Rock band HAIM’s fourth studio album, “I quit,” is an overlooked but powerful contribution to the 2025 summer music scene.
In the June 20 release, HAIM — composed of sisters Este, Danielle and Alana Haim — emerges with hard-won confidence and lyrics reminiscent of ’90s girl-group anthems. Their style fluctuates from funky electro-pop to stripped-down guitar, displaying a wide range of musical prowess.
Over the course of the album, the three sisters’ voices bounce over rhythmic percussion and bass. On lead vocals, Danielle Haim switches from whispery, intimate description to bold, scratchy proclamations. But the best moments on the album are when all of the sisters are singing together, whether in layered lyrical rounds or breathtakingly soulful a cappella moments, like at the start of “Cry.”
HAIM is unafraid of negative space: You can hear their inhales and the pause between drumbeats. This characteristic use of rhythm makes their songs irresistibly catchy. Tracks like “Cry,” driven forward by overlapping vocals and pulsing inflection, make an album to which the listener can both dance and sob.
On “I quit,” the Haim sisters have quit caring about what others think, but they certainly have not quit making skillfully crafted music. On the album’s opening track, “Gone,” HAIM samples George Michael’s “Freedom! 90,” calling attention to the fact that they, too, have attained artistic freedom: “I’ll be whatever I need,” Danielle Haim proclaims.
Themes of growth and self-assurance stretch throughout the album’s 15 songs. Whether they’re grappling with family and homecoming, the expectations of modern romance or leaving a partner, the members of HAIM know what they want. They are forthcoming and defiant in their lyrics and musicality.
The album’s standout track, “Everybody’s trying to figure me out,” best portrays the coarse, authentic self-reckoning at the heart of “I quit”: Confidence doesn’t happen overnight. On this track, the sisters continue to grapple with the crippling weight of social expectations and pressure. Danielle Haim’s voice takes on a frantic, breathy tone that gradually settles into a self-assuring chant. “You think you’re gonna die, but you’re not gonna die,” she sings repeatedly at the track’s close, an anthemic resolution to live authentically even if nobody — not even yourself — can “figure (you) out.”
HAIM’s clever mixing and homages to the ’90s are present throughout with the Indigo Girls-esque folk ballad “The farm” and in the driving, edgy bassline of “Now it’s time.” The group freshens evergreen guitar progressions and girl-group style, planting their feet firmly in the present while recalling the past. And with HAIM’s confidence and versatility, their future, too, looks bright.
