with Awsten Knight (Waterparks) delivers hyperactive, cathartic fun. Slower cuts such as ‘remember when’ and ‘enough’ reveal Clifford’s reflective side, wrestling with nostalgia and self-worth without losing hope.
Balancing joy and melancholy with ease, SIDEQUEST captures the messy beauty of becoming. It’s not a detour, it's a bold new chapter, and one worth taking.
Words by Cat Wiltshire
23. sabrina carpenter — man’s best friend
Man’s Best Friend sees Sabrina Carpenter pushing into her strangest and most ambitious territory yet. Pulling from retro pop, soft rock, disco, synth-pop, and even an overt ABBA homage, the album thrives on experimentation. Production feels loose and collaborative, allowing songs to swing between cinematic maximalism and stripped-back moments where Carpenter’s Dolly Parton–esque vocals shine. It’s playful, layered, and rewards repeat listens, though fans searching for the instant punch of 'Espresso’ may come up short.
There are flashes of immediacy, like the infectious ‘My Man on Willpower’ and the Shania Twain–tinged ‘Go Go Juice,’ but humour dominates the record for better and worse. Carpenter’s campy innuendo is often clever. Man’s Best Friend is ambitious, funny, self-aware, and consistently interesting.
Words by Cat Wiltshire
22. GRAYSCALE — THE HART
Grayscale, a band long celebrated for wearing their heart on their sleeve, delivers a defining statement with The Hart. The Philly rockers showcase a sound and aesthetic that feels uniquely theirs, travelling across punchy hit-ready tracks and emotionally charged ballads with ease. Opener highlights like ‘Kept Me Alive’ and ‘Through the Landslide’ hook listeners early with danceable melodies and earnest lines such as, “You take my pain and make it disappear,” before the record dives into heavier territory.
The emotional core peaks on ‘Talking In My Sleep,’ a brutally honest track that confronts trauma and loss with staggering vulnerability. Throughout the album, Grayscale balances effervescent energy with deep introspection, creating a record that ebbs and flows naturally. While The Hart may take a few listens to fully reveal itself, its emotional depth and refined songwriting ultimately stick. Diverse, socially relevant, and deeply human, this is Grayscale at their most powerful and most resonant.
Words by Cat Wiltshire
21. AS DECEMBER FALLS — EVERYTHING’S ON FIRE BUT I’M FINE
Everything’s On Fire But I’m Fine captures As December Falls at their most sharp-edged and self-aware, channelling burnout, frustration and uneasy humour into a record that thrives on tension. Shaped by anxiety, both personal and societal, the album embraces modern pop-punk production while refusing to soften its emotional bite. Bethany Curtis’ vocals cut through with conviction, balancing sarcasm and sincerity as spiralling thoughts are turned into tightly wound anthems. Tracks like ‘Bathroom Floor’ distill isolation and emotional exhaustion into cathartic release, while the title track frames gritted-teeth resilience as survival rather than strength. There’s momentum in the chaos, paired with a sense of control, as big choruses offer fleeting relief rather than neat resolution. Direct, relatable and emotionally charged, Everything’s On Fire But I’m Fine meets overwhelm head-on and refuses to look away.
Words by Dev Place
20. Calum Hood — Order Chaos Order
Calum Hood steps out from behind the bass with ORDER chaos ORDER, a strikingly vulnerable solo debut that explores identity, grief and self-discovery with unfiltered honesty. From the haunting opener ‘Don’t Forget You Love Me’, Hood makes it clear this is no vanity project, but a confessional one, blending post-punk melancholy with shimmering indie-pop. Produced primarily by Day Wave’s Jackson Phillips, the album draws from influences like Interpol, Phoenix, and dream-pop touchstones, creating a sound that feels moody yet expansive.
Tracks like ‘Call Me When You Know Better’ and ‘Sweetdreams’ wrestle with regret and addiction, while ‘I Wanted to Stay’ and ‘All My Affection’ process grief with aching sincerity. Mid-album standout ‘Sunsetter’ offers warmth and reflection before the tarot-inspired closer ‘Three of Swords’ resolves the record with quiet self-acceptance. Patient, immersive and emotionally rich, ORDER chaos ORDER is a confident and deeply human introduction to Calum Hood as a solo artist.
