Haim
Stranger Things star Joe Keery and his Djo project have taken on Haim’s “Gasoline” during his recent visit to Australia.
The performance took place as part of an appearance on Like a Version, the long-running covers segment from Australian radio station triple j. Keery was in the country over the past few weeks performing as part of the long-running Laneway Festival, which featured Charli XCX, Clairo, and Beabadoobee atop the bill.
The two-song session was launched with a rendition of Djo’s original track “Basic Being Basic,” which was issued in late January as the lead single from his upcoming third album, The Crux. For the customary cover, the focus was then shifted to Haim’s “Gasoline,” originally featured on their 2020 album, Women in Music Pt. III, and hit No. 30 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart,
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“Love that album, I think they’re such great artists,” Keery said of the original in a post-performance interview. “I love that they’re sisters and they’re making music together. I’ve got a big family, and the other song that we played, ‘Basic’, my sisters are singing on that. So I thought it’d be sort of cool to pay homage to them for that reason.”
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“It was a fun experience to me, and I hope they like it,” he added. “Shout out to them. I hope they’re making new music soon because we deserve another album from them. We’re overdue.”
Currently, Women in Music Pt. III serves as Haim’s most recent record, though the familial trio provided a video update in 2023 to reveal they were working on their fourth album. That same year also saw the release of “Home”, which was included on the soundtrack to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
This isn’t the first time Djo’s music has been the focus of the Like a Version studio, either. In May 2024, Canadian quartet The Beaches covered “End of Beginning” for their own appearance on the segment. Originally released on the 2022 album Decide, the track gained traction in 2024, resulting in both a peak of No. 11 on the Hot 100, and a top rock song nomination at the 2024 Billboard Music Awards.
“To see that was really kind of a cool and a crazy experience,” Keery reflected. “I’ve never met them, but they did such a cool cover and to hear someone else’s interpretation of a song that I wrote was a really unique experience and something I’ll always remember.”
Having first launched in 2004, the Like a Version series has gone from being a near-impromptu acoustic affair to featuring larger studio productions. Numerous artists have taken part over the past two decades, with the likes of Billie Eilish, Childish Gambino, Arctic Monkeys, and more reinventing classic tracks in the process.
When Este Haim was approached to take on the executive music producer role on National Geographic’s limited series A Small Light, she felt ready to step out of her comfort zone and take charge.
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“I’ve always had this saying that people who say ‘yes’ have adventures, people who say ‘no’ play it safe and people who say ‘maybe’ spend their whole life saying ‘maybe.’ So I said yes,” the HAIM vocalist and bassist tells Billboard of the opportunity.
Turns out, she felt a special connection to the show’s story. The series is inspired by the true story of Anne Frank and follows the carefree and opinionated Miep Gies (played by Bel Powley) as she encounters Anne’s dad Otto Frank (Liev Schreiber), who asks her to help hide his family from the Nazis during WWII. “The producers and the writers of the show got in contact with me about doing a show about Miep and I guess they kind of assumed that I didn’t know who she was, but I knew very well who she was because I’ve read the diary of Anne Frank, cover to cover, a handful of times,” Este recalls, noting that she read The Diary of a Young Girl for the first time at just eight years old. “I thought that it was really interesting the way that they were telling the story of Anne Frank and I jumped at the chance to be involved in a TV show that showed the story through Miep’s eyes.”
For the soundtrack, Este was tasked with creating updated versions of classic songs from the 1930s and 1940s with her friends and fellow musicians, something that she was “super jazzed” about. “Pun intended,” she adds with a laugh.
“I’ve been listening to that music since I was a kid,” she says, noting that her great-grandmother, whom she affectionately calls “Bubby Blanche,” would play vinyl records for her as a child when she would visit her home in Palm Springs, Calif. “We would listen to the The Andrews Sisters, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk — she was such an avid music lover and I’ve come from a long, long line of musicians, so I already had a foundation when it came to knowing and understanding the material.”
Her passion for the songs that influenced not only who she is as a musician but also history in general led to a robust Small Light soundtrack that features everyone from King Princess and Orville Peck putting their spin on Bing Crosby‘s “I’m Making Believe” and Angel Olsen’s rendition of Larry Clinton‘s “My Reverie” to Remi Wolf‘s take on Nat King Cole‘s “Autumn Leaves” and Moses Sumney taking on Billie Holiday‘s “I’ll Be Seeing You.”
