Every Single Album - 'I Quit' | Every Single Album: Haim

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Nora and Nathan are declaring that Haim should be a bigger artist. They talk about 'I Quit,' the latest album from the sister band; whether or not this record has a runaway hit like "The Wire" (1:00); how the first seven tracks lean into a Sheryl Crow sound (25:48); and favorites from this album, including "All Over Me," "The Farm," and "Relationships" (37:01). Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Nathan HubbardProducer: Kaya McMullen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to every single album. I'm Nora Prenziotti and I am joined, as always, by Nathan Hubbard. Nathan, do you have your walking shoes on? Are you ready to talk about Heim? Gasoline. Let's go. Not a song on this album. I quit. Definitely not. Which came out last Friday, but maybe we'll talk about it.

As I believe that that is Nathan's favorite Heim song to date. Is that correct? No, The Wire is my favorite Heim song. but I really love gasoline. Is gasoline your second favorite hym song? It probably is. Yeah, maybe now I'm in it. Okay, okay, okay. We're already going to favorite hym songs?

What's your favorite hym song? My favorite hym song is every hym song. That's not true. I mean, I could... What is it about Heim and suburban white women? Are they suburban? Do we... I think of Heim as being of the city.

Okay. What is it about Haim and urban white women? They seem like my friends. I love this band. Nathan was teasing me before we got on mic that, like, I'm going to have to do something to calibrate against the fact that I am obsessed with these women who were about to talk about. And I am obsessed with their album. I quit, which came out last Friday. Look, I think the sister thing is really charming.

I think the music is consistently, it's just like they have. this way of existing between the realm of like an indie cool band and then also like pop stars that are friends with Taylor Swift that man Nathan is that what it is for you it's just super up my alley yeah there's something that feels like hymn is in good taste which like isn't a thing that I should care about but probably I do and then the song's really hit for me it feels really relatable I think the back story, too, I find pretty endlessly charming. And in particular, I think the campaign for this album, not necessarily this album itself, but the campaign for I Quit, where they've been doing all of this stuff and making all the references to the like, you know, late 90s, early aughts tabloid photos.

It just makes me feel like I would love to be around them doing bits. Okay. So riddle me this. Sure. Why aren't they bigger? They have exactly one song. I was going to ask you the same question. I was literally going to ask you the same question because I'm going to see them in September at Madison Square Garden. And I promise you that when I see this band tour this album, I will feel like I am at the biggest concert in the world. I will feel like I'm seeing the Rolling Stones in their ha'clock. day. And on some level objectively, like empirically, they kick ass live. Well, totally. And I'm, I'm not speaking qualitatively here. Like, I don't, I don't have qualitative angst with Hym. I do have some quantitative angst with Hymn. Because empirically, they're not. Like, not that many people are listening to this music. And that is impossible for me to internalize. It makes no sense to me. Like, how do I not live in the world where a song like relationship?

is like the biggest song in the world. Why? Well, that's the world you live in and that's really what's curious to me about this band because if you haven't seen them live, they fucking rock, they're fun,

they have a ton of energy, the three of them get on, they got a bit where the three of them get on the drums and they do an absolute crushing breakdown on the drums. Estes making the craziest faces you've ever seen in your life.

Esty has the scariest base face that's ever bass faced. A lot ofheim can sing and play a lot of really great guitar. They have like real anthemic sounding songs. The wire kicks ass. Want you back? Kicks ass. Now I'm in it kicks ass.

There's just a lot that can carry. The steps are, to me, is a really big arena song. So they have it all. I don't get it. That's the thing for me is I don't get it. Is it that they exist somewhere between,

is it that their femininity blocks them from having more male fans? Is it that they aren't, I don't know. To me, it's one of the great conundrums of modern pop music is why this band...

Literally, why isn't Heim the biggest band in the world? They have one song that has streamed more than 100 million times on Spotify. Only one. And it's, it's the wire and it's only down 182 million. They have never, the only time that they have ever, that Hime has been on the Billboard Hot 100, has been on nobody, no crime, not their song, Taylor Swift song. Right. Makes no fucking sense to me. And there are a lot of artists that have gone in the slipstream of Taylor Swift and sort of emerged like a NASCAR race coming out of the turn, you know,

getting the slipstream and boom, using that little you know, the, the, whatever, acceleration that comes. And we've seen it from Sabrina. We've seen it from Gracie. Heim was on the 1989 tour and they were on this last heiress tour.

And I think that they have clearly gotten bigger. But in between those times, they've had some really big songs. And it just hasn't turned them into this thing that feels like it should be celebrated. So when I make fun of you,

it's only because I love to tease you for your love and passion for something because that's what friends do. I'm actually with you in my earnest love for this band. It's just very curious to me. Well, look, the first time I saw Hyam in concert, it was when they were touring something to tell you. And I saw, so like 2017-18,

I saw them, actually Lizzo opened for them, which was crazy. They were in a kind of cruddy arena, or not even like hockey arena, on the Boston University campus, I believe, is where that show was. So like there are levels in which Haim has grown in scale. I think it's, but it's just more that for their passionate fan base, myself included, they're kind of legends. But then I guess all the people that are out there listening to die with a smile just aren't clicking it on Hym and that's how you get to where we are.

