Haim's sophomore album reflects emotional response to producer's cancer diagnosis

Haim channeled all the emotions triggered by their producer’s cancer diagnosis into the band's long-awaited new album.

The group, formed of sisters Este, Danielle and Alana, released their second record Something to Tell You at the beginning of July (17), four years after their successful debut Days Are Gone.

It was only last month that Haim’s producer, and Danielle’s boyfriend, Ariel Rechtshaid also revealed he was diagnosed with testicular cancer back in 2015, which is what delayed the band’s sophomore offering. But the siblings insist they wouldn’t have done it differently as it meant they were on hand to support him during the difficult time.

“It’s scary when you see someone you love, who you would do anything for, have to go through something as scary as testicular cancer,” Alana sighed to NME, noting they focused more on his health than the music. “Obviously that took a toll on the record because we had to make sure Ariel was healthy and I would never take that back. Even though it took longer to complete this record, I would not change a second of it, and now he’s OK – thank God! – we’re so happy. This record is full of emotion and everything we were going through at that point. You can hear it on the record how emotional we were. It was a very big deal.”

The reason the women didn’t reveal the news earlier was because it was “his story to tell”, and that it was Ariel’s decision to not open up until recently. He spoke out about his diagnosis in a poignant Instagram post showing him recording with the band, admitting in the caption that at one point he thought he was going to die.

“I was really proud of him and the post was beautifully written,” Danielle said.

“I think he’s still dealing with it. We were all in shock. I think we’re (all) still dealing with it, but the only thing we could do was take every day as it came. And also it made us closer.”