One of the best compliments I ever received was, “You remind me of Karen O. Because you’re so weird.” It seems that over time, however, we’ve both toned the weirdness down a notch, as you can see in the fresh new video for “Despair.” She IS wearing what seems to be a Hawaiian-tuxedo-meets-punk-bullfighter-costume, and that’s sufficiently quirky enough, I suppose. But I miss the days of red lamé superhero costumes, and terrifying, violent children filmed with a grainy filter.
Like, seriously, what the fuck. The less a music video make sense, the better it is. Fact.
The video was directed by Patrick Daughters, the same mind behind “Maps” and “Gold Lion.” “Despair,” though, is two whole minutes of acapella in some hipster disco and four minutes of Karen bouncing around the Empire State Building with the other two weird-looking guys in the band that I would probably do (AKA Nick Zinner and Brian Chase). You get a good view of the New York City skyline and her parka, but mostly I’m visually underwhelmed.
On the other hand, it’s quite possible to get a rush from the song itself, which is pretty traditional Yeah Yeah Yeah’s fare, and that could make the start of the work week significantly less dismal. I wouldn’t recommend any parka-wearing or aerobics today, though; trust me, it’s sweltering in the City.
Check it out below and see if it fulfills your own personal weirdness quota!