I don't think that it's universally, like I think an interesting thing to talk about with this album and particularly with the rollout of it is how actively they are trying to change that. I'm not sure they necessarily need to, right? Because there is something kind of cool about the, fact that they have been able to have a relationship with Taylor Swift and bring some, if not all, certainly the Swifties in, but still have a little bit of like indie adjacent cred, which I think they definitely do, and also make music clearly on their own schedule at their own pace when they feel like it. So I think there are, like, Haim, I feel like is always the

the sort of entertainment entity that gets brought up when people are like, what's the perfect level of famous? It's always to be in Haim. I guess. I mean, because think about it. It's like you can probably get like any restaurant reservation you want. You can sort of like people,

people are going to have heard of you, especially in cities, especially sort of like tastemakery spaces. You're going to have some pull there. But you can probably walk down the street without people hurrying. you too much. Like, it's the perfect, it's,

it's the perfect, like, middle ground. So I don't want to sit here and say, like, Hime is really upset that they're not Taylor Swift

because I don't think that that's the case. I just, like, I, I find it confusing that they're not the 1975. Yeah.

I mean, that's kind of the right comparison for me. I mean, Danielle is the best musician in the group. And she is a little bit more,

ubiquitous these days. Like, you can find her in lots of places, including on the Miley Cyrus album that we talked about. She definitely, on this album, is branching out. And after having a lot of their work produced by her partner for a few years, she is stepping into that role and feels like, you know, she showed up on the Boni-Veer record. And yeah, it's interesting that he's, he is a co-writer on a song on this album. There's a lot to like, but I just, I mean, I think it was Alana's birthday that they had a few months ago. And it was like paparazzi Central. Like so many people showed up. It was like such a smart PR move. And at the time I looked at it and I was like, man, there's a lot of cool kids going to a Haim birthday party. Why aren't they bigger? Yeah. I have a lot of like little sub

theories, some of which we just talked about, and I think we'll continue to. I want to be very clear that it makes no sense to me, ultimately. Like, I don't get it. You mentioned Danielle's breakup, which is a through line and part of the concept behind this album, which again is called I Quit. It's an interesting title because I think, you know, even from the beginning, it starts with gone. It starts with the Freedom 90 sample. Now I'm going to run. And I had a lot of fun with this idea of like quitting as a good thing almost, like the release and the sort of like rush of going out into the world as your own entity. How did you process kind of what this album is about? Well, first of all, they start.

with a sample from George Michael's Freedom 90, and they finish with a sample of U-2's numb. So you won Nathan over already. Hitch hiking on the road to oblivion, the mud that I'm standing in. Although, I mean, you're just pulling 80s kid, Nathan, like early 90s Nathan right in. I'm like, fuck yeah.

So did you, you liked the Freedom 90 sample worked for you? I mean, it's quizzical, honestly. The starting and ending with songs with samples from that era is interesting. These aren't, and by the way, they're not my two favorite songs, but it was an invitation to me into what I think is sonically a really great album and a really interesting album. Not because there's all kinds of sounds you haven't heard before, but I just think it's well produced. I think this is how this band is supposed to sound. And it introduces to me, like, I hear a lot of Led Zeppelin in this album. I hear a lot of Tom Petty in this album.

I hear, and that's great. I hadn't thought of Tom Petty, and now that you said that, it's like all over the place to me. Yeah, I mean, everybody's trying to figure me out. That opening drumbeat is, you don't know how it feels. and down to be wrong towards the end, there's some real Tom Petty free falling in there. So it's scattered through the course of this record.

There's the farm, which I think is a really cool song, starts with some, you can't always get what you want by the Rolling Stones. And then it sort of moves into the weight by the band. I'm okay with that. Like across this album, there are lots of, little lifts, whether it's a drum hit or a guitar lick from stuff in the past, that is all universally sort of male, you know, look at my package and my tight pants kind of rock. And that is at the core what this band is. They're not, you know, they're not like a hardcore rock band.

They're not like Metallica, but they are at the end of the day, I think, a full-on female rock band. And that may be the answer to why they aren't bigger because there's something, I don't know, is it intimidating about them for some male fans who would ordinarily be like, fuck yeah, this is rock and roll? I don't know. I don't totally get it. But the answer to your question is, in Gone, anybody who takes Freedom 90 with approval, I'm thrilled. Let's go. That is one of my favorite all-time songs. I think there's some kind of. conversation around is that sort of a little bit of a corny choice, is it so obvious as to be less interesting. I did not have that experience at all. I feel like it is a really good stage setter too because you just, it just, it amps you up.

And the recognizability of it, I think, functions actually pretty well because it puts, put me in the mindset that I think they want me in to listen to this. and there's something about, I don't know, I didn't find it corny. I mean, Esty's born in 86, Danielle's born in 89, Alana's born in 91. So there's sort of all children of this era. That video,

the George Michael Freedom 90 video, as far as I'm concerned is the second best music video of all time behind the Michael Jackson Thriller video. It has every supermodel of a generation in the video. It is the first. coolest video that has really ever been made since that...

It would have been the third greatest music video of all time if Miley Cyrus had been allowed to let Madonna and Miranda Kerr mud wrestle for the 4x4 video. In 4x4 by 4? Yes, that's right. But instead, it holds the second greatest title. So it's a very, it's a very meaningful cultural musical event. In the same way that I think that U2 album was sort of a transitional one for them. And, I think that's actually, I think that's actually telling. I think it's telling that they used numb as a, I mean, we're not all ready to next album Appetizer, but I do think that this feels like an album from a band that's in transition

into something next. I'm not exactly clear where they're going, but I do think it's a cohesive, like, front to back thing. And what I want to ask from you, because this is really, to me, the most interesting question. I like this album and I liked this album better than I thought I was going to after hearing the singles.

There are some singles that I'm into but the singles I think make a lot more sense in the full run of show top to bottom of the album because it's really a statement about relationships. And I didn't...

