The Haim Sisters Tell Hannah Einbinder Why Quitting Is Easy

Some things you can count on with a new Haim album: viral dance moves, a barrage of TikToks, Paul Thomas Anderson visuals, and songs that hit—all set to an unmistakably L.A. backdrop. With I Quit, their latest record, sisters Este, Alana, and Danielle run the playbook to perfection, setting the stage for a summer scored by powerhouse pop-rock songs about bad habits, self-preservation, and knowing when to walk away. A few days after announcing a major tour, the Haim sisters got on a call with Hacks star Hannah Einbinder to talk about dating in L.A., quitting day jobs, and creative breakthroughs.

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FRIDAY 11 AM MAY 2, 2025 LA

ESTE HAIM: Oh, hi.

DANIELLE HAIM: What up.

HANNAH EINBINDER: Hey, girls.

DANIELLE: There it is.

EINBINDER: There she blows.

ESTE: On this glorious—what is it, Friday?

EINBINDER: Who could know? It’s really not our business to know.

ALANA HAIM: Okay, I’m here.

EINBINDER: All right, girls.

ALANA: Hi, Hannah.

ESTE: Hi, Hannah.

DANIELLE: Hello, Hannah.

EINBINDER: Fuck, marry, kill: bass, tambourine, synth.

DANIELLE: This is good.

ESTE: Wow, no softball questions. I’m married to a bass already. Her name is Bessie.

EINBINDER: Bessie the bass?

ESTE: Bessie the bass. I might have to kill the tambourine.

EINBINDER: Wow.

ESTE: Actually, I have to retract because I have played tambourine on many an amazing album.

ALANA: On iconic albums.

DANIELLE: Este has crazy tambourine credits.

ESTE: I do. Secret.

EINBINDER: Roll a couple out. Are we allowed to know?

ESTE: I played tambourine on Lady Gaga’s Joanne.

EINBINDER: What?!

ESTE: I am the tambourinist on Lady Gaga’s Joanne.

EINBINDER: By the way, Bradley Cooper’s next movie? The Tambourinist.

ESTE: Starring Estee Haim.

EINBINDER: [Laughs] This is CNN, bottom-of-the-freaking-screen breaking news right now.

ESTE: I also played tambourine on Adele’s last record.

EINBINDER: Oh, shit.

ESTE: I know.

ALANA: You killed the tambourine?

EINBINDER: That’s crazy.

ESTE: No, I have to retract. I think I would the fuck the shit out of a tambourine. And then I guess I’d have to kill the synth? That also feels sacrilegious.

EINBINDER: Look, it’s tough.

ESTE: My mind is scrambled eggs right now.

ALANA: I would fuck the tambourine because the tambourine hits. I love the synth, but I feel like the synth would be not great to marry and not great to schtup.

ESTE: The synth has many different sides; maybe that’s not something that you want to be around all the time.

EINBINDER: Who is the synth, really? Danielle, what do you think?

DANIELLE: I’m going to go same. It’s so hard.

ESTE: Hannah, you missed your calling. You should have been a journalist.

EINBINDER: This is actually 60 Minutes, not Interview.

ESTE: Hannah Walters.

DANIELLE: Here’s the thing: I might kill bass because I can do bass on synth.

EINBINDER: Oh, shit.

ESTE: That’s a controversial statement, babe.

DANIELLE: I think marry synth, fuck tambourine, kill bass. That sounds crazy though, too.

EINBINDER: Damn.

ESTE: We’re going to be talking about this for the next year.

ALANA: I’m going to be in my bed like, fuck I should have married—

ESTE: These existential questions are hitting pretty hard this Friday morning.

EINBINDER: Look, I have to ask—four pillars of native Los Angeles identities sit on this Zoom call.

ESTE: Tell me.

EINBINDER: What part of your relationship to Los Angeles made it onto this album?

ESTE: Also a hard-hitting question, Hannah.

ALANA: Very. We grew up here. It’s in our DNA. In a weird way though, especially with Danielle, we made this album in L.A., but her heart was in New York.

