For Este Haim, writing songs with her sisters is a way to work through feelings and keep their creative instincts sharp. The 40-year-old, who plays in HAIM with her younger sisters Danielle and Alana, compared the practice to exercise.
“It’s like going to the gym, you have to flex the muscle. I think that we’re all just scared that we’ll lose it if we don’t use it,” Este said. “It’s also therapy for us, writing songs.”
That habit keeps the sisters working between albums. Este previously described their commitment this way: “We’re always writing, we’re always thinking about what the next thing is going to sound like.”
Their 2025 album, I Quit, arrived after a 5-year gap between records. Asked whether the next album would take as long, Este joked, “Not if I have anything to do with it.”
She also left room for the time their standards demand: “It’s no secret that we’re very meticulous about the way that our records sound, and that takes time. But we love making music together, and if it takes a minute, it takes a minute, because we also don’t want to put out anything that we’re not 100 per cent proud of. So, we’ll see.”
New York has been feeding her creativity, too. Este, who was born in Los Angeles and grew up in California’s San Fernando Valley, said the city’s energy and sounds have inspired her.
Whether that will shape her next music remains an open question for her: “I don’t know the answers yet – but I’m having a great time figuring it out!”