When An Innocent Mistake Turns Into 17 Days

Haim “Relationships”

When Haim shared “Relationships” a couple weeks ago they made a point of noting that “this one took us 7 years to crack.” Which is to say, they knew they had an amazing song on their hands and worked hard to fully realize it. I think you can hear all that work in the finished recording, but not in the sense that it feels overthought and overproduced, or that it’s got that stale chewing gum feel to it. It’s the best case scenario for this sort of thing, where if you’re paying attention you can hear all the little smart decisions that add up to a finished product that skillfully balances familiarity and eccentricity.

There’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen for this one – the three Haim sisters, producers Rostam Batmanglij and Buddy Ross, and collaborators Ariel Rechtshaid and Tobias Jesso Jr. I’m not entirely sure who did what, but whoever wrote that fluid, low-key funky bass line is the clear MVP of the song, and I can hear Batmanglij’s skill for building richly detailed yet spacious and airy tracks guiding the track. But all of this sound and structure is just a frame for Danielle Haim’s vocal performance, which is the melodic through line and soul of the piece. She’s singing about feeling ambivalent and frustrated about relationships in general and one that may or may not be falling apart in particular, but with a spark of romanticism that contradicts her most pessimistic lines. The lyrics essentially ask “ugh, why do I even bother with this?” in a dozen different ways, but everything in the music and Danielle’s voice is answering “you know why…because the trouble is worth it.”

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