Words by Cat Wiltshire
19. James Marriott — Don’t Tell The Dog
Don’t Tell The Dog is a confident, emotionally rich collection of tracks that highlights James Marriott’s ability to blend intimate vocals with soft, narrative-led storytelling. Sonically, it borrows from indie rock reminiscent of the early 2000s, without fully committing to a single lane, a flexibility that works in its favour. The album balances malleable textures with catchy hooks that feel both immediate and personal.
A standout track, ‘It’s Only Love’, showcases Marriott’s falsetto, enhanced by stacked vocal layers throughout. That confidence carries across the record, with tracks like ‘Pillow Fight’ further highlighting how assured he has become in his vocal delivery. While the album doesn’t aim to reinvent the genre, it excels in crafting an emotionally cohesive listening experience. Currently on tour, Marriott brings these songs to life, giving fans the chance to experience the full warmth and expressiveness of his voice in person.
Words by Kie White
18. Biffy Clyro — Futique
Built around the idea of hindsight and meaning gained over time, Futique, a portmanteau of future and antique, finds Biffy Clyro reflecting on moments we don’t realise are special until they’ve passed. Sonically, it’s one of the band’s most streamlined and accessible releases, leaning into pop-adjacent territory and dialling back their usual eccentric heaviness. Aside from the punchy ‘Hunting Season’ and riff-driven ‘Friendshipping’, the record favours synths, disco-rock grooves, and polished melodies, with tracks like ‘Shot One’, ‘Dearest Amygdala’, and ‘A Thousand and One’ showcasing a lighter touch.
While Futique plays things relatively safe, it remains consistently engaging. The lyricism is among Biffy’s most heartfelt, particularly on the slow-burning ‘Goodbye’. Standouts ‘A Little Love’ and ‘True Believer’ deliver undeniable anthemic highs, while closer ‘Two People In Love’ saves the album’s most ambitious, uplifting moment for last. Reliable and rewarding, Futique may grow even more meaningful with time.
Words by Cat Wiltshire
17. Lady Gaga — Mayhem
Mayhem finds Lady Gaga looking backwards with intent, revisiting the edgy, maximalist pop that made her a global icon while filtering it through the confidence of a seasoned superstar. Her first solo album since Chromatica, it leans closer to her early work than recent releases, packed with bold hooks, playful absurdity, and theatrical flair. Tracks like ‘Abracadabra’ and ‘Perfect Celebrity’ knowingly echo her debut-era wordplay and themes of fame and identity, while collaborations such as the Prince-indebted, techno-tinged ‘Killah’ inject real bite.
The album’s disco-heavy middle stretch, highlighted by the infectious ‘Zombieboy’ and club-ready ‘LoveDrug’, is pure Gaga fun, balanced by reflective turns like ‘How Bad Do U Want Me’, which nods to ’80s synth-pop storytelling. Mayhem is a confident return to form, less shocking than her early years but rich with personality, strong vocals, and a stack of undeniable bops.
Words by Cat Wiltshire
16. L.S. Dunes — Violet
Violet finds L.S. Dunes stepping forward with renewed clarity, arriving just over two years after Past Lives. The album reframes angst into something open and affirming. Despite the pedigree of its members, the band has never read as a stitched-together side project of showmanship. The writing feels genuinely collective, with each track serving a clear purpose. Across ten tightly paced songs, the band maintains drive and intensity, then pauses to let key ideas land.
Tracks like ‘Fatal Deluxe’ interrogate isolation and emotional limits, and closing song ‘Forgiveness’ delivers a powerful statement of self-acceptance that ends the album on a reflective note. Violet is held together by an understated sense of wonder, present in its sound, and echoed in its title. Violet closes as a record unafraid to move freely, guided by Anthony Green’s trailblazing vocals and a supergroup of iconic musicians refusing to stay still.
Words by Dev Place
15. Garage Sale — Any Day Now
Garage Sale sit well outside Melbourne’s surf and psych orbit, folding emo into Aussie alt-rock with an unusually relaxed touch. The angst is dialled down, replaced by a casual, unforced delivery. ‘Punching Up’ captures this balance well, pairing feedback-heavy lo-fi grit with a quietly refined finish.
