Women in Music, Pt. III

Women in Music Pt. III
Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim dressed in white standing behind the counter of a deli. A sign with the album title is in the upper left corner.
Studio album by
Haim
ReleasedJune 26, 2020 (2020-06-26)
Studio
  • Heavy Duty (Burbank, California)
  • Effie Street (Los Angeles, California)
  • Vox (Los Angeles, California)
  • Strongroom (London, England)[a]
GenreSoft rock
Length41:40
LabelColumbia
Producer
Haim chronology
Something to Tell You
(2017) 		Women in Music Pt. III
(2020)
Singles from Women in Music Pt. III
  1. "Summer Girl"
    Released: July 31, 2019
  2. "Now I'm in It"
    Released: October 30, 2019
  3. "Hallelujah"
    Released: November 18, 2019
  4. "The Steps"
    Released: March 3, 2020
  5. "I Know Alone"
    Released: April 29, 2020
  6. "Don't Wanna"
    Released: May 21, 2020

Women in Music Pt. III is the third studio album by American rock band Haim. It was released on June 26, 2020, in the United States by Columbia Records and internationally by Polydor Records. The album was originally set for release on April 24, 2020 but was delayed due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and "the changing nature of travel policies and quarantines across the world."[1] The release was later moved to June 26.[2] It was produced by Danielle Haim,[3] Rostam Batmanglij and Ariel Rechtshaid, and was preceded by the singles "Summer Girl", "Now I'm in It" and "Hallelujah".[4] The song "The Steps" was released alongside the album pre-order.[3]

Before its official announcement, Women in Music Pt. III was named one of the most anticipated albums of 2020 by several outlets, including Pitchfork and Vulture.[5][6] The album received widespread critical acclaim, with critics praising its honest and vulnerable lyrics and its experimentation with a wide range of genres, while also paying homage to several other artists. It was nominated for Album of the Year at the 63rd Grammy Awards, while "The Steps" was nominated for Best Rock Performance.[7]

Background and composition

The trio initially teased the album with the abbreviation WIMPIII on their social media, jokingly offering a "free T-shirt" to anybody who could guess what it stood for or who had an answer that made them laugh.[8]

After touring in support of their previous album, Something to Tell You (2017), the band experienced various personal struggles, including unprocessed grief from the death of Alana's best friend in a car accident in 2012, Este's struggles with type 1 diabetes, and Danielle's depression as well as her partner Ariel Rechtshaid's cancer diagnosis.[9][10] They channeled these experiences into their music, with "an unflinching honesty" and "intimately familiar with depression in all its states".[9] True to the album's title, many songs discuss the misogyny the band faces in the music industry; for example "Man from the Magazine" is a tongue-in-cheek Joni Mitchell-esque song about the casually sexist questions asked of them by journalists.[11]

The album cover was shot at Canter's Deli in Los Angeles by Paul Thomas Anderson, who also directed the music videos for all three singles and "The Steps", as well as for later directing the 2021 film Licorice Pizza which starred Alana.[12]

Women in Music Pt. III is a primarily soft rock album that features elements of folk-pop,[9][13] hip hop,[14][13] reggae,[14][13] lo-fi,[14] heartland rock,[13] dance,[13] country rock,[11] UK garage,[11] electropop,[15] free jazz,[15] funk,[11] 1990s R&B,[9] as well as 1970s and 1980s pop.[9] Danielle Haim cited Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003) as a key source of influence for the band that inspired the eclectic nature of their album. She explained, "We thought it would be cool to make a body of work that didn't adhere to specific rules or genre, like they did."[10]

Release

The album's first single, "Summer Girl", preceded the album by several months, becoming the first of three (at the time) standalone singles released that same year, along with "Now I'm in It" and "Hallelujah", with a music video for each release, all directed by frequent collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.2/10[16]
Metacritic89/100[17]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
And It Don't StopA−[18]
The Daily Telegraph[19]
The Guardian[20]
The Independent[21]
NME[22]
The Observer[23]
Pitchfork8.6/10[11]
Rolling Stone[15]
Slant Magazine[13]

Women in Music Pt. III was met with universal acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 89, based on 23 reviews.[17] The album was a New York Times Critic's Pick[24] and was featured on Pitchfork's Best New Music.[11]

Many critics noted the trio's use of new sounds and exploration of new genres on the album. Writing for Pitchfork, Aimee Cliff called it "Haim as we haven't quite heard them before: not just eminently proficient musicians, entertainers, and 'women in music,' but full of flaws and contradictions, becoming something much greater." Cliff wrote that the album "eschew[s] Haim's usual summery rock to find the right genre for the mood", sometimes mixing multiple genres within the same track.[11] Lindsay Zoladz, writing for The New York Times, remarked that the record "clears a welcome path forward for the group's sound," cautioning that "every so often they overstuff the arrangements with one too many sonic quirks or spoken-word bridges, but more often than not their risks are rewarding."[24] Reviewing in his Substack-published "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau applauded Batmanglij for enhancing the band's compositions, in which, "from booty calls to dreams so much sweeter than what anyone wakes up to in this cruel time, the lyrics evoke the pains and complexities of the single life each of these seamless siblings is obliged to face alone after all."[18]

