Written by Taylor Memoli
After Charli XCX’s BRAT dominated last summer, music fans are now eagerly wondering who will deliver this year’s summer-defining album. Many artists have been in the running, including MARINA, Benson Boone, Addison Rae, and others have all decided to toss their hats in the ring. But one group in particular has returned and is determined to enter the race with an I quit attitude.
Haim released their 4th studio album, I quit, on June 20, 2025. The southern California act made up of three sisters– Danielle, Este, and Alana Haim– is no niche talent. Despite having 6 million monthly listeners on Spotify, the act is Grammy-nominated and has worked with some of the industry’s biggest, such as A$AP Ferg, Calvin Harris, and Taylor Swift. But their new album isn’t for the general Swiftie fanbase as Haim leans more towards the indie pop and soft rock genres. I quit is no exception to this.
Haim boldly starts their new album with, “Can I have your attention please, for the last time before I leave?” in the track “Gone.” “Gone” is not only the opener, but the basis of the whole album. With powerful guitar solos and samples of George Michael’s “Freedom,” Danielle urges personal freedom through this track with an “I quit” mindset that listeners were promised.
One thing Haim quits in this album is relationships. A theme echoed from the album’s first single, “Relationships,” the second track, “All over me,” proves this through its strictly hookup culture-based lyrics. The sisters are over love and fate in the first two tracks of this album, but throughout listening to the rest of the album, listeners are able to pick up that this mindset stems from one of the worst things in the world: a break-up.
Haim proves that healing from a breakup is not a linear process. Scattered throughout the album are songs such as “Lucky stars,” “Million years,” and “Try to feel my pain.” These songs reflect the heartache of a break-up, the “why me’s” and “what ifs.” Through these pains, Haim humanizes themselves and connects with their broken audience.
But another thing Haim is trying to quit is the idea of pleasing others. The tracks “Love you right,” “Everybody’s trying to figure me out,” and “Spinning” all express a rejection of outside expectations and the ability for the artists to be themselves. Danielle admitted on Instagram that “Everybody’s trying to figure me out” was written following a panic attack after returning home from tour. “I was very confused because I was SO SO SO happy about our incredible tour, but something about being alone with myself scared the shit out of me. After a lot of reflecting, I realized I’ve let a lot of people try and tell me how I should live my life, but I realized in making everyone else happy, I lost myself. I wrote this as a way to believe in myself again and quit being scared to do what I want,” she wrote.
These tracks demonstrate vulnerability and the ability to not be closed off about yourself and your emotions, another topic the sisters are trying to quit. “Spinning” and “Crying” both demonstrate emotional freedom in songwriting. Haim isn’t going to filter their feelings to audiences; they are going to let people know who they are and what comes along with that.
“Spinning” and “Crying” sit in the 12th and 13th slots of this album, turning the once uplifting tracklist into one of moral questioning and personal struggle. This darker shift makes listeners question: What are these girls trying to quit, themselves?
The next track “Blood on the street” brings us right back to where we were with the lyrics, “It’s not that I’m holding a grudge/ Or that I wanna see you in pain/ It’s just that when you smoked your last cigarette/ You know you won’t do that again/ And I stayed up all night with the pack/ And now the sun’s up, I’m out and that’s that.”
Starting with a heavy drum beat, “Blood on the street” returns to the idea of quitting things that aren’t good for you. It urges one to find purpose within oneself when there is no one else around you to help.
The album concludes with “Now it’s time.” With an upbeat instrumental with a heavy beat and groovy guitar line, this track is addressed to “you,” to the expectations people put on you, personal expectation, or to an ex, “Now it’s time” perfectly concludes the album with the lines “Now it’s time… to let go.” Haim is leaving all of their worries behind and giving a final “f you” to everything they are trying to quit. Haim laid all of their worries and troubles on the table in this album; now they just have to leave them there.
So, is it going to be Haim summer? If I quit proves anything, it’s that letting go isn’t weakness; it’s power. This album proves that Haim isn’t going anywhere they don’t want to go. With this album, Haim gives listeners permission this summer to quit, but also to inevitably keep going.