DANIELLE: It kind of was. Or a yearning to escape a bit from our favorite hometown.

EINBINDER: For reasons that pertain to love and romance?

DANIELLE: Yes, specifically dating.

ESTE: Dating in L.A. is—

DANIELLE: It’s very hard here.

EINBINDER: Are there any safe examples that we can express without incriminating individuals?

DANIELLE: Let me think about it.

EINBINDER: Okay.

DANIELLE: The thing about L.A. is making music here; we recorded most of the album in Rostam [Batmanglij]’s house. He has a great place overlooking downtown L.A. The way that we’re able to make music in a house is very freeing for us, and it’s kind of our preferred method. We did basic tracking; it’s basically drums and bass to tape at Valentine Studios in the Valley.

EINBINDER: Sick.

DANIELLE: Which is right down the street from where we grew up. It’s a very cool room and it sounds amazing. But the bulk of the writing was either done at Rostam’s or in my little home studio.

EINBINDER: Super cool.

DANIELLE: We get anxiety when we go to a very nice studio because it’s very expensive, and the clock is ticking, and you’re like, “Shit, I need to get this down or we just wasted the whole day.”

ALANA: And Danielle is just like, killing a tambourine.

DANIELLE: [Laughs] I can’t get it right! But yeah, I love that about L.A., that we can make music in a house. That part’s really awesome.

EINBINDER: And then in the process of making this album, are there moments of creative synergy that stick out to you on various songs when it comes to lyrics or the production, that you guys can recall?

ALANA: Danielle’s thinking about it.

DANIELLE: I’m trying to think of specific “aha” moments. “Down to Be Wrong” went through a couple different iterations until we landed on the magic formula. If the drums aren’t right for us, the song just doesn’t click. We’re all drummers first. Our dad’s a drummer, and drums were all of our first instruments. It’s the thing that I care about most in production.

ALANA: Getting “Relationships” right was a huge moment for us because we had always wanted to put that song—it was supposed to be for our last album. Danielle wrote it on GarageBand on her phone.

EINBINDER: Oh my god.

ALANA: There’s 20 versions of “Relationships” that will never see the light of day. But once we got that, it was such a weight off our shoulders. It was like, “Oh, this is exactly how we’ve always wanted it to sound.” And that goes back to Danielle and Rostam just cooking in the studio with Buddy Ross. That was a big turning point for the album.

EINBINDER: Yeah.

ALANA: It would have never fit on WIMPIII [Women in Music Pt. III, Haim’s third studio album]. It was meant to be on I Quit, and I feel like there were these universal hurdles that were getting put in front of us, and it was always meant to be on this album.

EINBINDER: How has it felt to play these songs live? I know you guys did a couple of L.A. shows.

ESTE: So fun.

ALANA: We had to start the journey of this album in L.A. because we needed a warm L.A. hug. There’s so many songs on this album that we’re so excited about, but “Down to Be Wrong,” we wanted to play it live the day that we wrote it; it was just as fun playing it live as it was in our heads. It made me emotional because Danielle plays a guitar solo in that song, and while we were in rehearsal, I was like, “What’s going on?” I was crying.

EINBINDER: Wow.

ALANA: Not to be corny, because my sisters hate when I get corny, but watching my siblings kill it around me is the biggest gift. I go back to our first show on 7707, I’m like, “Look at us, guys! We’re still doing it!” It makes me very emotional.

EINBINDER: That is so fucking cool and meaningful. Do you hear new things as you play it live? Does it take on a different life?

DANIELLE: It’s nice to keep it a little loose. When I go see concerts, I like when it doesn’t sound exactly like the recorded version. I like when it’s an extended jam at the end, or a breakdown. That’s the stuff that gets us very excited about playing live, is when we can play around with how we want to represent the song in a live space, versus just pressing play. That’s the whole point of being a live band.

EINBINDER: Oh, fuck yeah. For the opposite of live, talk to me about the creative process behind your music videos.

