Karen O
Encyclopedia
Karen Lee Orzolek better known by her stage name Karen O, is the vocalist for New York rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo, who joined as a touring...

.

Early life

Karen O was born in November 1978 in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 to a Korean
Korean people
The Korean people are an ethnic group originating in the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. Koreans are one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous groups in the world.-Names:...

 mother and a Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

 father. She eventually moved to the United States, where she grew up in Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 27,147.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of...

. She has commented on her childhood: "It's almost embarrassing how well-behaved I was, which is probably why I do things like spit water on myself onstage as an adult." She attended Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...

, but transferred to New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

's Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....

. She is now based in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

.

Career

Karen O is best known as the frontwoman for the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo, who joined as a touring...

. She has also been noted for her sense of fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...

, wearing ostentatious outfits made by her friend, fashion designer Christian Joy
Christian Joy
Christian Joy is an American fashion designer best known for her stage costume designs for Yeah Yeah Yeahs lead singer Karen O. Using found articles and occasionally eschewing thread and print for glue and marker pens she has influenced contemporary fashion with punk and DIY...

. In the early days of the band, she became well known for her outrageous antics during live shows.

Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

made an offer for her to pose on their cover. Karen O said on the subject, "I was approached but I said no. Who knows though? Maybe I'll do it in the future, but now doesn't seem to be the right time." Since then, however, Karen stated in an interview with Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 magazine that she has changed her mind and would never do Playboy because of the audience that Playboy magazine attracts.

During a tour for the 2003 Livid
Livid
Livid was an Australian alternative rock music festival held annually from 1989 to 2003. Masterminded by Peter Walsh and Natalie Jeremijenko, the original idea of showcasing both the arts and music in the one event was standardised as late as October/early November from 1991 until 2003...

 Festival in Australia, at a sideshow at The Metro in Sydney, she accidentally danced off the stage and was reluctantly taken to a hospital. A few days later at the Sydney leg of the Livid Festival, she appeared in a wheelchair pushed by Angus Andrew.

Karen O won Spin Magazine's Sex Goddess Award in both 2004 and 2005. In 2006, she was named one of rock's hottest women by Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....

. In 2007, Karen O placed #3 on Spinner.com
Spinner.com
Spinner is an AOL Music property, which bills itself as "the ultimate music blog for free MP3s, free CD listening, [and] discovering new artists."...

's Women Who Rock Right Now. In February 2010, she won a Shockwaves NME Award
NME Awards
The NME Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine, NME .The first awards show was held in 1953 as the NME Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding of the magazine....

 for the Hottest Woman.

She began working on a small side project called Native Korean Rock
Native Korean Rock
Native Korean Rock is the side project of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' frontwoman, Karen O. She premiered the act at Union Pool in New York City on July 21, 2008. It features much slower, lo-fi and more romantic songs compared to those of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs....

 and the Fishnets with fellow NYC musicians in 2008.

In 2009 she contributed backing vocals, screaming animal sounds and noises to the songs "Gemini Syringes", "I Can Be A Frog" and "Watching the Planets" on The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...

 album Embryonic
Embryonic
Embryonic received general acclaim from critics upon release, garnering a 81/100 critic score on Metacritic. The New Musical Express noted that "ten years after their last masterpiece, The Flaming Lips have finally produced another one," while Paste Magazine described the record as "a wonderfully...

.

On the collaboration-project "N.A.S.A. The Spirit of Apollo", she appears on the track "Strange Enough", together with Ol' Dirty Bastard
Ol' Dirty Bastard
Russell Tyrone Jones was an American rapper and occasional producer, who went by the stage name Ol' Dirty Bastard or simply ODB...

 and Fatlip
Fatlip
Fatlip is a Los Angeles-born hip hop musician. He started his career in the hip hop group The Pharcyde.-The Pharcyde:...

.

O's vocal approach has been described as "ethereal", sometimes compared to indie folk
Indie folk
Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s from singer/songwriters in the indie rock community showing heavy influences from folk music scenes of the 50s, 60s and early 70s, country music, and indie rock. A few early artists included Lou Barlow, Beck, Jeff Buckley and Elliott Smith...

 artist Quinn Marston
Quinn Marston
Quinn Marston is an American indie folk singer-songwriter based in New York City. Her music has been featured on TV shows such as One Tree Hill, Ghost Whisperer, and The Gates, as well as being aired on radio stations such as 101.5 FM...

