{"id":876055,"date":"2026-06-18T14:41:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/876055\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T14:41:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:41:21","slug":"este-haim-on-loving-her-sisters-and-scoring-voicemails-for-isabelle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/876055\/","title":{"rendered":"Este Haim on loving her sisters and scoring ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Este Haim is a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll bassist, a highly visible New York Knicks fan<\/a> and \u2014 as of this past New Year\u2019s Eve \u2014 the happily married wife of a blockchain entrepreneur named Jonathan Levin. But what she is before anything else, she says, is a sister \u2014 one of three, along with her younger siblings Danielle and Alana, in the beloved Los Angeles rock band Haim<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So when Este, 40, saw an early cut of \u201cVoicemails for Isabelle,\u201d a new Netflix movie that premieres Friday with a score by Haim and composer Amanda Yamate, \u201cI was like, How am I gonna get through this?\u201d the musician recalls.<\/p>\n

Written and directed by Leah McKendrick, \u201cVoicemails\u201d stars Zoey Deutch<\/a> as a chef in San Francisco who\u2019s just lost her sister to cancer; the film\u2019s novel meet-cute (if that\u2019s the term for it) arrives when Deutch\u2019s character starts leaving heartrending messages for her late sister at the phone number now owned by a hunky real estate agent played by Nick Robinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love my sisters so much that the idea that something could happen to them \u2014 it wrecks me,\u201d Haim says. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019d be able to recover.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Despite the movie\u2019s bleak premise, \u201cVoicemails\u201d strikes a warm and witty tone that evokes rom-com classics by Nora Ephron<\/a> and Nancy Meyers<\/a>. \u201cMy mantra for the whole movie \u2014 for every one of my departments \u2014 was: Let\u2019s make this better than it needs to be,\u201d McKendrick says with a laugh. (Indeed, \u201cVoicemails\u201d opens with an epic needle drop in Robyn\u2019s \u201cDancing on My Own.\u201d) Yamate, who previously teamed with Haim to compose the music for 2023\u2019s \u201cYou Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,\u201d says the two musicians thought of their score as \u201cbringing out that delicate, fragile sister love\u201d that underpins the film.<\/p>\n

Haim spoke about her work as a film composer and about the future of her band \u2014 the trio\u2019s fourth LP, the Grammy-nominated \u201cI Quit<\/a>,\u201d came out last year \u2014 over coffee on a recent morning at Netflix\u2019s Hollywood headquarters.<\/p>\n

Did you know before you took the job that this movie would open with one of the greatest pop songs of the <\/b>l<\/b>ast 25 years?<\/b>
I did.<\/p>\n

Really setting a high bar.<\/b>
When it comes to music, I\u2019m fearless. Everything else, I\u2019m terrified. I\u2019ve been a huge Robyn fan for most of my life \u2014 she\u2019s kind of a north star for my sisters and I. It\u2019s no secret that we love sad dance songs.<\/p>\n

Did her music shape your and Amanda\u2019s ideas about the score?<\/b>
We did a lot of listening to Robyn, trying to get into the sonic landscape. But we also listened to a lot of acoustic stuff. We try everything \u2014 we don\u2019t really ever say no.<\/p>\n

Lot of strings in the music.<\/b>
It was a dream come true to be able to hire an orchestra and record at the Village [Studios] \u2014 in the \u201cTusk\u201d room with that echo chamber.<\/p>\n

Do you play bass in your movie music?<\/b>
Of course. But I don\u2019t write on bass \u2014 I need to hear the harmony and the chords. Then I let my freak flag fly.<\/p>\n

Wait, does this score have any sick bass lines?<\/b>
You know, there were a couple cues that didn\u2019t end up getting used where I really went to town. Maybe they didn\u2019t get used for that reason.<\/p>\n

In addition to \u201cDancing on My Own,\u201d the movie features two old songs by your friend <\/b>Taylor Swift<\/b><\/a>.<\/b>
The great thing about Taylor is that my girl knows how to write a song. She\u2019s a poet, and I think she really understands girlhood \u2014 the pining and the wanting to be accepted \u2014 and she does it in such a beautiful and majestic way.<\/p>\n