Fucking relationships. Fucking relationships. And there's a lot underneath it all And it is a journey from being sort of, you know, sort of how you extract yourself from them and sort of moving on, right? It is effectively a story of moving on. And for some reason, out of context,

I thought that the singles were okay. I really liked down to be wrong the most. Relationships is a definite earworm, and I want to hear from you. But I guess I want to ask, like, were you in love with the singles? Yeah. So let's, can we actually jump to next? album appetizer because I want to talk about that in the context of how the album takes you through the track list and unpack some of what you're asking. So I loved the singles. I didn't

love all of them. Everybody's trying to figure me out as my least favorite. I found... Really? I think it's a good song. I find it hard to get into. I'm so into it. Okay. I'm not not into it. I'm more into it within the context of the whole album. But relationships, I mean, relationships might be the most time song of all time. Like in some ways, this is the thesis statement for less musically and more thematically. So this is like the thesis statement for this band. It's like, why do we have these relationships? Why are they so meaningful to us? It's essentially the subject matter that they have been pouring over and over and over. over again over the course of their four albums. And there's something about the simplicity of the like the fucking relationships. I don't know if it is the single best lyric on this album, but it is the most hymn lyric on this album and maybe anyone that they've ever made.

You think that's the most hym lyric? We'll come back to that. Okay. Well, there's something. Which is the one that has the line about walking? Well, how about Molly took a shit in the back of the truck? Didn't even notice she was too coaked up. That is a hymn lyric.

talk about it. I don't quite know why that is canonically Haim. But it is certainly a standout bar. But so when I So maybe I had a slightly different experience because I was really in on the singles. The other one that I was super in on is down to be wrong. Yeah, I'm all in on that.

And I do, it has such, you know, look, if you tell me that like Heim is sort of leaning towards Cheryl Crowe, I'm going to be pretty confident that I'm going to like the result of that. I do think it's an interesting sort of data point in how they approach being this rock band of sisters and of women because there are, you know, the Wilson Phillips comps and the sort of leaning in the direction of a Cheryl Crow. Like there are elements of that that they are unafraid to do that are probably not quite as palatable. to some of the bros, and maybe is one reason why I think they are phenomenal

and why some people just don't latch on to it. But I find this an interesting album from that perspective, because to me, okay, you start with Gone. I think it is really fun and a really good scene setter. All over me, I would love, like, all over me certainly could have been a single. Wait enough for me. All over me to me was like a real flex in terms of This is a song that I could listen to 50 times in a row and they kept it in the can

And now it has a music video I don't understand why it's not out there it's my favorite song on the album okay Okay I I the Zeppelin drum hits from over the hills and far away Have me like at the end The song I'm super into I mean they they've given it a music video they continue to do that, you know, they're choosing the internet boyfriends and putting them in the music videos.

And so I think they do understand that this is a big song. And so to me, I read it as more of like, oh, you thought we put all the best stuff out in the singles. We've still got this one. And it is in that number two spot, which, again, I think they know

that this is a big song. Relationships, I, relationships is interesting because it's a bit of a red herring for the rest of the album because it is a little bit more of the like R&B side of them. So weirded out

by the fact that they led with that as a single. I know, but it's so good. I mean, look, I think part of that is because this is a song that they've been working on for seven years, according to the members of the band. There are some people who don't like the song. Those people are crazy. Those people should be institutionalized. It's not as much of a hit.

And I do think, on the other hand, it is very earwormy. Just to say, I think on first play, it does not have the melodic grabs that, Manchild does. I think on 30th play, it's more of an easy groove to slide into, and I think it works its way into your mind. That's how, look, that's, I love this song, but that's how it worked for me.

The first time I heard it, I was kind of like, oh, okay. That's interesting. And then I think I said this when we talked about them when they just started releasing the singles, two weeks after that or a week after that or something, I was like compelled by the powers of Haim to listen to it over and over again,

and I couldn't get it out of my head, and I've continued to really, really enjoy listening to it. To me, I think that's a good thing for it. I do, too. I think we're going to get a remix out of that. Good. I'll take 50. Yeah.

I think we're going to get a remix out of that. I think they're going to maybe take another pass at taking what really works and giving us something else. But then, so we've talked about Down to Be Wrong, which I love. Yes. Take me back. it's more about, like, I just find the

storytelling in that super charming and funny and all the stories of the love's gone wrong is really, really great. Some Lou Reed Walk on the Wild Side kind of toxing happening there. Hollicane from Miami, FLA

hitchhiked away across USA. Yeah, and I think, like, Hime to me is so about, it's about the rhythms and it's about the melodies, the harmonies. and there's a good beat on Take Me Back, but it's less about the harmonies

because they are doing that talk-sing thing. So I think I'm less like, oh, this is transcendent, but I think it's really funny. Love You Right has those classic time harmonies. And Love You Right, particularly when they get into the bridge towards the end, I think is phenomenal.

Then the farm is like an emotional centerpiece, I think, of the whole record. But there's those first seven tracks other than relationships which is doing a little bit of its own thing, but I understand why it's there. They're leaning towards that kind of a little bit country,

a little bit Cheryl Crow. And almost all of those songs, I think, are unbelievably strong. Like, if that is a seven-song just selection, I'm not skipping anything. Everything is doing something that I think is clever and interesting and different. And then after that, I really enjoy it.

But I find myself a little bit like a little, it feels like it's separated into two parts where you get these songs like Lucky Stars in Million Years or spinning, where a lot of them feel like individual little genre exercises to me. And that's the part of the album where I'm sort of, it's not even that I'm still trying to get in. into it because I like a lot of the songs.

