Karen O

Karen O

Karen Lee Orzolek was born in Busan, South Korea, as the daughter of a Korean mother and a Polish father. The family later relocated to Englewood, New Jersey, where she spent her formative years and completed her education at The Elisabeth Morrow School and Dwight-Englewood School. Reflecting on her upbringing, she remarked, "I was exceptionally obedient during my childhood, perhaps explaining my tendency to engage in unconventional acts like splashing water on myself while performing on stage as an adult." She initially pursued her studies at Oberlin College before transferring to the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.


Karen O is renowned as the lead singer of the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Recognized for her distinctive fashion sense, she often showcases outfits crafted by her close friend, fashion designer Christian Joy. During the early stages of the band's career, Karen O gained notoriety for her lively performances on stage.


While on tour for the 2003 Livid Festival in Australia, a mishap occurred during a sideshow at The Metro in Sydney when Karen O accidentally danced off the stage and had to be reluctantly escorted to a hospital. A few days later, during the Sydney leg of the Livid Festival, she made a memorable entrance onstage in a wheelchair, pushed by Angus Andrew.
In 2007, Karen O was ranked third on Spinner's "Women Who Rock Right Now" list. The following year, she unveiled a side project named Native Korean Rock alongside fellow musicians from New York City, with two intimate performances at Union Pool in Brooklyn on July 21st.


Throughout her career, Karen O has contributed her vocals to various projects. She provided backing vocals, animal sounds, and other noises for several tracks on The Flaming Lips album "Embryonic" in 2009. Additionally, she collaborated with David Lynch on his debut album "Crazy Clown Time" in 2011, and with experimental rock group Swans on the album "The Seer" in 2012. She also appeared on Santigold's album "Master of My Make-Believe," contributing vocals to the song "GO!"


Karen O's vocal style has been described as "ethereal" and occasionally "yelping." She emphasized the band's need to maintain a strong presence, stating, "We still have to grab people by the collar ... We put out a record every three years now; we could easily be forgotten. If you look at a lot of our peers that we came up with, a lot of them have disappeared."


Furthermore, Karen O has collaborated with James Iha on his second solo LP "Look to the Sky" in 2012. In 2014, Target featured her rendition of the song "A Marshmallow World." She also remade Animotion's "Obsession," written by legendary songwriter Holly Knight, for the STARZ show "Flesh and Bone" in 2015. Additionally, she composed a song in tribute to Nellie Bly, which was used in a Google doodle commemorating Bly's 151st birthday on May 5, 2015. In the same year, Microsoft enlisted Karen O to create a theme song for Square Enix's game "Rise of the Tomb Raider," resulting in the track "I Shall Rise."


Karen O's collaborations extend beyond her own projects. In the soundtrack for the 2005 horror film House of Wax, she lent her vocals to the track "Cut Me Up" by Har Mar Superstar. Additionally, for the movie Jackass 2, Karen O joined forces with electronic artist Peaches and Johnny Knoxville to create the track "Backass." In Jackass 3D, she covered Roger Alan Wade's "If You're Gonna Be Dumb," alternatively titled "If You're Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough."


In 2007, Karen O contributed her vocals to a rendition of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" for the soundtrack of the film I'm Not There. Furthermore, she performed a short song at the end of episode 409, "Brothers Cinco," of the Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! She also has a song titled "Strange Love" featured on the album "Frankenweenie Unleashed!"
Karen O collaborated with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on a cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" for the soundtrack of the 2011 film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, where Reznor and Ross composed the score.


Karen O and Spike Jonze collaborated on a 2005 Adidas commercial titled "Hello Tomorrow," following Jonze's direction of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 2004 single "Y Control" music video. Karen O composed the entire soundtrack for Jonze's film Where the Wild Things Are, with the exception of a cover of the Daniel Johnston song "Worried Shoes," in collaboration with Carter Burwell. She is credited on the soundtrack as "Karen O and the Kids." The song "All Is Love," penned by Karen O and Nick Zinner and featured in the soundtrack, earned a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media at the 2010 Grammy Awards.


In addition, Karen O contributed "The Moon Song" to Jonze's 2013 film Her. The collaboration led to Karen O and Jonze receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "The Moon Song" in 2014.


Jonze directed the music video for "Woman," performed by Karen O & Danger Mouse, which was shot live in one take as the duo performed on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

References

1.  Marks, Craig (February 25, 2009). "Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Stayin' Alive". Spin. Retrieved November 22, 2010. On a wintry evening in late November [2008], Karen O celebrated her 30th birthday by ...
2. ^ Phares, Heather. "Karen O". AllMusic. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
3. ^ Chi, Minnie (July 18, 2003). "Half Korean, 100% Rock Star". Asia Pacific Arts. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. Retrieved April 26, 2008.
4. a b Sheffield, Rob (April 7, 2006). "Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Goth, Nerd, Slut". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 21, 2007. Retrieved November 24, 2007.
5. ^ Catucci, Nick (March 29, 2009). "The Yeah Yeah Yeahs Return With New Album 'It's Blitz!'". New York Magazine. New York. Retrieved August 13, 2010.
6. ^ La Gorce, Tammy. "Success Stories In New Jersey Rock: The Un-Springsteen", The New York Times, November 16, 2003. Accessed January 2, 2008. "All of which is fine by Ms. O, 24, an Englewood native who still lives in Bergen County but declined to say where. Any rock star who struts around in outfits made specifically for her by the designer Christian Joy can expect some of that, she said."
7. ^ Kleimann, James. "Englewood Native's Band First in History to Perform on Empire State Building; Indie darlings the Yeah Yeah Yeahs filmed the music video "Despair" in April on top of the famous building.", Englewood-Englewood Cliffs Patch, June 26, 2013. Accessed June 14, 2018. "Karen O, the stage name of Karen Lee Orzolek, a Dwight Englewood grad, kept the filming a secret for logistical and creative reasons, she told the Times."