Hayley Williams did not say whether she is on Beyoncé’s next album when a fan asked her about it during a concert in Maryland on April 16, 2026. Performing at The Fillmore, the Paramore singer answered the question with a shrug of sorts, saying, “If I'm on Act III? What do you want me to do if I am?”
She pressed the point a few beats later, adding, “Girl, I don't know if I am or not,” and, “If I could tell anyone, it would be you right now.” Williams then left the door open without opening it fully: “I just don't have that answer. You might know before I do.”
The exchange landed because fans have spent months treating Beyoncé’s third act as the next step in a trilogy that has already moved from dance to country. Renaissance launched the run with an album built around electronic music, disco and Black dance music. Cowboy Carter followed with country music and Beyoncé’s Southern roots. Now listeners are looking for Act III to point toward rock and roll, and some have tied her recent Levi’s jeans ads to that idea.
That guessing game has a history. Artists who work with Beyoncé are often surprised when their contribution makes the final album cut, and not everyone learns in advance. Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts found out their vocals and credits were on “Blackbird” only when Cowboy Carter was released. Kacey Musgraves was said to have recorded five songs with songwriter and producer INK for that album, but none made the final version.
Williams is a plausible name to watch because she is on tour in support of her solo record, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, and she already has a link to Beyoncé that goes back to 2008, when they met at the Grammys. In February, Williams said on the One Life One Chance podcast that Beyoncé was “super sweet” and told her she loved “Misery Business,” a memory Williams said was “just too much.”
So the question fans were really asking in Maryland was not whether Williams sounded evasive. It was whether the silence itself was the clue. On that front, she did not confirm anything, but she did not shut it down either, and that is enough to keep the Beyoncé rock-era chatter moving until the album itself says otherwise.