Any Day Now positions Garage Sale in a space that feels both familiar and unsettled, channelling the low-level dissonance of the present moment into something quietly absorbing. It settles into its own pace and stays there. The record drifts, circles**,** and returns, letting repetition build meaning. Drawing from indie-rock’s more emotive lineage, the album pairs calm tempos with clashing guitar tones, creating a push and pull of tension and release that feels timeless.
Words by Dev Place
14. PinkPantheress — Fancy That
With her sophomore album, Fancy That, PinkPantheress cements her eclectic voice in the pop world. The album runs through short, punchy tracks like ‘Girl Like Me’ and ‘Stars’, sampling Basement Jaxx and Just Jack and locking into the early 2000s UK garage scene. Fancy That leans into nostalgia, echoing British artists who mastered the balance between crowd-moving beats and soft, melodic hooks, such as Rizzle Kicks and Craig David.
‘Stateside’ stands out as a highlight, built on the foundations of ‘Freak Like Me’, originally performed by Adina Howard and later reimagined by Sugababes. Paired with PinkPantheress’ ethereal, stacked melodies, the track becomes an infectious sing-a-long moment. Across the album, PinkPantheress moves effortlessly between intimate pauses and contagious beats, often within the same track. Fancy That proves that paying homage to influences and innovation can coexist. The result is one of her standout releases to date, solidifying her as a pop icon in the making.
Words by Kie White
13. Militarie Gun — God Save The Gun
God Save The Gun finds Militarie Gun shifting gears without losing the qualities that first defined their appeal. The band’s debut arrived all elbows and adrenaline, drenched in misfit bravado that gave Militarie Gun an inviting, if roguish, charm. Where their early material charged in like Scrappy Doo, God Save The Gun is more Doberman — still barking, still restless, but better trained.
Ian Shelton’s vocals sound stronger and more expressive, carrying songs that move from rough-edged punk drive into a more finely tuned indie undercurrent. He balances bleak honesty with dark humour, turning self-deprecation into something quietly uncomfortable and deeply human. Tracks like ‘Fill Me With Paint’ and ‘Maybe I’ll Burn My Life Down’ sit at the crossroads of escape and self-awareness, their choruses lingering long after the distortion fades.
Musically, the band widen their palette, giving melody more room while keeping the grit intact. God Save The Gun feels like a recalibration rather than a reinvention, capturing a band growing in confidence and conviction.
Words by Dev Place
12. Zac Farro — Operator
Operator reveals a different side of Zac Farro, one built on patience, consistency, and feel rather than momentum. Best known for rock tendencies with Paramore and psychedelia of halfnoise, Farro now leads with groovy indie-pop and subtle funk influences.
True to Zac’s reputation, Operator is driven by percussion and eccentric basslines, the kind that make you throw on headphones, strut through a European city and daydream as the star of your own film. Farro seems more interested in atmosphere than spectacle, blending songs and allowing melodies to endure rather than arriving and departing on cue.
Operator feels observational, soundtracking routines, late nights and moments of presence. It is an album that rewards thoughtful listening, revealing its intricacies through feel and coherence without dramatic peaks. ‘Gold Days’ boasts a hypnotic rhythm section, while the smooth sing-alongs of ‘Second Chance’ mirror Zac’s light-hearted persona, making Operator a fitting debut release under his own name.
Words by Dev Place
11. Ethel Cain — Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You
A showcase of music as a vessel for storytelling, Ethel Cain’s latest album welcomes listeners back into familiar soundscapes of rural south-west America, serving as the long-awaited prequel to Preacher’s Daughter. Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You paints a vivid narrative of love, loss and despair with dynamic brushstrokes of airy synths, ringing guitars and arresting vocals. While not as instantly striking as Preacher’s Daughter, it still leaves a lasting impact, carving new depth into the narrative and offering fresh angles on the artist’s genre-bending songwriting. As finer details reveal themselves with each listen, the album is sure to remain in fans’ heavy rotation long beyond this year.
Words by Heather Swift
10. Florence and the Machine — Everybody Scream
Inspired by folklore, witchcraft, and transformative life events, Everybody Scream demonstrates some of the most vulnerable and fierce songwriting from Florence and the Machine yet, while welcoming back the strongest elements of her previous eras. From the guttural explosion of the album’s title track, to the climbing composition and unapologetically scathing lyricism of ‘One Of The Greats’, through to the softly devastating ‘And Love’ and the powerful haunting of ‘The Old Religion’, the album moves confidently through a wide emotional range. Across its 12 tracks, Florence Welch leads the listener through the darkest corners of her mind, threaded with generous sprinkles of her well-loved magic along the way.
