‘Maps’: Karen O’s greatest vocal performance to date
Karen O is the consummate rock ‘n’ roll frontwoman. Magnetic, powerful and utterly unforgettable, her presence is so powerful that her very voice is, ironically, something that gets a little lost in the shuffle when discussing her. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer is a presence of such sheer power that we forget that she’s, well, a singer. A very, very good one to boot.
The band’s early work on Fever To Tell shows a voice much like her stage presence. Sheer power, yet effortlessly cool. Able to catch an entire crowd’s attention with a single affirmation that she “got a date with the night”. Show Your Bones’ high priestess act showed a pronounced development, in particular with ‘Gold Lion’ and its absurdly catchy falsetto cries in the chorus.
It’s Blitz showed another unexpected side, the disco diva who can sing with the best of them as anyone who’s chanced their arm on the chorus of ‘Zero’ at karaoke can attest to. However, no matter where her vocal ability took her, there was a song there from the very beginning of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs that showed off the depths of her vocal ability.
Which Yeah Yeah Yeahs song has the best vocal performance from Karen O?
What’s more, it’s a song that if you know the band, you almost certainly know like the back of your hand. Nestled in as the 9th track of Fever To Tell is ‘Maps’, possibly the most beloved song in the whole Yeah Yeah Yeahs back catalogue, and a sign right from the off that this was a band with aspirations higher than being another garage rock revival band.
It’s one of those special songs where pretty much every aspect of it can be argued to be the heart of it. Nick Zinner’s trembling guitar line has more real emotion in one continuous note than a thousand blues solos could ever match, no matter how contorted the player’s face gets. Brian Chase’s tumbling drum tattoo is the heartbeat of the song. Even the synth line that comes in over the chorus is breathtaking.
To me though, this song belongs to Karen O and a vocal performance that, for the first time in the whole album, allows her to be achingly, almost terrifyingly vulnerable. A love song of genuine melancholy, ‘Maps’ was inspired by O’s relationship with then-boyfriend Angus Andrew of Liars and how hard it was to coordinate their relationship despite their lives taking them down separate metaphorical and literal roads.
However, ‘Maps’ is no standard issue “touring sucks” rock ‘n’ roll whine that alienates anyone who hasn’t got in the van. On a deeper level, it’s a story of losing your loved one to something else. Whether that’s a different lifestyle, a different friendship group or, speaking as someone who could barely listen to this song while they were in a long-distance relationship, a different time zone.
We’ve all been O lovingly intoning “they don’t love you like I love you” to someone who swears they feel the same. Then her voice jumps the octave and a panicked note of desperation enters her voice. It’s a masterful vocal performance that says more in a grand total of about 25 words than others do in whole novels.
A vocal performance that truly deserves to be the heart and soul of one of the best songs by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and one of the best songs of the whole 2000s.
