Divergent Beats

Los Angeles, April 23 — A regular Tuesday night at The Bellwether in LA turned into something unforgettable for the lucky fans who showed up. As the lights dimmed and the sisters HAIM took the stage, a ripple of excitement turned into full-on eruption when Este, Danielle, and Alana announced their fourth studio album: “I Quit” landing June 20, 2025.

Let’s be real — the title is a flex. I Quit? As in: I quit the noise, the boxes, the expectations.

HAIM isn’t walking away; they’re reclaiming the narrative. And if this new era is any indication, they’re doing it with their most unapologetic, emotionally sharp work yet.

The rollout has been smart, slow-burning, and wildly satisfying.

It kicked off with Relationships, a textured, tightly produced track that dropped back in March, accompanied by a dreamy, cinematic video featuring Outer Banks’ Drew Starkey.

The song quickly became a fan favorite — a smooth yet complex piece that blends HAIM’s signature sun-drenched rhythms with just enough melancholy to keep you hooked.

Then came Everybody’s Trying to Figure Me Out, a haunting, reflective piece co-written with Rostam Batmanglij and Justin Vernon.

It’s the kind of song that invites you into the liminal space between public image and personal truth — a space HAIM seems more and more comfortable inhabiting.

And now, with the surprise release of Down to Be Wrong (dropped today, right on the heels of the LA concert), we get a deeper look into the album’s soul.

The album artwork was created by none other than Paul Thomas Anderson, longtime friend and collaborator of the band. Anderson, whose fingerprints were also all over HAIM’s Women in Music Pt. III visuals, delivers yet another timeless aesthetic, blurring the lines between music and film. It’s textured, analog, and emotionally loaded — just like the music.

Production-wise, I Quit is a deeply collaborative effort between Danielle Haim and producer Rostam Batmanglij. The result, judging by the singles so far, is a clean but lived-in sound that fuses classic instrumentation with bold, modern choices. It’s less about polish and more about presence — each track feels like it was made in a real room, by real people, with real stories.

There’s still plenty we don’t know: the full tracklist, the guest features (if any), and what the overall arc of the album will be. But if the breadcrumbs we’ve been given are anything to go by, I Quit could be HAIM’s most emotionally intelligent — and sonically fearless — release yet.

From indie-pop newcomers to cultural forces, HAIM continues to evolve without losing the heart, humor, and harmonic fire that made them icons. I Quit doesn’t feel like a break — it feels like a breakthrough.

Stick with Divergent Beats for the full review in June, and until then: hit play on “Down to Be Wrong,” crank it loud, and get comfortable with being wrong about what HAIM is supposed to sound like.

Ivan Gorini – Freelance Journalist