Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O on performing live: “I’m going to steamroll you and you’re going to like it”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O has spoken about performing live ahead of the band’s fifth album, ‘Cool It Down’.

In an interview with The New York Times, O discussed her larger-than-life stage presence and how it has influenced up-and-coming artists.

“Disarming is another speciality of what I try to do with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs,” she said of her role as a frontwoman. “I’m being absolutely ridiculous, quite overtly sexual, totally heart-on-my-sleeve. I’m going to steamroll you, and you’re going to like it.”

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Perfume Genius, who features on Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ recent single, ‘Spitting Of The Edge Of The World‘, also discussed how the New York City band inspired his performances in the interview.

“Before I would go on tour, I would watch videos of them, and live shows, just to gas me up,” he said. “They’re just so [expletive] cool.”

He added: [In the music industry] a lot of people are in your ear, talking to you and suggesting things. To just maintain a core warmth and kind of magic about what they do and how they approach things, it’s inspiring to me.”

Cody Critcheloe, who directed the video for ‘Spitting Off the Edge of the World’ told The New York Times that O has “a bewitching goddess energy that very few people have — it’s like an aura that kind of takes over the crowd.”

The band are set to release ‘Cool It Down’, the follow-up 2013’s ‘Mosquito‘ on September 30 via Secretly Canadian. In a five-star review of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Manchester show, NME noted that when played live, the new songs from their upcoming album “hint at big, widescreen pop, and pent-up emotion”.

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Yeah Yeah Yeahs are currently on tour with upcoming dates in New York City and Los Angeles. View the full itinerary and ticket details here.