\"Alana <\/p>\n

Alana Haim, from left, Este Haim, Taylor Swift and Mariska Hargitay during Game 4 of this month\u2019s NBA Finals at New York\u2019s Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

(Al Bello \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

What\u2019s it like to go from playing in a band with arguably three frontwomen to working on a movie where your job is to help carry out someone else\u2019s vision?<\/b>
It\u2019s very similar to what it\u2019s like being in Haim, because while there are, as you say, three frontwomen \u2014 which, great, love that \u2014 we also are a democracy. And my ideas don\u2019t fly all the time. Alana\u2019s ideas don\u2019t fly all the time. Danielle\u2019s ideas don\u2019t fly all the time. From the time we started writing songs together, all three of us have learned that you\u2019re not going to win every time. We wouldn\u2019t have got past the first record if it wasn\u2019t that way \u2014 we would have killed each other.<\/p>\n

Why film scoring in the first place?<\/b>
I kind of fell into it accidentally. But I always knew that I was fascinated by scoring, mostly because of Ludwig G\u00f6ransson. When we were doing the \u201cForever\u201d EP with him, he was scoring \u201cCommunity.\u201d We\u2019d come to the studio late at night when he was done doing that, but then he\u2019d get notes and we\u2019d have to stop the session, and I would see him composing live in front of me \u2014 pulling instruments off the wall, doing a little ditty.<\/p>\n

Who are your film-music GOATs?<\/b>
Ludi is one. Jonny Greenwood. Trent Reznor. I think all of my favorite composers were musicians before they were composers.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of you in Hollywood right now.<\/b>
I mean, Trent Reznor \u2014 his music is already so cinematic. Same with Radiohead. \u201cExit Music (for a Film)\u201d? I don\u2019t know if Haim\u2019s music is necessarily cinematic, but I know that my sisters and I grew up loving movies. If it wasn\u2019t for \u201cStop Making Sense<\/a>,\u201d I might not be a bass player.<\/p>\n

Tina Weymouth.<\/b>
Tina! Danielle and I started playing guitar at the same time, and my dad was like, \u201cOK, I see what\u2019s happening \u2014 Danielle is a better guitar player than Este. Este is sad \u2014 Este is depressed-y. What can we do here?\u201d So he thought, Well, if guitar has six strings and bass has four strings, bass must be easier. He was wrong \u2014 that\u2019s 100% not true. But he brought it to me and was like, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you play bass?\u201d I said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to do that \u2014 I don\u2019t even know what it looks like.\u201d Then my dad went to Blockbuster, got \u201cStop Making Sense\u201d and was like, \u201cJust watch.\u201d I was 8 or 9 at the time, and I was obsessed with Princess Peach. I looked at Tina \u2014 she was blond, she was having a great time, she kind of looked like a princess. It was: I see it, now I can be it.<\/p>\n

On the question of whether Haim\u2019s music is cinematic, I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d say yes in the way of Radiohead or Nine Inch Nails. But when the three of you hit on a music video concept, it seems like no other music could have gone along with it.<\/b>
I\u2019ll take that.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Walking abreast down Ventura Boulevard in the \u201cWant You Back\u201d video, for instance.<\/b>
Lemme tell you: That video was gonna be so different. It wasn\u2019t gonna be walking \u2014 it was gonna be us in a slow-moving car. But the day of the shoot \u2014 there was a biscuit rig on the car, and the gentleman working the biscuit rig did a test run and lost control of the car. My man was doing donuts on Ventura Boulevard, and you know Ventura Boulevard \u2014 there\u2019s a little curvature there. I don\u2019t think he took that into account, and unfortunately he ended up crashing into a meter, thereby destroying our idea for being in a slow-moving car.<\/p>\n

I always wondered what time you shot that video.<\/b>
We had that stretch of Ventura from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. The Crave Caf\u00e9 was open.<\/p>\n

