AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Breakups are the absolute worst. Am I right? I mean, yeah, they take on all kinds of shapes, but, you know, there are few things in life that can throw at you that same lovely mix of hurt, anger, grief, fatigue, loneliness and utter disorientation, yeah? And yet, and yet, you're always reminded after breakups - by your friends, maybe by your therapist - that you can grow from this horrendous experience. You can learn and evolve and maybe even get back out there, filled with more strength and self-knowledge than you've ever had before. Whatever (laughter).
Well, breakups, my friends, is what the rock trio HAIM contemplates on their new album called "I Quit."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RELATIONSHIPS")
HAIM: (Singing) You've got to tell me the truth if you don't want to try. I hear a voice in my head and it keeps asking, why am I in this relationship? Baby, how can I explain when an innocent mistake turns into 17 days relationships?
CHANG: It's an album that's rooted in the pain of breaking up but that also celebrates the freedom and wisdom that can come from it. It is the band's first album in five years, and the three sister bandmates, Danielle, Este and Alana, join me now to talk all about it. Hey, HAIM.
ALANA HAIM: Hi.
DANIELLE HAIM: Hi.
ESTE HAIM: Hello.
A HAIM: Hello.
D HAIM: Hello.
CHANG: Oh, my God, you guys talk in unison. That's amazing.
E HAIM: We do.
CHANG: (Laughter).
D HAIM: Guilty.
A HAIM: Guilty.
E HAIM: I know, in harmony, almost.
D HAIM: Almost.
CHANG: I know. That was like a beautiful chorus. OK, OK, OK. Let's just start, like, with a lightning round. Worst breakup ever - I'll start first.
A HAIM: OK.
D HAIM: OK.
E HAIM: OK.
CHANG: One of my worst breakups - there's so many to choose from - is when a guy told me that kissing me was like kissing a really good friend.
D HAIM: Oh.
A HAIM: Terrible.
E HAIM: Oh, I can't...
CHANG: I was like, we don't want that?
A HAIM: Terrible.
D HAIM: I know.
E HAIM: Isn't that the - what every...
A HAIM: Unforgivable.
E HAIM: Everything I've ever wanted is, like, a best friend to, like...
A HAIM: I know.
CHANG: I know.
A HAIM: I'd be like, oh, my God, thank you.
E HAIM: That's so nice.
D HAIM: I know.
CHANG: OK, you guys go.
A HAIM: I would take it as a compliment.
This is Alana. I think my worst breakup was my first breakup ever. He never said I love you, and when he broke up with me in his car - we were on the freeway, and he broke up with me right before our exit, and I had to stay in the car for, like, an extra 15 minutes.
CHANG: Oh, brutal.
E HAIM: That's truly brutal.
D HAIM: This is Danielle, and my worst breakup, I lived with an ex, and he broke up with me and then immediately went on tour. He was a musician, too. And he tasked his mom with packing up all of my things. And she did so in trash bags, and put the photos of us together inside trash bags.
CHANG: Oh, my God. That's hurtful. All right. Last one up.
E HAIM: So this is Este. I'm a Type 1 diabetic. And I had a boyfriend, and I told him, like, you know, just so you know, like, there's a possibility that if we had kids, there's a - like, a 5% chance they might have diabetes, like, just so you know. And he said, then why would we have kids?
CHANG: Oh, my God.
A HAIM: Terrible. Terrible.
D HAIM: Dun-dun-dun (ph). This is traumatic.
A HAIM: To jail. To jail he goes. To jail he goes.
CHANG: Real class. Oh, my God.
E HAIM: And I was like, wait. I think it - I think this is done.
A HAIM: Terrible.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLOOD ON THE STREET")
HAIM: (Singing) Bad times when you were mine. What more could you want? You already took all my pride.
CHANG: Thank you so much, you guys, for sharing all that.
(LAUGHTER)
E HAIM: You're welcome.
CHANG: So I guess, like, my overarching question - so why do an album about breakups in this particular time of your lives? Like, what's going on with all of you?
