Maps (Yeah Yeah Yeahs song)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs were formed in 2000 by singer/songwriter Karen O and guitarist Nick Zinner as a "trashy, punky, [and] grimy" band inspired by their observations of the contemporary Ohio music scene. Before their debut performance as an opening act for the White Stripes, drummer Brian Chase was added to the lineup a day before the show, making a trio. By the end of 2002, the band's first extended play and energetic live shows netted them international attention. They rejected subsequent offers from major record labels to finance and produce their debut album, Fever to Tell, as they felt it would compromise their creative control. "Maps" began with a guitar riff played on a whim by Zinner in the band's home. Karen O recalls, "I was walking past his door, I heard the sample and came in and I was like, 'What is that?' And then five minutes later I was singing basically the lyrics to it and then it was there, It was like one of those songs that wrote itself in like five minutes." The earliest demos of the song were released as part of the deluxe edition of Fever to Tell. "Maps" was recorded by the band at Headgear Studio in Brooklyn and co-produced with David Andrew Sitek (TV on the Radio), who later became their longtime collaborator. It was mixed by Zinner and Alan Moulder at Eden Studios in London, and mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk in New York City. The single artwork was designed by Cody Critcheloe, who also provided the graphics for Fever to Tell and its related media. == Composition ==

"Maps" is characterized as an art punk, soul ballad and indie rock song with a runtime of three minutes and 34 seconds. According to sheet music published by editors at Universal Music Publishing Group, it is composed in time in the key of G major. The song begins with a riff played by Zinner for some eight bars, which consists of a single D note. Chase's drum parts include a kick being played on nearly every note and a stuttering snare drum. Karen O's vocals, which range from G3 to D4, The famous repeated chorus line, "They don't love you like I love you", was taken from an email she had sent Andrew. She intended to create a "love song that stands the test of time" about "missing someone". It is often suggested that "Maps" is an acronym for "My Angus Please Stay," although this has never been addressed by the band. ==Reception==

"Maps" was released in the United Kingdom on September 22, 2003, through Polydor Records; In his review of Fever to Tell, Eric Carr of Pitchfork deemed "Maps" said Zinner's guitars were "easily his best to date" and Karen O's vocals "drip genuine, regretful emotion [...] the emotive response it produces is very real, and that means a lot." Writing for Variety magazine, David Sprague likened "Maps" to a "Diane Warren-penned punk power ballad" and said the song "revealed enough dogged determination to suggest they’ll be just as tough to push around (in the 2000s garage rock and post-punk revivals)." ==Music video==

from the music video The music video for "Maps" was directed by Patrick Daughters, his first of many for the band. It depicts the band playing in an audition in a high school gymnasium with different light filters changing the color of the room; Karen O is memorably seen crying in the video, which was not staged. She explains: "They were real tears. My boyfriend at the time (Andrew) 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." The "Maps" music video was played extensively on MTV; this, along with a notable performance by the band at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards, heightened the single's success. At the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, the video was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Cinematography and the MTV2 Award. At the 2004 MTVU Woodie Awards, it was nominated for Woodie of the Year. == Legacy ==

'' and established Yeah Yeah Yeahs as prominent figures in the 2000s garage rock and post-punk revival. Pictured from left to right are Brian Chase, Karen O and Nick Zinner in 2002. "Maps" became Yeah Yeah Yeahs's signature song and cemented their status in the 2000s garage rock and post-punk revivals. Emma Madden of Billboard believed the song and its music video "helped change the way we view the relationship between pop and indie", writing that "Those real tears, sweaty hair and desperate insistence of "Wait! They don't love you like I love you" became a source of true human emotion that pop records have been co-opting since its release in 2003." Reflecting on the song's impact, Karen O said, "It's a love song, and there’s just not a lot of bands that have one of their biggest songs as a love song. So I'm pretty stoked about that". NME deemed "Maps" the best alternative love song of all time in 2011; the same publication ranked it at number 55 on its list of "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years" that same year. Rolling Stone ranked it at number seven on their "100 Best Songs of the 2000s" list and number 386 on their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list, both in 2011; the 2021 revision of the latter moved it to number 101. Rolling Stone also ranked it second on their list of "The 250 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century So Far" in 2025. In September 2024, a sped-up version of "Maps" gained popularity on TikTok. A dance was created along with it where it used different contexts of wanting someone to stop and listen to them. As a result, the song charted at number one on the US TikTok Billboard Top 50 the following month. == Other versions ==

"Maps" has been covered, sampled and remixed by several artists. Kelly Clarkson's 2004 single "Since U Been Gone," which was written and produced by Max Martin and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald, is heavily inspired by "Maps" and features similar composition; Karen O said noticing the similarity was "like getting bitten by a poisonous varmint." Beyoncé's "Hold Up," a song recorded by Beyoncé for her 2016 album, Lemonade, contains an interpolation of the "Maps" lyric, "Wait, they don't love you like I love you." Yeah Yeah Yeahs received songwriting credits for the sample. Other artists include the White Stripes, Arcade Fire, Black Eyed Peas, Macy Gray, Cary Brothers, Priscilla Ahn, The Fray, Anderson .Paak, The Bad Plus, Freya Ridings, Keaton Henson, Samia, The Killers, Sasami, The Wood Brothers, and Thou. ==Track listing==

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