But I'm just, I'm interested that you said that you felt like it really took you on a journey. Because I felt like the album split in two a little bit. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah, I think the back half is definitely more of a vibe. I really like everybody's trying to figure me out. I guess I'm interested in a million years because I'm interested in anything that Justin Vernon does as a co-writer. Lucky Stars is okay.

Try to feel my pain. I'm into that. It's like got that cool whirlets or groove. Yeah, it's so funky. That's fun. Cry has just a little shade of 1975's part of the band. She was part of the Air Force. I was part of the band.

I always used to burst into my hat. Blood on the street I'm into. It feels like a few of the rhymes were a little forced. When you come in close, I'll find myself tangled up. And then the outro on Now It's Time is really big. Like, I had to go in and look and be like, wait, is you two fucking playing on this record? Like, it sounds fucking huge on the way out. Well, and also in the keys part of that, did you feel like they were kind of dear johnning vampire weekend?

Maybe. Maybe. Yeah. I mean, look, in that back part, Nora spinning. for me is the one that just doesn't do very much for me. That's my cut. Yeah, we're totally aligned. Yeah. It just doesn't get there. I'm not sure why it's on and maybe there's internal politics that keep it there. Maybe they just, you know, we're into it for whatever reason. That's the one that I would cut because it just, I wouldn't go back to it. It doesn't, however, take me out of the vibe of the record.

No, me neither. I like the way this album sounds. And I think this is a big feather in the cap of Danielle as a producer. I think she captured sonically some really great stuff here. Well, and I think it's even if I am still sort of trying to work through mentally that back half, I think it's really cool. There's nothing that takes me out of the album. I agree with you. It's a really impressive feat. And I think the fact that it is sort of like looser and a little bit less tightly stitched than most of Himes' music, which tends to be, you know, It's very rhythmic. It's often, there's three of them.

So when they're working with those harmonies and when they're working within those tight rhythms, it's very thick. And every second of the song is sort of used up to do all of these things. And I think they have figured out how to be a band that still sounds like hyme, but that doesn't need quite as much structure. Occasionally, I find myself missing it, but I also think it's ultimately an accomplishment and cool that they don't need it. But I think this is why I wanted to skip to next album Appetizer,

which is that I couldn't quite figure out which of those two halves that I experienced the album in feels like more of the direction that they're going to go in. Are they going to lean a little bit more like foky country almost? Or are they doing more of, you know, the back half uses more, I think, it feels more like a rock record. Yeah, it feels like a rock record and there's a little bit of

electronic woven through it. I don't know. We're going to find out. I mean, it is, again, there's some exploration happening in front of our face. And I think she's, I mean, they're sort of always tied to Taylor. By the way, in a lot of ways,

I wish they'd just drop this with no singles. I know that's like not the thing these days but I sort of wish that they'd just gone with no singles because it would have made

more sense to me all in context and by the way I mean the irony of this is I think they're all in somewhat healthy relationships at the moment See they're so good

at like playing cool single girls that's my point like it seems like they maybe are in a better like situation I think Alana I believe is seeing someone

who works for age 20 So it's like cool that they're fucking throwing everybody away. This is also an interesting piece of why, like this is an interesting piece of why I wonder if, if they haven't gotten bigger is that there is a bit of tension. And I don't mean tension between the relationships of the sisters. But Danielle is the centerpiece of Haim, but it rarely feels like that. I mean, she is the most involved musically, both from a performance standpoint and of production standpoint. She is the one who, you know, the Estes out here playing the tambourine on Lady Gaga songs, apparently.

So, like, other members of the band are going and contributing to other artists as well. But she's the person who, you know, has gone out into the industry and worked with the most other people. But I think that there has been a reluctance to place her at the center and be like, this is the Danielle Heim band and the other two sisters are in support of her. which again, I find really charming because I get a lot out of the sister relationships and the fact that they're all together and the idea of them all supporting each other

and being together is really appealing to me. I do think that sometimes people are looking for the one person to latch on to. Like who's the Maddie Healy, right? If we use the 1975 comp, he has made himself. Well, it is, but I don't think that they, I don't think they lean into that. And again, I think,

It's for the better, but I wonder if it is a barrier for some people. She's singing on, if only I could wait on the Boni Vair album, and it's fucking awesome. She's fucking awesome. The more I listen to that song, the more I lose my shit, that song, like, whoo. And that's the song of that album pretty much for me. Award season is close. If you listen to award season over and over again, you can start to lose your fucking mind because it's incredible. But enough about sad dad rock.

But I think, you know, putting her with Justin, putting her with Miley, like she's going to start to, it would not surprise me if the next move is she produces a Gracie track or, you know, something like that where she sort of works her way into the production side of some of the cutting edge female music that's being made. I mean, she could, I, I'm loath to think of an artist who wouldn't be. interested right now in collaborating with Danielle Heim in some way? I just, I don't think, I think it's because you're bringing up the idea that, you know, the sort of concept from the album really only pertains to her life. And I do think sometimes in a way that's, you have to look a little bit beneath the surface to realize how much of the Heim pie chart, one of them, i.e. Danielle, is taking up. But I think they sort of indebted. intentionally mask that.

And I, to me, it works, but I wonder if some people are looking for like a front woman from them. But I think live, you don't, you're right that you don't get it live either. I mean, she's in the middle, but it's hard to look away from the base face. I would never look away from the base face. It really is. She's just tall and just, you're like, man, she's going to, is she going to eat me? Like, she's like, just like a monster up there.

she has, I think, the most obvious charisma. There's a sweetness to Alana, and then there is this kind of aura to Danielle, but Esty has the most, like, there's a reason that she was the one who did that. She was with me, dude. Good thing Esty's sister's gonna swear she was with me. Like, she just is a ham.

