What is "Ignition" actually about?
"Ignition," released July 28, 2026, pairs HAAi with Thessaloniki-born producer Echonomist (Petros Manganaris) on a breakbeat-driven track built for club soundsystems. Underneath the drums, HAAi says the lyrics trace a specific memory: growing up gay in Karratha, a remote mining town in Western Australia's Pilbara region, and waiting to leave. "Lyrically, it is deeply personal: documenting my coming-of-age as a queer kid in a small town, desperate to leave," she said of the track. It is the second single pulled from her upcoming album "DIGITiSE."
Why put a coming-out story on a track built for the club floor?
HAAi has framed the choice as deliberate rather than incidental. "Both tracks are so important to the storytelling of the albums, I'm glad to be able to take it to the place we feel the most free, the dancefloor," she said, referring to "Ignition" and its predecessor. Echonomist, whose solo catalogue runs through labels including Kompakt and Dessous Recordings, described the collaboration as growing out of a shared record collection rather than a topline brief: "From the moment HAAi and I started talking, we connected through music in a really genuine way. She reminded me of how much I love breaks."
"I'm glad to be able to take it to the place we feel the most free, the dancefloor.", HAAi
How does "Ignition" fit into HAAi's bigger plan for "DIGITiSE"?
"Ignition" is a direct sequel to "Go!," the opening track of HAAi's 2025 album "HUMANiSE." "DIGITiSE," due October 9, 2026 on Mute, reworks that album's material into harder, club-focused versions, and also features producer Skybreak and Cantoalegre, a children's choir from Medellín, Colombia. The pairing sets HAAi's two most recent full-lengths up as companion pieces: one for headphones, one built to be played loud.
