Best known as the frontwoman for
the Yeah Yeah Yeahs,
Karen O began branching out from the group's incendiary rock soon after its debut album,
Fever to Tell, was released in 2003. She loaned her vocals to "Hello Tomorrow," a 2005 collaboration with producer
Squeak E. Clean that provided the soundtrack to a Nike shoe commercial directed by
Spike Jonze. In 2008, she debuted the side project
Native Korean Rock, which featured a softer, folkier sound that recalled her pre-
Yeah Yeah Yeahs music. That year, it was announced that
O would provide the soundtrack to
Jonze's film adaptation of
Maurice Sendak's classic children's book Where the Wild Things Are; for the project, she recruited collaborators including composer
Carter Burwell, her
Yeah Yeah Yeahs bandmates
Brian Chase and
Nick Zinner,
Deerhunter's
Bradford Cox,
Liars'
Aaron Hemphill, and
the Raconteurs and
Dead Weather's
Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence. The single "All Is Love" appeared in September 2009, with the full soundtrack arriving a couple of weeks ahead of the film's release date.
–
Heather Phares, Rovi