So, of course, you want to look at her. And then, you know, you combine it with the bass face and it's all over. Your best song is all over me. Which is a contender for me. Help me work through it. Because like, and I, this speaks to how strong I think that the front half especially of this album is, is that there's like nine songs where I'm like, is this the best song? I thought about relationships.

Yeah. Sounds like you're pretty into that. that tune. I'm really, I'm really into it and I do think that in some ways it is like a high mission statement. But is it down to be wrong for you? I think I love down to be wrong the most. There's a, there's a complexity to relationships that I want to sort of shine a light on, whereas down to be wrong, there's a simplicity when they break into that chorus where I just feel like I'm a golden retriever and I want to stick my head

out the window of a moving car and be like, I bask in the sunlight that time has bestowed upon me. And that's... Jesus. Good God. I love this band.

I love these. I love these. I love them. Wow. But I also, like, how did you feel about the farm? Because I was, like, blown the fuck away by the farm.

Between what I left myself say and what I have, I feel. Yeah, I like the farm a lot as a song. I do. I think I like it lyrically more than I like it melodically. But I love the just buy me out. Yeah.

Like that's just, it's a very, it's a very powerful thing. Just like you get involved with someone and sometimes you get involved financially. And then how do you actually separate from that stuff? Just buy me out. is a pretty big. It is a cooler way of saying, I quit. Just by me,

I have. That's the line that has lodged itself in my head the most. I do you think, how did you feel about this album lyrically overall? I thought it was fine. It didn't, like,

there are times where I think they're trying a little too hard. It has a few, it has a few, almost tortured poets-esque moments of like the almost bluntness of a description making me turn my head to the side of it. Okay. Well, but I don't, I didn't ever get like cringed

on tortured poets. Like I get cringed and man, I get the sense that you think this is still on the table, which I liked. But then it's like, but when I don't pick up my phone and you can see it coming from a mile away, you're like, don't say it. Don't go there. and then it's like, it's not because I am unable. Like, nobody says that. You didn't think it was going to be unavailable? No, you earlier said somebody took a shit in a truck.

Like, that was fucking funny and just flowing and free. This feels like, oh, you had to just, I don't know, like you order a drink, took a spill on the rink. You order a drink, took a spill on the rink. think like just there's some rhymes through the course i'm picking on blood on the street but there's some rhymes through the course of the album that i feel like are just a little bit forced lyrically and it's less but they they have their moments when you're like man i feel like only they could

say that yeah yeah no it's it's it's highs and lows i had the same reaction and it was blood on the street that i found myself thinking about that a lot and i have to choose i have to choose yeah you do God damn it. Oh my God. You know what? I think five years from now Relationships is going to be like one of the Heim songs.

Wow. Wow. Wow. I did not expect that. I just didn't. And I think that the kids are digging this album more than they dug the singles.

I think they like some of the singles. But I think Relationships really is a, it's like a, parser. It's like a divide. Like if there's like a river that bifurcates around relationships and some people were turned off by it and some people like you, I think were into it. It's why I just wish that it hadn't, it's not indicative of the rest of the album. And you're right. There's a lot of Cheryl Crow here that's cool. And I want to like, I like the album so much that I want to say that the best song is something that is really emblematic of it. And there are plenty of choices, right? Like I think all over

me is phenomenal. And I actually think that that is the song that, like, I know that all over me in the next couple of months is going to be a really, really big song that I spend a lot of time. I think there's so much to relationships that I think sort of emphasizes the things that Haim can do so, so well. I do think there is an element of it that is kind of a mission statement for them. And it has only grown on me. And I do think that it is. it's going to have a long shelf life. Left sets really likes it. Well, I mean.

No shade. Mean himself. What is all this talk about relationships? It's just, it's an internal question. It's an eternal question for our guests. Do you think that relationships is going to be bigger, or that all over me is going to be bigger than relationships? Or you think this is going to be their biggest stuff?

I mean, this is where I'm like, I feel like I'm, I'm like mind-effed by the fact that Well, you are. Biggest band in the world. Because under any normal circumstance, I would think that all over me was going to take off. And that people are going to find this song on this album and really get into it. I'm just not sure that's happening. Like, I'm not sure that's happening with this album. And maybe people will get super into the music video.

I just, like, I don't, you know, relationships. It has 21 million Spotify streams right now. That is a big headstock. relative to where the rest of this stuff is. I don't quite feel confident in saying that I believe an album cut is going to be able to catch up to that necessarily. I would love to be wrong. I'm down to be wrong, as they would say. I think their biggest hits going to be relationships just because they led with it as a single,

if you measure it based on streams, but I'm definitely rooting for all over me. Me too. Me too. The collaborator question is an interesting one here for a couple of reasons. One, because we were talking about a group of three people who are each other's collaborators. Right. Also, because not only was Danielle in a relationship with Ariel, he produced just a huge amount of their work in the past. And this is not only an album talking about the end of that relationship, but it is the end of that relationship. but it is the end of that musical relationship.

Where did you go collaborator-wise here? Well, we need to not throw out Rostom as a producer. We never would. Yeah. Which is why the little sort of like Vampire Weekend Dear John thing at the end, I was like, is this like, who are, is this Rosset? Like, who are we referencing here? And is this like a nod at an X or is this just a nod at your current producer?

Yeah. I mean, Rosten's playing a lot of stuff all over this record. Playing acoustic guitar and the ham and organ and doing bass, a few vocals, a lot of synths, a lot of programming, a lot of filling in on a bunch of stuff. Yeah, there's a lot of moments where you're like, what is that instrument and how did he get that to sound? Like there's a, gosh, is it on try to feel my pain where there were all these moments where I was like, is that a saxophone? No, I think that's something he's doing with a keyboard.