Words by Heather Swift
9. Arm’s Length — There’s a Whole World Out There
There’s something you should know before you spin Arm’s Length’s latest release, There’s a Whole World Out There. Frankly, It’s devastating. Relentlessly, but beautifully, devastating.
Album opener ‘The World’ immediately tapers the musical dagger. Washed-out guitars create a weightless pull, drawing the listener into a space where reflection and restlessness sit uncomfortably close.
Across the record, Whyte’s knotty guitars unravel, slicing through the fog at just the right moment, like a thought snapping into focus. ‘Fatal Flaws’ emerges as a clear highlight, navigating quiet restraint just as skillfully as the intense collapse.
Allen Steinberg writes the kind of metaphors every Tumblr poet thought they’d cracked, except these ones have the extra gut punch of Arm’s Length’s blistering instrumentals. In just one album you can grapple with distance, self-sabotage and the fear of missing life as it moves on without you. Real emo is alive and well, it seems. And thankfully, it still stings.
Words by Dev Place
8. Bad Suns — Accelerator
Bad Suns’ Accelerator is a sonic time machine to the early 2010s, a listening experience reminiscent of the glory days of indie-pop. Every song carries a bright tone, pairing euphoric harmonies with sun-bleached keys built for a coming-of-age movie.
There’s a youthful, carefree quality throughout the album, clearest on ‘Back to Zero’. This track is soaked in fast ’80s dream-pop synths, contrasted with lyrics yearning for a lost love. Nothing lingers too heavily; even the more emotional moments in ‘Wait in the Car’ or ‘Madeline’ are brushed with a familiar sense of warmth. Accelerator breathes new life into Bad Suns’ sound, where vibrant grooves collide with emotional clarity. It’s the kind of album made for long drives, beach barbecues, and summer evenings — a soundtrack to a good mood, leaving the day brighter than it found it.
Words by Kie White
7. Deftones — Private Music
Nearly three decades into their career, Deftones remain genre pioneers with multi-generational appeal. private music evokes a distinct atmosphere, blending the band’s signature abrasive heaviness with haunting delays and ethereality. The album’s third single, ‘i think about you all the time’, stands out with a melancholic slow build, evocative of earlier tracks like ‘Sextape’ or ‘Drive’, with Chino Moreno’s breathy vocals plunging into a wall of sound. Throughout the album, intricate, immersive guitars underpin expressive vocals, most notably on ‘locked club’ and ‘infinite source’.
Despite finding new fans after a resurgence on social media, Deftones haven’t changed a habit of a lifetime. Now on their 10th album, they remain resistant to easy categorisation by industry or audiences alike. private music is arguably their most balanced duality of soft and heavy since 2010’s Diamond Eyes. private music reinforces how vital and iconic the band’s career has been, while showing that their influence across alternative spaces is far from over. They remain peerless.
Words by Kie White
6. Turnstile — Never Enough
NEVER ENOUGH could easily have lived in the shadow of GLOW ON, but Turnstile dodged that fate. Where their previous record cracked the door open, this one walks straight through it, expanding their sound into something panoramic and inescapable.
The tracklist flows like converging streams, reflecting TURNSTILE’s rapid surge into widespread consciousness, a tidal wave you can’t run from. The sonic swell in ‘LOOK OUT FOR ME’, and the eerie tension that opens ‘SLOWDIVE’, feel confrontational, like a demand to listen up.
Turnstile also think beyond sound. The album’s visual identity deepens its impact, shaping a bold, immersive and unmistakably summer-defining record. It nods to every previous iteration of the band, now sharing space with synths, ambient passages and full-bodied alt-rock. NEVER ENOUGH feels like an open invitation, a welcome break from genre policing, with legacy. A decade from now, kids running their local scene will say “I got into heavy music after I heard ‘BIRDS’.
Words by Dev Place
5. Conan Gray — Wishbone
Wishbone is a fascinating and vulnerable addition in Conan Gray’s already emotionally charged discography. This record is like a diary torn apart, the melodies messy and the feelings deeply relatable. Gray pushes further into pop territory, but stays true to the raw storytelling at the heart of all great music, with relatable topics of desperation and vulnerability.
