Who was Maps by Yeah Yeah Yeahs written about?

22 September 2023, 19:05

It's 20 years since the classic song was released as a single - but who was the emotional song written for?

It's now a full 20 years since Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their classic single Maps.

Issued on 22nd September 2003, the song was taken from the band's debut album Fever To Tell.

The New York trio of Karen O, Nick Zinner and Brian Chase first performed together on 25 September 2000 at the city's Mercury Lounge, on a bill shared with The White Stripes.

The trio made a splash with their self-titled EP that led off with the risqué Bang released in July 2001.

But it was Yeah Yeah Yeahs' song Maps that brought them to the attention of the wider world. The track was written in about five minutes, as Karen O recalled. She'd heard guitarist Zinner playing the memorable riff and the rest just followed.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps

The song is a simple statement of passion for a particular person: "Wait, they don't love you like I love you" is the refrain.

In the video for the song, Karen is pictured stood on stage in front of a half-empty school hall. The camera closes in on her face as she sings the words. As Zinner goes in for the big, distorted solo, the singer starts to cry.

"They were real tears," Karen told WENN in 2007. "My boyfriend at the time was supposed to come to the shoot - he was three hours late and I was just about to leave for tour."

"I didn't think he was even going to come and this was the song that was written for him. He eventually showed up and I got myself in a real emotional state."

Who was the boyfriend that aroused such genuine emotion? He was Angus Andrew, Australian-born lead singer with New York post punk act Liars. In fact, one rumour has it that "MAPS" stands for "My Angus, Please Stay".

Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Liars toured together frequently in the early 2000s. "It feels right to be on tour with them," Karen O told MTV ahead of a tour with the band in October 2002. "I think it's the most exciting bill ever. If I was a teenager, I'd be on cloud nine. It's going to be a real high-energy, raucous show."

At a show in Sydney, Australia in 2003, Karen fell off the stage and for the band's appearance at the Livid Festival, she was pushed onstage in a wheelchair by Angus Andrew.

But the romance between Karen and Angus wasn't to last. "There's a lot of loooove in that song," she told Rolling Stone in 2006. "But there's a lot of fear, too. I exposed myself so much with that song, I kind of shocked myself."

Following the release of Yeah Yeah Yeah's debut album Fever To Tell in 2003, Karen moved to Los Angeles and the relationship came to an end. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer was linked to video director Spike Jonze. She's now married to British film director Barnaby Clay and they have a five year old son, Django.

Maps still fascinates Karen O. “I’m endlessly curious about that song because it’s just strange to me," she told the BBC in September 2019. "I remember it was like a daydream making that song; it just happened so kinda effortlessly and so incidentally.”

When Yeah Yeah Yeahs celebrated their 20th anniversary in September 2020, Karen O linked up with Nick Zinner and Brian Chase via video to play their biggest hit from home... Maps. The video began with young Django Clay opening a cupboard door to reveal the band.

And the song still has the same bewitching effect today, as proved by the band's spine-tingling rendition of the track at this year's All Points East festival, where they were on the bill alongside their NYC indie forerunners The Strokes.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs play Maps at All Points East 2023

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