In July 2020, the album was included on Entertainment Weekly and Slant Magazine's list of the best albums of 2020 so far.[14]

Accolades

On November 24, 2020, the album was nominated for Album of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards,[25] marking the band's first nomination in that category. The single "The Steps" was also nominated for Best Rock Performance, marking the group's first nomination in that category as well.[26]

Accolades for Women in Music Pt. III
Publication Accolade Rank Ref.
Exclaim! Exclaim!'s 50 Best Albums of 2020
6
[27]
The Guardian The 50 Best Albums of 2020
7
[28]
NPR The 50 Best Albums of 2020
11
[29]
Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2020
8
[30]
Pitchfork The 35 Best Rock Albums of 2020
—
[31]
Rolling Stone The 50 Best Albums of 2020
14
[32]
Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 2020
4
[33]
Under the Radar Top 100 Albums of 2020
3
[34]

Commercial performance

Women in Music Pt. III entered at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 17,762 copies in its opening week.[35] The album became the band's second number one album in the UK after their debut album Days Are Gone in 2013. In Ireland, the album entered and peaked at number five in the album charts, becoming their 3rd top five album in the country.[36]

In Australia, the album entered at number seven on the album charts, becoming their third Top 10 album.[37] In the United States, Women in Music Pt. III debuted and peaked at number thirteen on the US Billboard 200, making the album the group's third Top 20 record.[38]

Track listing

All tracks are produced by Danielle Haim, Rostam Batmanglij and Ariel Rechtshaid, except where noted.

Women in Music Pt. III track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Los Angeles"
  • Danielle Haim
  • Este Haim
  • Alana Haim
  • Rostam Batmanglij
  • Ariel Rechtshaid
3:20
2."The Steps" (additional production by Dave Fridmann)
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
  • Rechtshaid
4:07
3."I Know Alone"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
  • Rechtshaid
  • Buddy Ross
3:46
4."Up from a Dream"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
  • Rechtshaid
3:17
5."Gasoline"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
3:13
6."3 AM"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Tommy King
  • Batmanglij
  • Rechtshaid
3:10
7."Don't Wanna"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
3:21
8."Another Try"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
  • Rechtshaid
3:25
9."Leaning on You"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
3:21
10."I've Been Down"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
2:51
11."Man from the Magazine"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
2:06
12."All That Ever Mattered"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
  • Rechtshaid
2:30
13."FUBT"
3:13
Total length:41:40
Bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
14."Now I'm in It"
3:24
15."Hallelujah"
3:10
16."Summer Girl"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
  • Rechtshaid
  • Lou Reed
3:25
Total length:51:39
Bonus tracks (vinyl version)[39]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
14."Summer Girl" (video version)
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
  • Rechtshaid
  • Reed
3:52
15."Now I'm in It" (video version)
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
  • Srivastava
  • Rechtshaid
3:56
16."Hallelujah"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Jesso
3:10
Total length:52:38
Expanded edition[40]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
14."Gasoline" (featuring Taylor Swift)
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
3:13
15."3 AM" (featuring Thundercat)
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • King
  • Batmanglij
  • Rechtshaid
3:10
16."Now I'm in It"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
  • Srivastava
  • Rechtshaid
3:24
17."Hallelujah"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Jesso
3:10
18."Summer Girl"
  • D. Haim
  • E. Haim
  • A. Haim
  • Batmanglij
  • Rechtshaid
  • Reed
3:25
Total length:58:02

Notes

Personnel

All track numbers refer to the digital, CD and cassette releases of the album.[41]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart performance for Women in Music Pt. III
Chart (2020) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[42] 7
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[43] 25
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[44] 20
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[45] 37
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[46] 41
French Albums (SNEP)[47] 187
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[48] 27
Irish Albums (OCC)[49] 5
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[50] 90
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[51] 37
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[52] 33
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[53] 30
Scottish Albums (OCC)[54] 2
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[55] 59
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[56] 55
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[57] 11
UK Albums (OCC)[58] 1
US Billboard 200[59] 13
US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[60] 1
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[61] 1

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for Women in Music, Pt. III
Chart (2020) Position
US Top Current Album Sales[62] 137
US Top Rock Albums[63] 99


Certifications

Certifications for Women in Music, Pt. III
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[64] Silver 60,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Notes

  1. ^ Except "Now I'm in It", recorded at Echo Park Backhouse (Los Angeles), Heavy Duty, Vox, Effie Street, Ulvhälls Herrgård (Strängnäs, Sweden), and Matsor Projects (Los Angeles)

References

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External links