The songwriting is remarkable for its candour. Songs address heartbreak, longing, and the complicated pain of wanting something you know you can’t have. On ‘Killing Me’ Gray sings, “I won’t do much to hurt you / But you do things that kill me.” It’s this acceptance, and sadness, that makes this album so memorable in its balance of polish and imperfection. These songs feel larger and bolder than Gray’s previous releases, reaching into his personal world. He does so without dictating interpretation to the listener, offering feelings, not instructions.
Moments that echo past releases avoid redundancy and instead become a strength of the record. They highlight how Gray has managed to develop his musical style without losing his essence in the process. Wishbone is a touching record, alive in its confidence — a statement of a great pop artist building a legacy worth remembering.
Words by Kayla Kerridge
4. ANXIOUS — BAMBI
In our last issue’s cover story, Anxious vocalist Grady Allen described Bambi as a step into new territory and a clear turning point: “We were trying things we wouldn’t have even thought to attempt before.” That ambition is immediately audible across the record. This sophomore album sharpens what Anxious already does well, while introducing new textures to their sound. The melodic, layered vocals, punk rhythms, and prickly riffs that defined debut Little Green House remain intact, but Bambi pulls focus on the band’s refinement. Standout cut ‘Jacy’ shows how fully realised their identity has become, shaping proto-emo and post-hardcore into something expansive and unmistakably their own.
Anxious’ breadth on this record spotlights their knack for strong song structures and contagious choruses. ‘Some Girls’ and ‘Sunder’ shift from charming instrumentals into addictive vocal earworms. Bambi sits comfortably with its softness, still underpinned by harsher qualities throughout. ‘Head & Spine’ features the urgent distorted hook, “unashamed to try anything”, a mindset that shaped the album’s direction. As Grady told us, Bambi came from “a shaky period for the band and for me, but the music is probably more confident than ever.” Produced with care by Brett Romness, and with guitarist Dante Malucci taking on a larger writing role, the album feels cohesive without sanding down its edges. Bambi shows a band sure of who they are. Anxious are hard to box in and harder to ignore.
Words by Dev Place
3. 5 Seconds of Summer — Everyone’s A Star!
Everyone’s a Star! is a profoundly confident evolution following over a decade of reinvention for 5 Seconds of Summer. Where earlier albums leaned heavily on pop-punk grit and high-octane hooks, this record feels like an exhalation: sleek, self-reflective, and threaded by the kind of emotional clarity that only years in the spotlight can allow. The band sound energised, pushing toward new textures while holding on to the melodic instincts that first made them stand out.
It’s an album innately celebratory of resilience and identity, with many songs touching on what it means to be seen by fans, partners, and the band themselves. There’s a looseness to the songwriting, comfortable with experimentation while retaining the immediacy of a great chorus. Anthem-leaning moments bring waves of synth-rock shimmer, with a polished production balanced by explosive drums and full-throated harmonies. Softer cuts offer confessions about uncertainty, burnout, and the strange comfort of shared memory, drawing from a place of vulnerability that has long been one of the band’s most compelling strengths.
Vocally, the band sound tighter than ever: rich, yet never over-stacked, with lead and backing vocals interplaying to deepen the storytelling. The production balances glossy pop elements with guitar-driven warmth, making the album feel both radio-ready and emotionally grounded. The band are more focused lyrically, delivering direct lines that land without an overload of metaphors.
Everyone’s a Star! feels like an album driven by intention rather than chart ambition, balancing inward reflection with outward connection. It captures a band assured of who they’ve become, willing to embrace their history while forging ahead with momentum. For established fans, it’s a rewarding continuation; for newcomers, an inviting entry point to a band confidently thriving.
Words by Kayla Kerridge
2. Yungblud — Idols
Idols is Yungblud’s most cohesive work to date, built on a foundation of being true to yourself, no matter the hardships faced. This record presents itself as an art piece meant to be consumed front to back to understand its message fully. Songs with indulgent runtimes feel refreshing in an age where music is routinely reduced to short snippets. Opening with ‘Hello Heaven, Hello’, a nine-minute masterpiece, is a bold move that achieves instant impact, immediately asserting that meaningful art does not require simplification to be understood.
