This past weekend, HAIM and Taylor Swift proved once again that they are the reigning queens of folk rock to cry to while staring out into the rain. Just a few months after HAIM appeared on Swift’s most recent album, evermore (2020), the band of sisters released a new version of their song, “Gasoline,” which features vocals from Swift herself.
This collaboration is a long time coming and certainly lives up to expectations. Swift first came to be associated with the Haim sisters when they appeared in Instagram posts together in late 2014, the height of the T-Swift Squad.
HAIM then opened for Swift at select shows over the course of her 2015 tour. Their bond is palpable, and each discography has always seemed like the logical extension of the other. Alana, the youngest Haim sister, said that as soon as the sisters met Swift, they declared, “you are literally one of us.” For many young listeners, myself included, Swift offered an introduction to HAIM. It is not hard to draw a direct line from Swiftie tweens to HAIM-listening-20-somethings.
When you listen to both of these artists’ newest albums, as well as their recent collaborations, it’s not difficult to understand how the two are nominated against each other for Album of the Year for the 2021 Grammys. “no body, no crime,” Swift’s song featuring HAIM, is an angry country ballad evocative of The Chicks’ popular narrative revenge track “Goodbye Earl.” What makes this song so special is the way it conveys friendship and sisterhood.
A HAIM feature was logical because the fictional woman in the song is named Este—the name of the oldest Haim sister—but also because the song’s overall theme lends itself to a collaboration between sisters and best friends. That being said, my only complaint is that HAIM appears as background vocals where I hoped for a true duet.
This latest collaboration, “Gasoline (Feat. Taylor Swift),” is an answer to my prayers. As soon as Swift comes in yelling “I get sad,” she stakes her claim as the fourth Haim sister. Swift herself tweeted, “Cancel the DNA test I’m the 4th Haim sister and this song is the only proof I need #GasolineRemix."
There is no question that these women have an incredible bond, and it is illustrated by their musical collaborations. No one could listen to Women in Music Pt. III and not desperately wish to be a Haim sister. I often tell my own sisters that it’s annoying that the three of us aren’t in a band like HAIM. I suppose this is just one more way we all get to live vicariously through Taylor Swift.
Ultimately, I just want HAIM and Taylor Swift to be together forever. I want them to continue to make music for dancing to in your living room. I want to continue to scream their lyrics in my car. Thank goodness for sisters and thank goodness for best friends, especially when there are multiple platinum albums between them.