, and has been described as "yelping" at times. She described her approach:

Soundtrack work

She was featured in the track "Cut Me Up" by Har Mar Superstar
Har Mar Superstar
Sean Matthew Tillmann , better known by his stage names of Har Mar Superstar and Sean Na Na, is an American singer.-Life and career:...

 for the soundtrack to the 2005 horror film House of Wax
House of Wax (2005 film)
House of Wax is a 2005 horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. It shares the name of a 1953 horror film, which was a remake of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum. It was released in theaters on May 6, 2005 to negative reviews, but a financial success...

. For the movie Jackass 2, Karen O collaborated with electronic artist Peaches
Peaches (musician)
Merrill Beth Nisker , better known by her stage name Peaches, is a Canadian electronic musician and performance artist who lives in Berlin, Germany. Her songs are noted for disregarding traditional gender norms and their use of sexually explicit lyrics...

 and Johnny Knoxville
Johnny Knoxville
Philip John Clapp , better known by his stage name Johnny Knoxville, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, stunt performer, best known for being the co-creator and principal star of the MTV reality series Jackass, with the catchphrase "I'm Johnny Knoxville, and welcome to Jackass."-Early...

 to record a track entitled "Backass"; for Jackass 3D
Jackass 3D
Jackass 3D is a 2010 American 3D comedy film and the fourth film in the Jackass series. It was released on October 15, 2010 by Paramount Pictures and MTV Films to American theaters and marked the 10th anniversary of the franchise, which started in 2000...

, she covered the Roger Alan Wade
Roger Alan Wade
Roger Alan Wade is an American singer-songwriter.According to his website, Roger Alan Wade penned songs for country legends such as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, George Jones and Hank Williams Jr. He embarked on a solo career with the promotional assistance of his cousin, actor Johnny Knoxville,...

's "If You're Gonna Be Dumb" under the alternative title of "If You're Gonna Be Dumb, You Gotta Be Tough". In 2007, she also contributed vocals to a version of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

's "Highway 61 Revisited
Highway 61 Revisited (song)
"Highway 61 Revisited" is the title track of Bob Dylan's 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited. It was also released as the B-side to the single "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" later the same year...

" for the I'm Not There
I'm Not There
I'm Not There is a 2007 biographical musical film directed by Todd Haynes, inspired by iconic American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Six actors depict different facets of Dylan's life and public persona: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw...

movie soundtrack. At the end of episode 409, "Brothers Cinco", of the Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is an American sketch comedy television series, created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, which premiered February 11, 2007 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim comedy block and ran until May 2010...

she performed a short song.

In May 2011 it was reported that Karen O had collaborated with Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...

 on a cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song
Immigrant Song
"Immigrant Song" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released as a single from their third album, Led Zeppelin III, in 1970.-Overview:...

" for the soundtrack to the English-language version of the film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011 film)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an upcoming English-language drama thriller film that is the second film based on the Swedish novel of the same name by Stieg Larsson. The first film was the 2009 Swedish-language adaptation. The upcoming film is written by Steven Zaillian and directed by David...

, for which Reznor is composing the score.

Where the Wild Things Are

Karen O composed all of the songs on the soundtrack
Where the Wild Things Are: Motion Picture Soundtrack
Where the Wild Things Are: Motion Picture Soundtrack: Original Songs by Karen O and the Kids is the soundtrack to the film of the same name by Karen O and the Kids. The album was released on September 29, 2009 in compact disc, digital download, and vinyl record formats.-Background:Karen O, the...

 of Where the Wild Things Are
Where the Wild Things Are (film)
Where the Wild Things Are is a 2009 American fantasy drama film directed by Spike Jonze and adapted from Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's book Where the Wild Things Are. It combines live action, performers in costumes, animatronics, and computer-generated imagery...

(with the exception of a cover of the Daniel Johnston
Daniel Johnston
Daniel Dale Johnston is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and artist. Johnston was the subject of the 2006 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston. He currently lives in Waller, Texas....

 song,"Worried Shoes") in collaboration with Carter Burwell
Carter Burwell
Carter Benedict Burwell is an American composer of film scores.-Life and career:Burwell was born in New York City, the son of Natalie , a math teacher, and Charles Burwell, who founded Thaibok Fabrics, Ltd...

. The film was directed by her former boyfriend Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...

. She is listed on the soundtrack as "Karen O and the Kids". Karen O and her Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complemented in live performances by second guitarist David Pajo, who joined as a touring...

 bandmate Nick Zinner
Nick Zinner
Nicholas Joseph Zinner is the guitarist for the New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. He is known for his "unmistakable" wild hair, skinny physique, and pale appearance...

 co-wrote "All is Love
All Is Love
"All Is Love" is a song written by Karen O and Nick Zinner for the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are. The song was recorded by Karen O and the Kids, a group consisting of O, Zinner, and several other prominent indie rock musicians, and released as the lead single from the film's soundtrack on...