One of Idols’ strongest assets is its use of transitions, pacing the album as a single piece rather than a collection of isolated, one-off listens. After the first track’s deeply personal opening statement, ‘Lovesick Lullaby’ introduces a different energy, signalling the range of what’s to come across the rest of the listening experience. The seamless flow between tracks sustains momentum and allows shifts in tone. Each song stands on its own, but together they form an impactful, continuous story.
Fan favourite ‘Zombie’ serves as an emotional heavy-hitter that many will relate to. Framed as a love song with roots in fear and loss, its personal origin weighs heavily, asking how to receive love when you feel inadequate. When breaking down the lyrics for Genius, Yungblud explained, “showing the darkest parts of yourself is the most beautiful thing about a human being”. His deconstruction of the song makes the case for unconditional love, regardless of one’s self-perception, pushing back against an online culture that rewards polished digital personas and fleeting gratification.
Speaking to CBS, Yungblud stated, “When you put on a song that you love, the hope — the change in mood, the confidence — it all comes from within you.” That sentiment runs throughout Idols, a record rooted in vulnerability and emotional release. The album embodies the pain we endure in our time on Earth, alongside the importance of knowing when to let guarded feelings surface. With Idols II still to come, there is a growing sense of anticipation among fans for the next instalment to dive deeper into Yungblud’s trademark emotional transparency.
Words by Kie White
1. Hayley Williams — Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
There’s a quiet irony in Hayley Williams being Album of the Year in 2025: a generational innovator who has spent the last 20 years renouncing praise, often shuddering at any identity detached from Paramore. Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party is released via her independent imprint, Post Atlantic, with Hayley free from the obligations of a two-decade Atlantic Records contract for the first time since she was 14 years old. The record almost personifies Hayley’s modesty, becoming the antithesis of industry bloat. Released on an old-school website in scattered fragments, it is stripped of hierarchy, context, or an official tracklist. Fans piece it together themselves, debating sequences and meanings like artefacts passed hand-to-hand. In an age of optimisation and instant clarity, Williams reintroduces the pleasure of discovery.
Further participation is layered into the rollout: listening parties, a verified tour presale, and numerous fan collaborations. Amid the chaotic surge of content to digest, something rare happened. Fans engaged, created and connected, not as passive consumers but as collaborators, echoing the spirit of local punk scenes rather than the marketing of a now four-time Grammy-nominated record.
Williams’ third solo output ignores the confines of genre labels, unfolding like a living archive of her creative evolution. It’s as though headbanging, flame-haired Hayley teams up with her 2020 solo debut self. The snagging guitars of ‘Hard’ and ‘Mirtazapine’ scratch the itch for nostalgia, while ‘Showbiz’ and ‘Dream Girl In Shibuya’ unfold with smooth vocal stacks and vivid melodic detail, recalling the colour and elasticity of After Laughter and extending the emotional restraint of Flowers for Vases / descansos.
Hayley sings with authority and striking comfort in uncertainty, her writing leaning into questions aimed as much at herself as at the world around her. ‘True Believer’ confronts religious hypocrisy and bigotry with some of her most direct writing to date, while ‘Glum’ captures internal existential doubt. Yet the album never becomes heavy-handed, injecting moments of jest in the instrumentation of ‘Discovery Channel’ and ‘Ice In My OJ’ to contrast the lyrical combat. Remarkably, despite the expansion of musical styles, it feels as though there is still so much more Hayley Williams has in her toolkit, lying in wait.
Lately, Hayley gained a reputation for ‘side quests’, having appeared on stage this year with Turnstile, Rico Nasty, H2O and many more, seemingly catching them all in a real-life Pokémon game. From inviting country stars to confront her in Whole Foods, to singing the words “The South will not rise again / ’Til it’s paid for every sin” on The Tonight Show a week after Jimmy Fallon said he wanted to avoid politics, Hayley made 2025 hers, selling out a 43-date world tour for next year in three minutes.
Petals for Armor marked an act of self-discovery, and five years on, the widespread acclaim for Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party confirms what everyone but Hayley had already realised: she will be remembered as one of the greats of her era. Not as a caveated “woman in rock”, but as a powerhouse and versatile songwriter with the undeniable X-factor that’s earned her status as your artist’s favourite artist.
Words by Dev Place