Haim Share the One 2000s Paparazzi Shot They Wouldn’t Recreate For ‘I Quit’: ‘We’ve Cried Laughing’

The Haim sisters have a digital folder on their phones full of 2000s-era paparazzi photos. “We’ve been collecting them all like trading cards,” Alana Haim says, calling in from England with her sisters and bandmates Danielle and Este, days after performing at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in May. “We’ve cried laughing.”

It all started with a re-creation of the infamous 2001 shot of a euphoric Nicole Kidman walking down the street soon after finalizing her divorce from Tom Cruise. (Kidman later clarified the photo was actually taken while filming a movie, but the myth lives on.) HAIM channeled that feeling in the artwork for “Relationships,” the lead single off its fourth studio album, I Quit, out June 20.

“She is evoking every emotion we thought ‘Relationships’ was representing,” Alana says of the track that showcases the group’s signature pop-rock charisma as the members grapple with “f–king relationships.” They enlisted photographer Terrence O’Connor, who worked with Charli xcx on single artwork for last year’s brat, and re-created three of Kidman’s poses to accompany the song’s release in March.

Since then, HAIM has kept the theme going. The group re-created a paparazzi photo of an exasperated Kate Moss leaning against a car for the contemplative follow-up single “Everybody’s Trying To Figure Me Out,” then a snapshot of Jared Leto looking at his phone while kissing Scarlett Johansson for the unapologetic “Down To Be Wrong,” both of which the band released in April. The latest photo to receive an homage was of Keira Knightley in a comically large scarf and low-cut jeans walking around Manchester, England, with Jamie ­Dornan for the reminiscing “Take Me Back,” which arrived in May.

While the folder of paparazzi pics is continuing to fill up, fans won’t get an obvious choice like the Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears photo of the trio crammed into the front seats of a car after a night out in 2006. “That’s too on the nose,” Alana says. “We’re at least trying to challenge people. We’re not doing a good job.”

The images are just as much inspired by the 2000s as the album itself, with the sisters — now 39 (Este), 36 (Danielle) and 33 (Alana) — tapping into the sound of their teenage years before they officially launched HAIM with a self-released digital EP, Forever, in 2012.

“The [early-2000s] era was very informative for us musically — it was the first time we had a CD player in Este’s ’96 Honda Passport,” Danielle recalls. “The world opened up for us, and that era was such an amazing time for music.”

“I forced Danielle and Alana to listen to all the music that I was listening to, but we all collectively fell in love with a lot of those bands like Cat Power, Animal Collective, Pavement, Rilo Kiley, Wilco, The Strokes. It was such an amazing time for rock music,” Este says. “It was such a free-spirited time for us because, like most kids, once you get your license, it opens up the world.”

I Quit incorporates many of that era’s popular sounds, from the post-grunge guitar of “Lucky Star” and “Now It’s Time” to the alt-rock/electronica flare of “Million Years.” Meanwhile, “Cry” and “Blood on the Street” tap into the country-pop of The Chicks and Shania Twain, the latter of whom Danielle says was “a huge part of our musical upbringing.”

The siblings grew up playing instruments and performed in their first family band, Rockinhaim, as children with their parents in the valley outside of Los Angeles. Since forming HAIM, the trio’s first three albums have all landed in the top 15 of the Billboard 200. The 2020 release Women in Music Pt. III was a particular turning point for the act, as the set also hit No. 1 on Top Album Sales and earned an album of the year nod at the 2021 Grammy Awards — making HAIM the first all-women rock band to compete in the category.

While I Quit taps into much of the group’s formative years, the album’s underlying theme is distinctly modern: The sisters say that the title means they are done caring about the nonsense that used to bother them, from bad dates to feeling shame in their sexuality. At two hometown underplay shows in April, HAIM revealed the album’s title with a scrolling background of text reading: “I quit what does not serve me,” “I quit shame,” “I quit judgment,” “I quit d–k.”

Luckily for fans, the band insists this will not be the last HAIM album, despite taking the last few years to work on solo efforts. Alana starred in 2021’s Licorice Pizza, Este served as a music consultant for the second season of HBO’s The White Lotus, and Danielle continued to collaborate outside of the group with artists including Bon Iver.

Now HAIM is reinvigorated to explore its next chapter together, thanks in part to new management — the band signed with Janelle Lopez Genzink and her women-forward artist management group, Volara, whose clients include Sabrina Carpenter and Marina — and a fresh outlook on its place in music. “As artists, we have a lot of ideas and a lot of things we want to do,” Danielle says. To which Alana adds: “The new energy has felt so great. We work well in chaos, and it’s so nice to have people around you that are down.”

After writing an entire album about the male rock scene not giving them their due (Women in Music Pt. III), they are done seeking approval. Ironically, the praise has since poured in: In the last month, Sheryl Crow and Heart’s Nancy Wilson have commented on clips of their performances on social media while longtime friend and fan Stevie Nicks told GQ the sisters could have easily been members of Fleetwood Mac.

As for why the album’s singles have resonated so strongly among such a crowd, Alana believes it comes down to one thing: “We put our heart and soul and so many embarrassing stories into this album,” she explains. “We’re oversharers on this.”

This story appears in the June 21, 2025, issue of Billboard.