Isabella Marcantonio reviews the second single for HAIM’s upcoming album
HAIM are spiralling on their new single “Now I’m In It”. It is a track packed to the brim with anxiety and fear, underscored by an internality that the sister-trio from California have previously eluded publicly.
Born out of front woman Danielle Haim’s experience with depression, “Now I’m in It” is a bass driven, synth-pop reflection on the desire to express pain and by doing so work through it. HAIM’s previous album Something to Tell You was about speaking up, communicating with friends and romantic partners, but the lyrics on the new single speak to wanting to find an inner dialogue. The track opens with the fast-paced delivery of “Looking in the mirror again, and again/ Wishing the reflection would tell me something”, the rapidity of the line enhanced by Este Haim’s deft bass lines. The first half of the single’s speed is frenetic with anxiety matching the pace of what it feels like to slip away from oneself without knowing how to stop it.
The first half of the single’s speed is frenetic with anxiety matching the pace of what it feels like to slip away from oneself without knowing how to stop it.
It’s an exorcism of sorts. The synth backdrop of the track leans into a similar energy found on fellow pop dynamo, Lorde’s “Green Light” in its simultaneously danceability and cry factor. “Now I’m In It” still possesses the organic heart of HAIM as the second half of track slows to feature the guitar licks they are so well known for as the synths are scaled back. However, this is a very different version of the HAIM brand. An electro-pop infusion that hints at the transformation to come on their upcoming third album. HAIM are now in the process of a metamorphism, and I for one, can’t wait to be in it with them.