D HAIM: You know what's so interesting is, like, we kind of - it - you know, I don't think we set out to make a so-called breakup album, but obviously, there's songs about breakups in here. But I think...
CHANG: Yeah.
D HAIM: ...More so for us, this album was about, you know, self-discovery.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GONE")
HAIM: (Singing) Now I'm gone, quick as a gunshot. Born to run, can't be held up. Now I'm free, finally.
D HAIM: We did all find ourselves single in this moment while we were writing this album.
CHANG: Right. For the first time...
D HAIM: For the first time...
CHANG: ...Since high school...
D HAIM: Yeah.
E HAIM: Yeah.
D HAIM: Since high school, yeah.
CHANG: ...You were all single at the same time.
D HAIM: Yes. And if people don't know, we are sisters, so we - you know, the last time we were all single was when we were all living under the same roof with our mom and dad, kind of in our teen years. So I think the thing about this album is that we don't really view it as a breakup album. We view it as kind of like a self-discovery and getting-back-in-touch-with-ourselves album, and finding, you know, strength in that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GONE")
HAIM: (Singing) You can hate me for what I am. You can shame me for what I've done. You can't make me disappear. You never saw me for what I was. You can't fake it. No, you can't. And I won't make you. No, I won't. I won't change you. What's the point? Since I'm gone.
CHANG: Well, you know, so much of this album - it's not just about romantic relationships, as we're saying, but it's about relationships, about leaving something that once meant something to you. And it made me think about the relationship among the three of you - as sisters, as bandmates. Can you just talk about, like, that relationship? How does that play out creatively in the studio? Like, I assume you all disagree once in a while.
E HAIM: Yeah. We're not...
CHANG: So how does that unfold...
E HAIM: ..."The Brady Bunch."
CHANG: ...And how does it resolve, you know?
A HAIM: I think with us, I think the thing that's so great about - I mean, going back to all three of us being single and making this album is all of a sudden, we found ourselves - it just being us three and not having a plus-one.
CHANG: (Laughter).
A HAIM: You know what I mean? Like...
CHANG: Yeah.
A HAIM: ...There's so much, like - you don't - like, I feel like anyone that has a sibling will agree...
D HAIM: Or even a friend who, like, is always with their...
A HAIM: Or even a friend, you know...
D HAIM: ...Boyfriend or girlfriend.
A HAIM: ...That, like, once they get in a relationship, just vibes change. Things change. And it's natural, and it's not - doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing or a good thing. I think the thing that was so great about us all being single is we very much bonded so much more on this album than I think we had on any other album. And we were going to bars together. We were going to parties together.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TAKE ME BACK")
HAIM: (Singing) Take me back to driving, smoking with the windows down, trying to waste the day away. I never get to do that now.
E HAIM: And the dynamic changes, I think, when you have, like, a significant other with you...
A HAIM: Yeah.
E HAIM: ...You know? It's not the same as when...
A HAIM: You tend to leave...
E HAIM: ...It's just the three of us.
A HAIM: ...The party a little earlier.
E HAIM: Yeah.
CHANG: You know what I mean?
CHANG: Totally.
E HAIM: And I've dated some wet mops, you know what I mean?
CHANG: (Laughter).
E HAIM: Some stinkers - I've dated some stinkers...
CHANG: Oh, we all have.
E HAIM: ...You know? But, like, also, like, you know, there's - to Alana's point, I think it's - it was just really nice for it to just be the three of us kind of running around together and not having to answer to anyone, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TAKE ME BACK")
HAIM: (Singing) Take me back, I feel it, take me back, like a reverie. Take me back, just thinking about it, take me back, puts you in front of me. Take me back, I'm riding, take me back, down my old street. Take me back, just thinking about it, take me back, brings us back to me.
CHANG: That was Este, Danielle and Alana Haim. Their new album, "I Quit," is out now. Thank you so much for this group therapy session, you all.
D HAIM: Thank you.
A HAIM: Thank you so much.
E HAIM: Thank you for having us.
D HAIM: Thank you for having us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TAKE ME BACK")
HAIM: (Singing) Take me back. Take me back. I want it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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