Hayley Nichole Williams (born December 27, 1988) is an American singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist and a founding member of the rock band Paramore and has released several solo albums. In 2023, Billboard ranked her as the 13th greatest rock lead singer of all time; that same year, Alternative Press readers voted her as the second greatest pop-punk vocalist of all time.
Born and raised in Meridian, Mississippi, Williams and her mother moved to Franklin, Tennessee, following her parents' divorce, there forming Paramore with Josh Farro, Zac Farro, and Jeremy Davis. Since, the band has released six studio albums: All We Know Is Falling (2005), Riot! (2007), Brand New Eyes (2009), Paramore (2013), After Laughter (2017), and This Is Why (2023). The group has continuously changed its lineup (currently consisting of Williams, Zac Farro, and Taylor York), with Williams being the only member to appear on all six albums. Along with York, Williams won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song for Paramore's song "Ain't It Fun".
Williams' work outside Paramore includes the song "Teenagers" for the soundtrack of the film Jennifer's Body (2009) and collaborations with New Found Glory, Zedd, American Football, Moses Sumney, Turnstile, and David Byrne. In 2010, she was featured on the single "Airplanes" by B.o.B, which peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The song's sequel, "Airplanes, Part II", still featuring Williams and adding a guest verse by Eminem, gained a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. In 2023, she featured on "Castles Crumbling", a song on Taylor Swift's re-recorded album Speak Now (Taylor's Version).
As a solo artist, Williams released the extended plays Petals for Armor I and Petals for Armor II (both 2020), the subsequent full-length album Petals for Armor (2020), and her second album Flowers for Vases / Descansos (2021). In 2025, she released her third album Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party under her own independent label named Post Atlantic; the album earned her three Grammy Award nominations. In 2026, she began the musical project Power Snatch with producer Daniel James. Her other ventures include the online series Kiss-Off (2015) and the hair dye company Good Dye Young.
Hayley Nichole Williams was born on December 27, 1988, in Meridian, Mississippi, the daughter of Cristi and Joey Williams. She has two younger half-sisters. Her childhood neighbor was NBA player Rodney Hood. After her parents' divorce in 2002, when she was 13, she moved with her mother to Franklin, Tennessee. At her new school, she met future Paramore bandmates Josh and Zac Farro. Shortly after settling in Franklin, she began taking lessons with vocal coach Brett Manning. While still at school, Williams tried out for a local funk cover band called The Factory, where she met future Paramore bandmate Jeremy Davis.
Williams was discovered in 2003 by managers Dave Steunebrink and Richard Williams, who signed the 14-year-old to a two-year production deal. At the time she was writing pop songs with songwriters in Nashville. Williams was introduced to Atlantic Records A&R Tom Storms through Richard Williams' attorneys Jim Zumwalt and Kent Marcus, and then signed to the label by Jason Flom. The label's original plan for their new artist was to make her a solo pop artist, but Williams objected to this, saying that she wanted to be part of a band and play pop punk music.
Atlantic decided to go along with her wishes, and she then formed Paramore with Josh Farro, Zac Farro, and Jeremy Davis. The music of Paramore was originally supposed to come out on Atlantic Records, but the label's marketing department decided it would be better for the image of the band to not have them attached to a huge label. They instead released their music through a "cooler" niche label, Fueled by Ramen. According to Williams, the name "Paramore" came from the maiden name of the mother of one of their first bass players. Once the group learned the meaning of the homophone "paramour" ("secret lover"), they decided to adopt the name, using the Paramore spelling. The band's debut album, All We Know Is Falling, was released in 2005 when Hayley was only 16 years old. Paramore has since released five more studio albums, Riot! (2007), Brand New Eyes (2009), the self-titled Paramore (2013), After Laughter (2017) and This Is Why (2023). In June 2009, the band welcomed Taylor York (rhythm guitar) as an official member, although he had already been playing as a touring member with the band since 2007. In December 2010, Josh and Zac Farro left the band. The news was posted by Williams on Paramore's website, with Josh later posting a blog post confirming their departure, calling the group "a manufactured product of a major label, riding on the coattails of 'Hayley's dream'".In 2006, Paramore toured outside of the United States for the first time, which included a headline tour of the UK and supporting post-hardcore rock band The Blackout on the Give It A Name Festival in Europe. The following year, she and the rest of Paramore made an appearance in the music video for "Kiss Me" by New Found Glory. In the 2007 Kerrang! Readers' Poll, she finished second to Evanescence's Amy Lee in the "Sexiest Female" category, going on to win the first place spot for "Sexiest Female" a year later in the 2008 poll, and again in the 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 poll. She also appears as a playable character in the video game Guitar Hero World Tour after completing "Misery Business" in the vocalist campaign.
Williams was honored with the "Trailblazer Award" in the 2014 Billboard's Women in Music Awards for making a unique mark in music and paving the way for other artists. In 2015, Williams starred as the 'Crimson Curse' in Taylor Swift's music video for her single, "Bad Blood", alongside sixteen other celebrities. Along with band member and co-writer Taylor York, Williams was nominated for and won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song at the 2015 ceremony for the song "Ain't It Fun". In July 2015, Williams won the APMA for Best Vocalist.
In a 2019 interview with l'Odet, Williams was asked if she would "stay in Paramore for a long time" and answered, "In moving forward, if the three of us are happy, then we will just do whatever we want to do. If that means collaborating with each other, bringing other friends in to collaborate—there are seven band members when we tour. We're all friends and we all make music in different parts, together. So I feel like, yes, I want to be in Paramore... I've been in a band with them since I was 12. I don't think the band is going anywhere. As long as we're friends, the band just is. It's just in us."
2009–2019: Early collaborations
Williams wrote and recorded the song "Teenagers", which was featured in the soundtrack for the feature film Jennifer's Body. After the release of "Teenagers", Williams stated that she had no plans to establish herself as a solo artist. In 2010, she appeared on the tracks "Airplanes" and "Airplanes, Part II" from alternative rapper B.o.B's debut album, B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. When it was released as a single, "Airplanes" peaked within the top ten in nineteen countries, including the number one position in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Williams collaborated with Weezer on a version of the Muppets song "Rainbow Connection" for the 2011 cover album Muppets: The Green Album. She featured on EDM producer Zedd's track "Stay the Night", which appeared on his debut studio album Clarity (2013). In 2015, she featured on a new version of the song "Vicious Love" for her then-fiancée Chad Gilbert's band New Found Glory, also appearing in its music video. In 2016, she featured on a remix of Chvrches' song "Bury It", after having performed it live with the band the previous year. In 2019, she collaborated with American Football on the song "Uncomfortably Numb", which appeared on the band's third self-titled studio album.
2020–2021: Petals for Armor and Flowers for Vases