", which was nominated for the "Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media
The Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media has been awarded since 1988 and is awarded to songs written for films, television, video games or other visual media...

", a songwriter's award, at the 2010 Grammy Awards
52nd Grammy Awards
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, two days prior to the Grammy telecast. Only ten of the 109 awards were received during the broadcast...

.

Video work

In 2004 Karen O, using the moniker Marshmellow, directed the music video for "We Fenced Other Gardens with the Bones of Our Own" by the Liars
Liars (band)
Liars is a three-piece band formed in 2000 consisting of Angus Andrew , Aaron Hemphill , and Julian Gross...

, fronted by her then boyfriend Angus Andrew. The following year she directed the "Blessed Evening
Love (Foetus album)
Love is a Foetus album released on CD by Ectopic Ents/Birdman Records in 2005. Initial copies include a DVD disc with additional content.Love is Ectopic Ents #ECT ENTS 027.-CD:All songs by J. G...

" video for Foetus
Foetus (band)
Foetus is the primary musical outlet of industrial music pioneer J. G. Thirlwell. Until 1995 the band underwent various name changes, all including the word foetus. Monikers adopted at different times include Foetus Under Glass, You've Got Foetus On Your Breath and Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel...

 with her then boyfriend Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...

 working as cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...

. In 2006 she directed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' video "Cheated Hearts".

Under the moniker Kids With Canes, Karen O and her boyfriend Barney Clay directed the music video for the Tiny Masters of Today
Tiny Masters of Today
Tiny Masters of Today are an American indie punk rock band, consisting of siblings Ivan and Ada and their friend Jackson all members are from Brooklyn, New York.- The Early Years :...

 song "Hologram World
Hologram World
"Hologram World" is a song by the Tiny Masters of Today. The single features the song "Hologram World", the XFM version of "Hologram World" and the music video for "Radio Riot" directed by Nick Chatfield-Taylor. It was released in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2008. Alternate versions of the...

", released on February 8, 2008. Karen also contributed vocals to the song, served as choreographer
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...

 of the video, in which she appears along with Yeah Yeah Yeahs bandmates Nick Zinner
Nick Zinner
Nicholas Joseph Zinner is the guitarist for the New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. He is known for his "unmistakable" wild hair, skinny physique, and pale appearance...

 and Brian Chase
Brian Chase
Brian Chase is an American drummer playing in the New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. He was ranked at #50 in Gigwise's list of The Greatest Drummers of All Time. He plays drums with traditional grip.-Early life:...

 as well as Mike D from the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

, Gibby Haynes
Gibby Haynes
Gibson Jerome "Gibby" Haynes is an American musician, radio personality, and painter, and the lead singer of the group Butthole Surfers.-Early life and career:...

 from the Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers is an American alternative rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second...

, Russell Simins from the Blues Explosion and Sam James from The Mooney Suzuki
The Mooney Suzuki
The Mooney Suzuki is an American garage rock band that formed in New York City in 1996. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Sammy James, Jr., guitarist Graham Tyler, bassist John Paul Ribas and drummer Will Rockwell-Scott, the band has released four studio albums – People Get Ready ,...

.

The KO At Home demo leak

On December 10, 2006, a home-recorded album titled KO at Home
KO at Home
__FORCETOC__KO at Home is a demo CD by Karen O that was leaked onto the Internet in mid-December 2006.- History :Karen O recorded 14 songs in her own home several years before they were unearthed in late 2006. The demo mostly consists of acoustic songs, with several different tracks on each...

was leaked via an invite-only BitTorrent tracking site. The album, originally a personal gift to Dave Sitek of the NYC band TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio
TV on the Radio is an American art rock band formed in 2001 in Brooklyn, New York, whose music spans numerous diverse genres, from post-punk to electro and free jazz to soul music....

, was discovered inside a suitcase Sitek left behind in a New York City apartment. The disc's 14 tracks and scan of the cover – a photograph of Karen O with a poem written by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...

 on the back – quickly spread. The music news site stereogum.com broke the story of the leak the following morning and continued their coverage when Sitek lashed out at the fan who leaked the demos. Eventually Sitek followed up his comments with an apology letter. Karen O's response to the leak was "shit happens
Shit happens
"Shit happens" is a common slang phrase, used as a simple existential observation that life is full of imperfections, either "Así es la vida" or "C'est la vie". The phrase is an acknowledgment that bad things happen to people for no particular reason. Phrases with similar meaning are such as "stuff...

" and although she was somewhat "grossed out," she offered advice on which of the songs she liked the most, namely the tracks "Pumpkin" and "Snakes and Worms".

External links

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