AAPI Heritage Month Featured Artist: Karen O

  • May 2, 2025
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May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month and we are digging into music made by some incredible artists. Today we feature Karen O.

First known as the frontwoman for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Karen O was born in Seoul, South Korea, the daughter of a Korean mother and a Polish father. The family eventually moved to Englewood, New Jersey. About her childhood, she stated that "it's almost embarrassing how well-behaved I was, which is probably why I do things like spit water on myself on stage as an adult". She attended Oberlin College before transferring to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Karen O branched out from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs incendiary rock soon after their debut album, Fever to Tell, was released in 2003. Though she didn't release a full-length solo album until the lo-fi balladry of 2014's Crush Songs, her numerous side projects and collaborations presented different facets to her artistry. Along with loaning her malleable yet distinctive voice to peers such as Santigold and the Flaming Lips, many of her collaborations had a decidedly cinematic bent. Not only did she appear on the soundtracks to David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) and Tim Burton's Frankenweenie (2012), she also made a memorable appearance on David Lynch's album Crazy Clown Time (2011). One of her most enduring creative partnerships was with director Spike Jonze: Her music for 2009's Where the Wild Things Are and 2013's Her garnered Grammy and Academy Award nominations. O brought the tender, fiery, and dramatic sides of her music together on her 2019 collaboration with Danger Mouse, Lux Prima.

The guitarist appeared on Phoebe Bridgers' Punisher and Liam Gallagher's C'mon You Know prior to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' fifth album, September 2022's polished Cool It Down. Named for a song off the Velvet Underground 's Loaded, the album reunited the band with Sitek and balanced introspective, atmospheric songs with radiantly uplifting ones.

Let's celebrate the musical and artistic contributions of Asian and Pacific Islanders artists who enrich the lives of music fans around the world.

Follow along with the @KRCLradio AAPI Month Playlist on Spotify which includes music from Utah's own The Jets to Kilby Block Party artist Jai Paul.

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