🔗 Share this article

"Do you know when you'll be chatting with Haim?" a text pops up. "My request was to ask if I can join as their newest bandmate."

However, there remains a single issue: The author likewise desires to be Haim's newest recruit. And we're far from alone. Multiple high-profile admirers have publicly petitioned for the honor.

It's clear something is going on. Sisters Este, Danielle and Alana started their career performing shows at neighborhood delis with their parents. Presently, they stand as multi-time Grammy contenders.

Similar to the best groups, they're a close unit. Their videos frequently depict them striding in harmony down the roads of Los Angeles. In concert, they perform with such unfettered happiness you find yourself thinking, "I want to be part of that, too."

"How often on tour that fans approached us and said, 'Watching you live, I got a drum kit'," remarks Alana, the youngest of the Haim siblings. "That's the biggest honour. It is a prize in itself. Our mission is accomplished if we can encourage young girls to make music."

"So anyone is invited to be the honorary part of the family."

Award Nod

The group are connecting from home, where they're resting up after an lengthy tour in for their fourth album, I Quit.

They're right now celebrating the news it's been shortlisted for best rock album at the Grammy Awards – with Haim the pioneering female band ever in consideration for the prize.

"I watch the lists every year, so it kind of feels like The Truman Show when your name is read out," explains Alana. "I needed to phone my sisters to say, 'Am I hearing this right or am I imagining things'?"

The weight of the accolade isn't lost on the trio.

"We really set out to make a guitar-driven album this time, so it's a significant step," adds Alana. "However we're just grateful for the female artists that came before us."

Heartbreak and Candor

The album came out of a period of emotional upheaval. All three sisters found themselves single, and the music explores that strange transitional period where you're relieved to be free, but not yet ready to move on.

The lyrics follow breakups and partings. The sisters seek love, but not the relationships they've had. You can hear them working out in real life who they want to be.

"I adore description, yes," responds Danielle. "I Quit is kind of like a mantra. You have to actively work on blocking the outside opinions and saying, 'I don't give what people think'."

Evolution of Music

That newfound resilience required a fresh approach – more raw and immediate than anything the band had done before.

For Danielle, who co-produced the album, that began with the drums.

"Drums are such a nuanced thing, and I focus so intensely about it," she emphasizes.

"'Journey of the drum sound' will be the name of our memoir," quips Alana. "I always say, our albums cannot begin until we find the ideal drum sound."

Stories and Collective Humor

The trio's honesty inspired the album's marketing, where the sisters revealed some of their romantic misadventures.

One man ended things with Este over a health consideration. Alana told a story of travelling to spend New Year's Eve with someone, only to receive a friendly slap at midnight.

"Experiencing these breakups, you just feel like there's no light," says Alana. "Thus to be able to laugh at those stories and have them tell you wilder stories, it's therapeutic."

A Confident Future

You can clearly sense a evolution in the band. These days, Haim are more assured of their position in the music world.

They're top-billed acts, with chart-topping albums and an international audience.

But Haim will consistently be their primary focus.

"Me and my siblings have been playing music since I was four," concludes Alana. "It feels as if no other path that we were supposed to do. And I'm really thankful we've made it and we're still making music."