“Moses’ version of ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’ is so f—ing heartbreaking and beautiful,” Este gushes. “He knows how much I love him and his artistry and his songwriting, but his voice is just so incredibly, insanely beautiful. For him to have signed on to this, I was over the moon.”
She adds that there was a few criteria for which artists she chose for the project. “They needed to be a vocalist that could really handle the material because it’s not easy material,” she explains, before jokingly adding, “But also I wanted people that I selfishly just wanted to be friends with and hang out with.”
Este even worked with her sister, Danielle Haim, on a rendition of Doris Day‘s “Till We Meet Again,” which she says was different than a regular HAIM recording session. “We’re all producers in our own right, but this time, Danielle just was kind of looking at me like, ‘Whatever you want to do,’” she said of creating the song with her sibling and bandmate. “It was different in the sense that we go into every session knowing that it’s a three-way democracy. This time, it was like, ‘This is your gig. I’m just here to sing the song.’ Thankfully, I know Danielle’s voice so well, so we finished ‘Till We Meet Again’ in, like, a day.”
She continues, “Danielle is just so f—ing talented and she has the best voice, and there’s a vulnerability to her voice that I knew would really lend itself to that song.”
As for what she hopes fans will take away from A Small Light, Este is rooting for everyday people to stand up for what’s right. “Miep is a shining example of an ordinary woman doing an extraordinary thing,” she says. “Now more than ever, I think that it’s important for people to stand up for what they believe in and to also protect their community.”
Listen to the full A Small Light: Songs From the Limited Series album below, and watch the show over on Disney+ and Hulu.
Este Haim is teaming up with composer Ariel Marx to take on National Geographic’s upcoming limited series A Small Light as executive music producer.
The series is inspired by the true story of Anne Frank and follows the carefree and opinionated Miep Gies (played by Bel Powley) as she encounters Anne’s dad Otto Frank (Liev Schreiber), who asks her to help hide his family from the Nazis during WWII. A Small Light is told with “a modern sensibility,” according to a release, which “forces audiences to ask themselves what they would have done in Miep’s shoes; and in modern times, asking if they would have the courage to stand up to hatred.”
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The corresponding soundtrack, A Small Light: Songs From the Limited Series, will include fresh covers of classic hits from stars like Este’s sister and HAIM bandmate Danielle Haim, Kamasi Washington, Sharon Van Etten featuring Michael Imperioli, Angel Olsen, Weyes Blood, Remi Wolf, King Princess and Orville Peck, and Moses Sumney. Este co-produced all of the songs on the album, which will be released on May 23.
“I can’t begin to express what an honor and a privilege it is to be a part of this series, especially as my first role as an EMP,” Este said in a press statement. “Miep’s story is one of a modern woman standing up for what is right, and that should continue to inspire all of us. I am so thrilled to be able to help bring this to life through the power of music.”
A Small Light premieres May 1 on National Geographic and will also be available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu.
Taylor Swift is heading out on her first tour in five years, and bringing an all-star lineup of supporting acts with her for her career-spanning The Eras Tour.
Paramore, Beabadoobee, Phoebe Bridgers, Girl in Red, MUNA, GAYLE, Gracie Abrams, OWENN and Haim will all be switching off in joining Swift’s supporting act lineup for the tour’s first leg. To celebrate hitting the road with their close pal, Haim took to Instagram to share a group photo of the sibling trio alongside Swift — all matching in leather outfits.
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“WHO’S READY FOR ROUND 2? THE ERAS TOUR,” they captioned the photo. The squad has previously teamed up for “Gasoline” off Haim’s 2020 album, Women in Music Pt. III. The sisters are featured on Swift’s Evermore, on the murder-mystery country track “No Body, No Crime,” and recently appeared in the pop superstar’s music video for “Bejeweled.”
The Eras Tour will be a celebration of all 10 of the studio albums Swift has released since 2006 — at least, that’s what the trek’s title suggests. The singer also shared a poster advertising the tour’s 27-date U.S. leg on Instagram featuring a collage of photos of herself through the years, from the time of her self-titled debut to Midnights, which dropped less than two weeks prior to the tour news.
The tour presented by Capitol One and produced by Taylor Swift Touring and promoted by the Messina Touring Group will begin on March 18 with a show at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., Swift announced during an appearance on Good Morning America. International dates will be announced soon.
“I wanted to tell you something that I’ve been so excited about for a really long time. I’ve been planning for ages and I finally get to tell you: I’m going back on tour,” Swift said on GMA. “The tour is called the Eras tour and it’s a journey through all of the musical eras of my career.”
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