Not since James Hetfield shouted the words “Gimme fuel / Gimme fire / Gimme that which I desire” has the music world been so excited for a high-octane as the one arriving today (Feb. 19.) Haim, the trio of sisters (Este Haim, Danielle Haim, and Alana Haim), recruited their friend and collaborator Taylor Swift to add a new spark to the track from the group’s 2020 album, the critically-acclaimed Women in Music Pt. III. In “Gasoline (Remix)”.
Haim and Taylor Swift previously worked together on “No Body, No Crime,” from Swift’s evermore album. The band first teased that something was up when they shared a seemingly Tura Satana/Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!-inspired black and white image. Fans noticed that their car was parked next to gasoline pump #13 – Taylor’s favorite number – and shortly afterward, clever fans uncovered an ASCAP registration for a remix of “Gasoline.” Haim confirmed the speculation by posting a TikTok of them getting into the car and turning up the radio, which blasted a Taylor-fied version of the song.
@haimtheband ⛽️ #fyp
“Gasoline, pretty please / I want to get off / But you’re such a tease / Throw the keys back to me / Go on and kick off your boots / In the passenger seat,” HAIM sings on the chorus of the track, one seemingly drenched in the sun-bleached Laurel Canyon sound. “The song was a lot slower originally, and then we put that breakbeat-y drumbeat on it and all of a sudden it turned into a funky sort of thing, and it really brought the song to life,” Danielle told Apple Music.
one gasoline pump pic.twitter.com/LBZZIQy2GB
— HAIM (@HAIMtheband) February 15, 2021
“I love the way that the drums sound. I feel like we really got that right,” she adds. “I was like literally in a cave of blankets, a fort we created with a really old Camco drum set from the ’70s, to make sure we got that dry, tight drum sound. That slowed-down ending is due to Ariel. He had this crazy EDM filter he stuck on the guitar, and I was like, ‘Yes, that’s f-cking perfect.’ “
Such sentiment – “f-cking perfect” – was that of rock critics. Women In Music Pt. III was one of the best-reviewed albums of 2020, with The Guardian giving it a perfect 5/5 score. “They subvert pastiche with explosive yet contained production – agitated rhythms, corroded riffs, unexpected celluloid-melt transitions – that suggests Danielle bristling against her own limitations, yet never inhibits a massive chorus. … The album is also their first real foray into detailed emotional songwriting, Danielle outlining a visceral sense of disconnect from signs in dreams that nobody can read, strangers’ beds and estranged lovers’ clothes. By leaning into the lows, Haim opens up bold frontiers.”