Like, it's, you know, they've always really thrived in a studio setting. And I think this album is no exception to that. I still think that, you know, for the case that I made earlier, I think the most important collaboration is actually Danielle. Because I think this is quietly her sort of breaking out. and taking ownership of the band in some ways and having her moment as a producer while also sort of stepping into, you know, she made an Instagram post the other day

where she's like, yo, I just wanna say I'm good at guitar. I make that shit sing. And I was like, yeah, you are good at guitar. And yeah, you do. It's pretty cool. She's got a lick that she falls back on that appears on a lot of Heim songs through the years. But I'm okay with that.

Every guitar player has their, like, go-to lick. And good for her. I think she's the most important collaborator. She's definitely somebody to watch based on the way that this album sounds. I think that's right, and I like the choice to choose someone in the band. the person that I want to talk about here is Terrence O'Connor, who is involved in the creative direction with Charlie XX for Brat.

And I would imagine, in part because of the success not only of that album, but particularly of that album campaign, is currently really centrally involved in both the rollout of this record and the one that we're going to talk about next week, which is Lord's Virgin. And I am interested if you are feeling, if you are bumping up at all against the feeling that there are, that everybody is sort of trying to have their own brat moment. Well, that's for sure. I mean, I can speak to that just like seeing it across the business. Everybody's like, what do we do to market a record the way that that record was marketed? I mean, we said it at the time, but it is unequivocally the best marketed record in at least five years. and I think it might be 10 by taking over an adjective and a season and a color and yeah.

I mean, it remains just a fascinating experiment in how you create group psychology and move people towards something. But the thing is is that there was an authenticity there like you had real music that was great. So that's the answer to why everybody can't be at.

You also had an artist who is obsessed with meta narrative. You have an artist who, like, for years in album cycles, has built in how do people think of me? How do the audiences think of me? What is my place within the broader landscape of the industry? And what are the ways in which I can kind of discuss that within the music, which then they did in the campaign and was part of what made it so effective? But I I guess I I think Terrence is great I think a lot of the work

that he's done on this campaign and that they've done with him on this campaign is really great like when relationships part of why I was instantly charmed by this was the use of that Nicole Kidman you know post-divorce famous paparazzi photo

which like I once tried to get needle pointed on a pillow for a friend of mine like that is a reference that I think is funny it's just like somebody goes through a breakup You're like, look at Nicole Kidman. This doesn't make sense to you. You tried to have like somebody Etsy that shit?

I did and then I found out it was going to be like $900. So I didn't do it. Yeah, that seems expensive. Yeah, well, because I didn't want it like, I was being stubborn and I didn't want it screen printed because I thought like I really wanted this to be like a lasting thing that they could have in their home. You should have asked my daughter, Tess. She crocheted the fucking rainbow hairy sweater thing. Seriously?

Yeah. Okay. Well, if Tess wants to do the Nicole Kidman post-Tom Cruise divorce photo where she's throwing her hands up in the air, like, tell her all be in touch. We can talk. But I, so is, I don't know. I don't want to, I don't want to say that I don't think that it's been effective because I do think that it's been very fun. I do think that some of the

some of the rollout when they've then, you know, all over me, they were referencing a photo of Guedith Paltrow and Brad Pitt from 1995. Everybody's trying to figure me out. It was the photo of Kate Moss leaning against the black car.

Down to be wrong was Jared Leto and Scarlett Johansson. Take me back was Kira Knightley and Jamie Dornan. Some of those references. I definitely, after a certain point, like, had to be looking up to figure it out. Okay. And I don't think that this is good or bad. I just came away with the impression that they are trying very hard to make something in the vein of Brat happen,

which I've also felt a bit with the Lord rollout. And so I wonder if there's a little bit of a cautionary tale of sort of having to forge your own path and it not necessarily being something that you can replicate easily. Well, there's a through line between Lord and Brat. I mean, she really gave that thing second life by what she did. But we'll talk more about that next week. In this case, I hear you. Look, there's a few TikToks.

There's a few times on TikTok where I get the same vibe, which is that this feels like we're trying to make a funny, fun, TikTok. And we don't need you because you guys are funny and fun. Yes, they're super fun. Like, right, like the thing where they're at can and they're like, where's Josh O'Connor? Where's Josh O'Connor? I'm like, that's funny. I don't know.

I don't know where he is, but I like Josh O'Connor. And I think it's funny that the fans have started calling the, like, all the music videos, the, like, White Boy of the Month campaign. Right. So I don't, so this is, like, this is me sort of bearing. my indecision about how I feel about this, because there are pieces of it that do feel a little bit like they're trying so hard.

And then there are pieces of it where I'm like, yeah, and it's funny and good, and I like the jokes. Right, right. Well, the thing about this album is that if you just push play and go all the way to the back half, you're not disappointed. It can stand on its own. Yeah. And something a little bit about the album campaign

felt like they were trying to sell me Haim a little bit. And I don't need to be sold. Right. Right. Right. Which again, like it is that question of their scale where I don't know that this band needs to be a shred bigger than they are, even if I'm confused about why they aren't. But then when you do this type of rollout, I interpret it as, okay, they want to be. they, like... And that's the thing. I mean, that's the thing, Nora. They're sitting there sidecar to Taylor fucking Swift,

which seems just like an impossible bar to try to live up to. But, you know, I also will tell you that there is not the wire on this album. I don't think there's a now I'm in it. I don't think there's a want you back. I don't think there's a gasoline. There isn't the big breakout like, Wow. And maybe it's going to be all over me, but I just, I think the album is really, really strong, but it is missing that song. I will never forget hearing the wire and being like, what the fuck is that? It's like the same time, I thought the same thing when I heard Avrilavine complicated, where you were just like, that is a hit. What is that? Or fucking crazy by Cilo, you know, like, they're just songs that where you're like, what? And it took me a little while because, and this was the cool, this is the cool part of Hymn.