Can you imagine you\u2019re just in there \u2014<\/b>
Can I imagine? I lived it. Literally there were people sitting outside the caf\u00e9 that were like, \u201cGo home.\u201d They\u2019d heard the song \u2014 I mean, we did 25 or 30 takes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s amusing to me that Haim\u2019s signature walk was an inadvertent invention.<\/b>
I know, we\u2019re big walkers now. It kind of became a joke, but we\u2019re good at doing two things at once \u2014 we can walk and sing at the same time.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re scoring movies and <\/b>Alana\u2019s been acting<\/b><\/a>. When you and your sisters were kids, how touchable did the movie industry feel?<\/b>
I went to Dixie Canyon Elementary [in Sherman Oaks], and a lot of the kids in my class had headshots. That wasn\u2019t cheap, and my family couldn\u2019t afford it. But at Dixie Canyon there was a choir teacher \u2014 do you know about this? The choir teacher at Dixie Canyon in the \u201990s?<\/p>\n

Lay it on me.<\/b>
His name was George Wyle<\/a> \u2014 he wrote \u201cIt\u2019s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year\u201d and the \u201cGilligan\u2019s Island\u201d theme. He was retired and didn\u2019t need to make money, and he just had the biggest heart \u2014 he volunteered Monday and Friday every week to be the piano player at Dixie, and he basically taught me to sing. He would tell me stories about going to the Oscars in the \u201950s \u2014 that was kind of the closest I got to Hollywood. Everything else felt a bit untouchable. I mean, I knew one of the Porcaros lived in Valley Village.<\/p>\n

From Toto.<\/b>
But I just knew they lived there \u2014 I never met them until I got to Valley College, and then I was in a class with one of their sons.<\/p>\n

Love Toto.<\/b>
Love Toto.<\/p>\n

Couple more for you. You turned 40 in March.<\/b>
I like to think I\u2019m getting better with age. I also got married.<\/p>\n

Yes, congrats.<\/b>
He\u2019s amazing \u2014 I love him more than anything. I waited a good chunk of time to find the right one, which I\u2019m proud of myself for doing. It\u2019s the biggest decision of your life, right? Not just the person but, like, do I even want to get married?<\/p>\n

You guys watch movies?<\/b>
Johnny famously falls asleep five minutes in. But I just snuggle and watch with him. He loves James Bond movies. And \u201cThe Italian Job\u201d \u2014 he loves that movie. He loves a heist.<\/p>\n

Which theaters do you like?<\/b>
I love the Ojai Playhouse \u2014 we got married in Ojai. I love the Vista. The New Beverly I love. I wish the [Cinerama] Dome was open \u2014 it needs to open.<\/p>\n

Your Instagram name is still Jizzie McGuire.<\/b>
Never gonna change.<\/p>\n

Is that true? You\u2019re 70, 80, 90 \u2014<\/b>
Jizzie, Jizzie, Jizzie.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s telling you, \u201cBro, you need to change it\u201d?<\/b>
You\u2019re the first.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying you should \u2014 I was just wondering if anyone else is.<\/b>
Jizzie still very much lives inside me. Johnny\u2019s never even mentioned it to me. It\u2019s almost like the weirder I am, the more he loves me.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how you know you\u2019ve got a keeper.<\/b>
And I\u2019ve tried. I\u2019m like, \u201cReally, you think that\u2019s cute?\u201d<\/p>\n

Anything cooking with Haim at the moment?<\/b>
You know, I got married, and I think the focus of our lives has always been music \u2014 it will always be music \u2014 but I also want to focus on doing life stuff. Writing with my sisters \u2014 we\u2019ve been in a band together since I was 8 years old, which means Alana was 2. So I don\u2019t really know anything different. But I\u2019m like, OK, maybe now is the time where I can dip my toe into just doing stuff that has nothing to do with music \u2014 like being a wife. We\u2019ve worked so hard to get where we are, and I think now we just kind of want to enjoy our lives while still being creative.<\/p>\n

So: LP5 in 2032.<\/b>
You never know \u2014 could be this year, could be next year. We make plans, God laughs, right?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Este Haim is a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll bassist, a highly visible New York Knicks fan and \u2014 as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":876056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[6297,1582,276,202265,1020,148261,14107,19918,2961,13940,224,5337,7088,3196,975,5968,6613,356056,6620,72992],"class_list":["post-876055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-bass","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-este-haim","tag-film","tag-haim","tag-hollywood","tag-idea","tag-la","tag-last-year","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-lot","tag-movie","tag-music","tag-score","tag-sister","tag-slow-moving-car","tag-time","tag-voicemail"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116771639041446185","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}