We’ve all had to escape from some sort of romantic situation, whether it be a bad hookup, a date that went south, or a relationship that you finally need to get out of. A lot of the time, your vehicle for escape is an actual vehicle — who among us hasn’t jumped in our cars and gotten outta there? In the music video for Haim’s new single “Relationships,” the sisters’ first music release in three years, Alana and Este help their sister — lead singer Danielle — pack up her things in the car after moving out of her boyfriend’s house. The boyfriend is played by white boy of the moment Drew Starkey, who I can’t imagine ever wanting to break up with, but I digress.
As the sisters sing lyrics like “F**kin’ relationships, don’t they end up all the same? I think I’m in love but I can’t stand f**ckin’ relationships,” they’re loading up Danielle’s stuff into a glorious gold 1990s Toyota Land Cruiser. Honestly, that’s a pretty great choice for a car to escape a toxic man with, especially if you stupidly left a bunch of your things at his house. A lot of the video is shot from within the Land Cruiser towards the cargo area, which is a cool framing, but we get to see some angles of the SUV as well. It’s really just a great video overall, but the Landie is a cherry on top.
It’s perfect car casting
Earlier this week one of our questions of the day was about automotive mistakes in film and TV, but Haim’s new video is an example of perfect car casting. This is exactly the type of car I could picture the Haim sisters driving — they are cool Jewish girls from the Valley, after all, and a gold Land Cruiser is the perfect vehicular stereotype for that demographic to have been obsessed with as a kid. (I say this as a cool Jewish guy from New England who was surrounded by a lot of Land Cruisers and their competitors growing up.)
Specifically, this Land Cruiser is an FJ80 generation, which was first introduced in 1990 and lasted until 1997 in the United States, and it’s got a rad brush guard and taillight protectors and looks to be in really excellent shape. 80-Series Land Cruisers have seen a gigantic surge in popularity in recent years — ones in good condition have gone for well over $100,000 on Bring a Trailer — so it’s also a fitting vehicle for cool girls who currently live in LA as well. The song starts with the girls saying “wasting time, driving through the East side, doing my thing ’cause I can’t decide if we’re through,” and a Land Cruiser like this is just the car for that sort of in-car pondering.