At first, I thought it might be a male singer the first time I heard that song, The Wire. Because I was just like, but it made me inquire. And then when I found out it was this band Heim and like, I was like, holy shit. Like this band is cool as fuck. Three sisters from L.A. who used to be in a family band with their parents. Yeah, Valley Girls and the bass face and all of it. like, fuck yeah, I'm in 100% subscribed. That song is not on this album.

And that is, to me, not a problem per se, but I don't know that they wrote a big hit for this record. It sounds as good or better than anything that they've made. And I think that it flows as well or better than anything that they've made. It just is missing that iconic, like, whoa, this is a breakthrough band. and they can play arenas anywhere in the whole world whenever they want. Because now we've got at least five, maybe six complete fucking bangers that can carry that show all the way through that everybody knows. And that pierced through the white woman's Instagram and into a little bit more of mainstream.

I don't think, I feel like the white woman's Instagram thing is a little different. Roll the song, Kaya. It's like, to me, that's about sort of like, like, sort of wellness. That's like, speaking of albums that sampled Freedom 90, that's like Lord Solar Power. It's not, like, Haim is like funny. Anyway. Okay. I'm coming back to where I am, which is like very, it's interesting.

There is, it's funny, the little sort of parallel paths. there is some liberation in this album, and yet I'm pretty sure two of the girls are in very happy functioning relationships. There is consistency and flow and sonic intrigue in this album, for sure, but it doesn't then ever take you to the absolute peak. And it doesn't necessarily need to.

I don't know that I feel the same way. Like, I think relationships is a fucking banger. okay, I just think, look, in today's music, there are, somebody said this to me the other day, so this is not an original idea. There are smashes, and then there are hits, and then there's everything else. There are no smashes on this album. Maybe relationship is a hit, but in hindsight, like, the duo record had no smashes, but she just played two nights at Wembley Stadium, and Charlie XX came out, and everybody went to, to see it. It was enough. The Gaga album did not have smashes, but she crushed that Coachella performance and she's had some, you know, the Joker too was not a high point in Gaga's

career and she's still cranking because she's got smashes and the album that she put out was enough to, you know, take a few songs from, work into the set list and keep people happy. That's what I think this album is for Hym. It's just that Hime is not as big as some of those other artists. And I am not entirely sure why not. And I wanted for them to have that thing that just phew into the stratosphere. Yeah, but what would that be? Like what?

I totally hear what you're saying. And I do think, look, I don't think that they have vaunted into the stratosphere. I do think that their last album, Women in Music Part 3, aka Wimpy, which again will just forever make me laugh. it was lauded in a way that I do think kind of established something for them. You know, it was nominated for album of the year. To some extent, I think this album was always going to read a little bit in a transitional way and in a little bit of a way that was tough by comparison just because that album was received so,

so well and, you know, got the Grammy nomination and all of that stuff. And so I think to A little bit I quit is in the shadow of wimpy I do I just I It's funny as I'm asking left and right Like why isn't heim bigger

Why it makes no sense to me Blah blah blah blah blah blah I'm trying to think of the like What does Haim sound like if they're making mega mega smashes I don't know if I...

I just want one. I just want one. I think gasoline is awesome. I think the steps is awesome for women and music. But that's not what those... That's not what the songs work. No, they're not. But that's my point.

I mean, I think now I'm in it was pretty close. It just... But not in terms of how many people listened to it. Yeah, I agree. So I just am wanting... But I think that those were songs. that were more, had more of a chance of getting there. And I'm not sure there's a song in this record

that has that level of chance of getting there. And that's totally fine because these songs, a lot of these songs are going to sound awesome with this band live because they're an awesome live band. I just come back to how do we get more people to appreciate Hymme the way that Nora Preciati worships at the altar of the Himes? Do you think, but do you think it's that? do you think it's like, should we just get over it and be like, this is actually really, like, what a great place for them to be?

Because there's a reason that they're not putting out an album every year, right? Like, there's a reason that they pick their moments. They take their time. And I think when you listen to an album like this, by the way, like you and I both said that the song that we would cut is spinning. I do think that's the right choice. It's definitely the song that does the least for me. particularly when you you sort of combine the music

and the lyrics I don't need to cut that I don't need to cut anything and this album is 54 minutes long like thank you for making an album that is listenable and long enough

and a bit of a journey thank you and not everybody is not everybody's pulling that off right now so did you see their cover of the Addison song yes I

See, again, this is like, I feel like they are inside my brain. Because why? Because I love that song, and they love it too. So they covered it. Wow. The fourth time, sister. I mean, if wishing made it so. Do you think this is because I'm an only child?

Do you think this is like a deep, and yet to be unpacked, like, desire for sisterly companionship that I've never known I had? Yes, I do. I think that's exactly what's going on. There are deep psychological, not issues, but... Wounds that can only be healed through. Themes that run through your love for this band and probably within the band itself. So, maybe that's what it takes to make Haim bigger as a therapist. I feel like they have several.

Do you have a Pekheim? I was going to ask you this because I sort of feel stupid saying it. Like, what for you was P. Hime? I mean, I'm happy to pick something, but like, a superfan needs to sort of identify this for us. There is a lyric on this album, and I'm actually forgetting which song it is. But there's one spot where they talk about walking, which, of course, Hime did invent walking down the street.

