ON THIS DAY IN 2022 - KAREN O TURNED A REAL BEDROOM FIRE INTO “BURNING”

ON THIS DAY IN 2022 — KAREN O TURNED A REAL BEDROOM FIRE INTO “BURNING” 🔥

When Karen O was 19 and living in New York’s East Village, she stepped across the street for an impromptu drink—and accidentally left a votive candle burning on a plastic storage block in her bedroom. 🕯️

Within roughly an hour and a half, the candle had set the room ablaze. Firefighters arrived and extinguished the fire before Karen returned, but most of her possessions had already been destroyed. Her laptop, cameras and other electronics were melted or ruined. 🚒

Then came the strange part.

Several of the objects carrying the deepest sentimental value survived: sketchbooks, a favorite sweater decorated with hearts and treasured photographs. In pictures of her parents as young people, the flames had burned around them while leaving their images untouched. 📸

Years later, that frightening experience became the emotional foundation of “Burning,” released on Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ fifth album, “Cool It Down,” on September 30, 2022. Karen directly connected the song to the hope that, when the world seems to be on fire, people will do everything possible to protect what they cherish most.

The track also reflected the fires and heavy smoke surrounding Los Angeles in 2020, allowing a private memory of destruction to meet a much larger atmosphere of danger. 🌫️

Musically, Karen O and Nick Zinner also nodded to the Four Seasons’ “Beggin’,” weaving a trace of 1960s soul into the song’s dramatic pulse. What emerged was not simply a recollection of a bedroom blaze, but a song about love, preservation and the fragile things we refuse to surrender. 🎶

Sometimes the most unforgettable part of a fire is what the flames leave behind.

#musicOnOff #YeahYeahYeahs #KarenO #Burning #CoolItDown #IndieRock #MusicHistory