DANIELLE: When we first started doing videos, the process was really crazy. We had spent a long time making our first EP, and once we got signed, it was like, holy shit. Our song Forever, we did a music video with our friend and it was very rough and tumble, and then once we got signed and everyone’s like, “Well, you need to make an-other music video and you have three days to find the director,” we ended up just using our friends, because the idea of working with someone who you don’t really know, especially at that time, I was like, “What?”

EINBINDER: Yeah.

DANIELLE: But the process was so quick, it was not normal for us. We’re like, “This feels crazy that we’re only having three days to prep for this thing that really represents our music.” And then during our second album, we got in contact with P.T.A. [Paul Thomas Anderson], and that was a whole amazing journey because he’s just incredible. And also Jake Schreier, who did “Want You Back” with us—two amazing directors. We got so lucky.

ALANA: We’ve obviously always been fans of music videos. We always loved knowing how people did it behind the scenes, and working with Paul, you innately soak up so much information. He’s bestowed all this incredible knowledge onto us.

DANIELLE: Most of all, just keep it simple.

ALANA: We love simple. Both Paul and Jake taught us that it’s okay to either do a one-shot video or just hold a scene for a lot.

EINBINDER: Yeah.

ALANA: The video for “Down to Be Wrong” came to me in a dream.

EINBINDER: Woah.

ALANA: I forget how many months ago, but I was obsessed with this guy and he wasn’t texting me back. He was fully ghosting me. And what do you do when that happens? You immediately go down the rabbit hole of manifestation tactics, of how do you manifest this person?

DANIELLE: That might be just you, Lans, I’ve never done that.

ALANA: I am only speaking for myself. I’m a cuckoo bird when it comes to dating. So I kind of went down the rabbit hole and found this manifestation tactic called the whisper method, where you visualize yourself whispering into the person’s ear, “Text me back.” Apparently they’re supposed to get the message and do it. It did not work.

ESTE: No shit, Lans.

ALANA: But what blossomed from me researching this manifestation thing, I was like, “Wait, “Down to Be Wrong.” What if there was this idea of, we can manipulate somebody or mess with them while they’re continuing on with their day?” And it was a mixture. My inspirations were this manifestation thing. And then the sixth sense—being able to see people; people can see you; you can’t see them. And then a little bit of The Witches of Eastwick, which I always thought was one of the greatest movies of all time. Also, Logan Lerman, we love.

DANIELLE: We love Logan.

ESTE: Shout-out.

ALANA: And having Drew Starkey for “Relationships,” two amazing actors that were so up for it. I’ve known Logan for a little bit, but we didn’t know Drew that well. We were like, “Hey, can you be in this music video?” And he was like, “Yeah.” And he came in and was so amazing and down for all of our cuckoo ideas.

EINBINDER: I love that. I wonder if you guys could speak to how this album has felt different from your previous ones, and the emotional state you were in going into it and where you found yourself on the other side?

DANIELLE: We started this album right after the 10-year anniversary of our first album. It felt a bit like an exhale. Up until then, we were always holding our breath, like, when’s the shoe going to drop? And finally, we were like, “Okay, we know what we’re doing now.” And that kind of carried us through this album.

EINBINDER: What would you say is your ideal listening experience for fans? If you could dictate the setting in which they heard this album, what would you recommend?

ESTE: I’d recommend coming to a show.

EINBINDER: Okay! I love that. Presale is live, folks. I repeat, the presale is live.

ALANA: With our live show, it really does take on a life of its own. We take these songs and bring them to life. That’s a great answer, Este.

ESTE: Thank you.

EINBINDER: Pull up.

ESTE: And show up for your friends. Like Hannah’s doing right now.

EINBINDER: Haim needs you right now, guys. So what experience have the three of you had with quitting?

DANIELLE: [Laughs] A lot.

EINBINDER: Tell me about it.

ESTE: I’ve quit almost every job I’ve ever had that wasn’t Haim. I’ve been fired a couple of times, too, but that was also just my way. I didn’t want to be the one to quit, so I just was awful.

EINBINDER: I’ve done that in relationships, actually. Where it’s like, “Please break up with me.”