Right. And so that's pretty important. I do think the whole, this is where I go back and forth with the whole rollout is like, it feels a little try hard, but it also feels very them in a way that I like. And so it's, it's, it's, I waffle back and forth on it because when they are doing the goofy little TikToks, I'm like, how fun. Okay, again, now I'm looking at everything through a psychological lens. I'm like, I want to make a TikTok with time. Yes, exactly.

this is, it only took us about an hour to lead you to this place. Oh, gosh. Do you think they'd ever let me? Socratically bringing you to your desire for sisterhood. And just to hang out with them. I mean, you just published a book called Hit Girls. I mean, this is what this is about. Should I send it to them?

That's not what I meant. That's not what I meant. Speheave crocheting. And I bet they're listening because I do know that these are the type of devoted listeners who listen all the way to the end of the episode. I had some wonderful every single album listeners at an event in New York last week who had driven up from Washington, D.C.

Same day. They drove up to come hear me yap about my book, and then they were going to drive back the same night. And I thought of this because we were talking about the crocheting. They met through their needlepoint club, and I just really loved that. So shout out to those girls. Thank you for making the trip.

It really meant a lot to me. Did they know you were also doing a thing in D.C.? So they didn't. Oh, no. And I did like... I'm sorry, needlepoint, girls. I did. No, they said that they had a really good time and they had the day, like, they took the day off.

They were, they had a lot of fun. They were just like the best. Oh, I'm sure they did, but they could have had all those things. I know. And when they said it to me, they like, I was signing and they came up to me and they were like, we like drove up from D.C. and I just blurt it out. Do you know that I'm doing this next week? And then I immediately was like, Nora,

just like you should have let them live in a state of not knowing that that was the case. But they were just like so wonderful. And I was like, how do you guys know each other? And they were like, needlepoint club. Or maybe it was a crochet club. It was a craft. And I thought that was wonderful.

Maybe all learned to needlepoint. And then I could do, I should have asked them about Nicole Kidman. Well, you should ask me what is the conspiracy corner for this album? Okay, please. These girls got Taylor Swift smoking. They talk about smoking all over this album. They talk about smoking all the time.

There was. These are the girls who got Taylor Swift smoking. I think it was in part based on the fact that in the movie materialists with Dakota Johnson, also someone who was hung out with Taylor Swift recently, and in some other pieces of culture recently. I mean, who hasn't? She was at the tight end you after party last night.

Everybody's hanging out with Taylor Swift. She's really resurfaced. There was a piece in, I think, the New York Times, about how smoking and the use of imagery about smoking has sort of been reintroduced as a means of making a character seem cool and like what does that say.

And I do believe that Hime is definitely part of that, part of that discourse. Thank you. I just don't think that Taylor Swift is like out here ripping Sigs. I'm sorry. It's happened. And it's definitely happened with these girls. Are you in on the, on the, on the vernacular that has renamed Diet Coke's fridge cigarettes?

Yes. And I think we're all going to die. Me too. But before that happens, did we do best lyric? Did we talk about, well, we talked about you can buy me out, which I do think is where I land. Just buy me out. With a nod to basically all of Take Me Back and the little vignettes in that, which I think are spectacular. Anytime you're talking about a woman

taking a dump in the back of a truck You have me Molly took a shit in the back of the truck Didn't even notice she was too cooked out woman pooping in a truck Two thumbs up from Nathan Best Lyric Molly took a shit in the back of the truck

Didn't even notice she was too cooked up Do you think they had to call Molly Be like hey We want to use those names Are probably disguised And do you think that, well, Molly, do you think that one of them is Molly? Well, if there was a secret Heim top tanking in a truck, I need to know more about that. Let's grade the album, Nathan.

Where are you? I give the front half, I give from one to seven, tracks one to seven. Can't do this. An A. Can't even, can't do this. No, I can. And I will. You can make me like average it.

out afterwards. But I'm telling you exactly how I feel, which is that tracks 1 through 7 are a bona fide A. And then 8 through 15 is a B. Yeah. Okay. That's everyone just sort of like nodded their head and wants to know what you grade this album. So I think that averages out to like an A minus. Okay. I have it as a B plus because I think this is exactly how I want this band sound. I think there are lots of really interesting moments across this album. I think front to back, this is a really enjoyable one, and I think it actually sounds better in the aggregate than the singles led you to believe. And I just wanted that one big, holy fuck. And it's okay. Have I made it clear enough that I'm obsessed with this album and I'm going to listen to it like

50 times in a row? Yeah. Okay, cool. I gave me a B plus. I think that's I'm trying to be responsible and like sort of B plus is really good from me No B plus is B plus is very good

I'm just trying to detach a little bit of my own personal taste from what I think was accomplished and where I think there are things that I'm interested to see if they can still grow to in the future but like I just I want to say for the record that Hime rules and I love Hime and if they ever want to

hang out. How many times have you said that on this? If they ever want to hang out, I'm sure they would like to hang out. Okay. Well, I will be hanging out with them at Madison Square Garden in September, which I'm greatly looking forward to. And I will feel like everyone I've ever met in my entire life is there, which continues to be an interesting juxtaposition with the actual scope and scale of this band and this

record. But that's everybody else's problem because it's sure as heck not mine. Good job, Haim. I enjoy this record. Love you, Haim. This has been every single album. As always, I'm Nora Princeati. He's Nathan Hubbard. Thank you very much to Kaia McMullen for producing this episode. And to you for listening, we will talk to you next week about Lord.