2025 has been loud, chaotic, hopeful, bleak, and occasionally quite silly – which is to say, perfectly on brand. Rather than pretend there’s one neat story to tell about it all, we’ve done what we do best and followed the stuff that made our hearts beat faster, made our brains fizz, and made us text the group chat in all caps. These are the records, tracks, artists and projects that stuck. This is the best of 2025 as it actually felt: messy, brilliant, full of risk, full of heart. Jump in and argue with us later.
What’s more liberating than saying “I quit”? In 2025, HAIM threw caution to the wind, embraced singledom, spontaneity and oversharing, and came out the other side freer and more confident than ever. Their fourth album, ‘I quit’, arrived in late June, but the ‘fuck it’ attitude established on record wasn’t relegated to the grooves.
“I’ve never been this honest on an album,” says Alana. “I’ve told the craziest shit that I never in my life thought I would ever share, which includes farting, which includes being cheated on, it’s things that I was like, I’m taking this shit to my grave. And it has been the most beautiful thing to share them and then to have other people be like, babe, literally, same.”
We catch the trio as they round off their ‘I quit’ tour in Glasgow; it’s the final show, coinciding with Halloween, and the band are dialling in from their hotel rooms, feeling a bit emotional about it all. Ending the tour with the UK run just feels correct; the country is as much HAIM’s home as Los Angeles is, and it brings them right back to where this cycle began.
Back in March, HAIM paid London a visit to launch their new era with single ‘Relationships’, a track that had fallen down the back of the sofa several years ago. With a hand from producer Rostam, he helped them dig it out and clean it up, turning it into the perfect introduction to ‘I quit’.
“It just feels right to always start here, because it is where it literally started for us,” says Danielle. “Growing up, all of our favourite American bands also started in the UK, so it’s like the biggest joy that our trajectory is the same. I mean, I don’t want to rag on the states, but there’s like, a palpable energy in the crowd here, always.”
Despite playing every venue in LA that would let them, it was on this side of the Atlantic that HAIM found their initial success, even signing a deal in the UK before the US. Back in 2013, they celebrated the release of their debut album ‘Days Are Gone’ in the English capital; a decade later, they came back to London for an anniversary show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. When it came to penning ‘I quit’, that nostalgic feeling was fervent, and the sisters found themselves looking back on their chaotic teenage experiences along with their rocky relationships.
“Nostalgia was a huge part of this album, too,” explains Danielle. “I don’t know what it is about nostalgia that is a fun topic to write it about. We wrote ‘Take Me Back’ about all of our high school shenanigans. It’s fun to try and relive moments of your past while writing songs. I definitely take from that a lot when I’m writing, I’m kind of recalling certain memories or certain feelings.”