ESTE: Working at Cheesecake Factory was really tough for me.

ALANA: But Este, you were amazing at the Cheesecake Factory. It was like watching a ballet. It was the hostess with the mostess, let me tell you.

ESTE: I was an amazing hostess and waitress. However, as a type-one diabetic working at the Cheesecake Factory, every day was a test.

DANIELLE: So much cheesecake.

ESTE: And if they’re not sliced perfectly, they can’t be sold. So then there’s just a graveyard of imperfectly cut pieces of cheesecake that they give out to people that work there at the end of the night.

DANIELLE: I ate so much cheesecake with Este.

ESTE: I brought home so much cheesecake. I also had to tell myself, “It’s not for you.”

EINBINDER: That is torture.

ESTE: It was torture.

DANIELLE: I quit American Apparel on Ventura Boulevard because I got my first tour. Jenny Lewis.

ESTE: Can you believe this, Hannah? What an amazing sentence to be able to utter. I quit my job at American Apparel to go on tour with Jenny Lewis.

EINBINDER: That’s crazy. Did you have a final day where you knew you were walking out the doors for the last time?

DANIELLE: Oh, yeah. I don’t want your fucking v-necks and lame leggings.

EINBINDER: Did you make a meal of it?

DANIELLE: Oh, yeah.

ALANA: I quit Crossroads Trading Company to go to New York for the first CMJ. But there was no bad blood there. They were like, “Go off.”

DANIELLE: Este worked at Wasteland and was that bitch.

EINBINDER: Wow. I’m honestly starstruck.

ESTE: And also, Hannah, that’s where I met Grover.

EINBINDER: Oh my god. Shout-out.

ESTE: Shout-out, Grover. He’s a mutual ally of the group here.

DANIELLE: I would literally go visit Este when she worked at Wasteland, and her and Grover would be dancing through the aisles.

ALANA: It was like full Empire Records at Wasteland. And no one was like, can you guys please work? They were like, honestly, it’s fine.

EINBINDER: I too worked in retail at a very young age, at Brandy Melville.

DANIELLE: Stop.

EINBINDER: I lived it, folks.

ALANA: Oh my god.

EINBINDER: I can’t believe they didn’t reach out to me for the documentary, but anyway. When you guys go on tour, what are the vibes during the day? Are you guys in grandma mode? Are you going out? Are you experiencing the city?

ESTE: We’re experiencing the city.

ALANA: We walk around the city, but we exert so much energy on stage that literally when the show’s over, I’m like, crawling. I’m dehydrated. I’m sweating so hard. I don’t even think we speak to each other after shows, because we’re all just trying to get to the bus.

EINBINDER: Oh my god.

ALANA: I wish we could go out and rage.

ESTE: I know, dude. We shower and just crawl into our bunks and go to bed. But there are times, if we don’t have a show the next day, we’ll go out.

ALANA: We’ll find a fun dive bar.

ESTE: And we’ll grab the crew.

ALANA: I will say, a big addition to our rider was a beer-pong setup.

EINBINDER: Fuck yeah.

ESTE: Hannah, we’ve got to get you on tour.

EINBINDER: I was just going to say—I can hit the bottom bunk if you guys want me there. I could probably learn the cowbell really fast. I think if anybody has qualifications to be the fourth Haim, it’s me.

ESTE: You have the tour dates. Like we said, presale is up. Come through, bitch.

EINBINDER: Okay, guys. Haim-binder.

DANIELLE: Fucking stoked right now; we’re in it.

ESTE: I’m looking through my Haim-binder and you’re on the list, Hannah.

EINBINDER: Literally catch me.

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Hair: Hikaru using Kérastase at Frank Reps.

Makeup: Ciara Maccaro using Dior Beauty at Exclusive Artists.

Nails: Michelle Tran using Essie at Saint Luke Artists.

Photography Assistant: Will Koning.

Fashion Assistant: Emily Cancelosi.

Hair Assistant: Denisse Villalvazo.

Location: Gruin Gallery.