If you haven’t been paying attention, HAIM has been quietly — and now not so quietly — building one of the best album rollouts in recent memory. Since March, they’ve dropped three new singles and they’re playing their first live shows in nearly two years on April 23 and 24 at The Bellwether in Los Angeles. And if all of that wasn’t enough, they’ve also been remixing Y2K paparazzi culture into high-concept single artwork, turning tabloid nostalgia into a mode of self-mythology.
From the breakup jitters of “Relationships” to the mental spiral of “Everybody’s Trying to Figure Me Out, and now the slow-burning defiance of “Down To Be Wrong” — makes a strong case for ‘Single Girl Summer,’ sure. But these songs also hit different depending on how you’ve been living. They’re not just breezy empowerment anthems; they’re messy, sharp-edged reflections about control, self-image, and the fallout from trying to keep other people happy. All tracks were co-produced by Danielle and Rostam Batmanglij, with songwriting contributions from Justin Vernon, who records as Bon Iver, on the latter — and both sound like the closest Haim has ever gotten to exactly how they want to sound.
It’s not just the music. The visuals are pulling their weight, too. “Relationships” was introduced with a cover image modeled after that infamous shot of Nicole Kidman allegedly leaving her divorce lawyer’s office — all sun-drenched liberation and forward motion. “Everybody’s Trying To Figure Me Out” mirrors a lesser-known but just as loaded Kate Moss moment, with Danielle leaning against a car in that uniquely mid-2000s way that suggests both exhaustion and glamor. Their latest single, ‘Down To Be Wrong,’ continues the theme, spoofing a 2004 paparazzi photo of Jared Leto checking his phone while kissing Scarlett Johansson — another sly nod to messy mid-2000s fame. These aren’t subtle choices. HAIM is using tabloid imagery as a kind of mythic source text: flipping the gaze, re-contextualizing fame, and asserting their own version of public womanhood — just messy enough to feel real.
Now, with their new album i quit — out June 20 — HAIM sound just as self-possessed as they look. If their last album, Women in Music Pt. III — a pandemic-era standout that ear
ned them a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year — was a slow burn full of introspection and soft edges, this one seems poised to trade subtlety for swagger.
They’re not trying to be right. They’re just down to be wrong. Welcome to single girl summer — and Haim’s strange new season.
