Artist: Karen O
Album: Crush Songs
Label: Cult Records
Release Date: September 9, 2014
Track Name: “Rapt”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs front woman Karen O has begun to shed her kick-ass rocker girl exterior and reveal her sensitive side in her new single, “Rapt”.
After 14 years in the music industry and one Oscar nomination for “The Moon Song”, she is heading into uncharted territory by releasing her first ever solo album titled Crush Songs on Julian Casablancas’ label in September. The album is a compilation of lo-fi bedroom recordings from 2006 and 2007 that documented O’s “ever continuing love crusade”. “Rapt” is the first single off the album and serves as a solid preview of what is to come.
“Rapt” is like “The Moon Song’s” angsty sister. Both tracks feature O’s powerful vocals with an acoustic guitar as company. In “Rapt”, O trades in her sweet, almost whisper-like vocals used in “The Moon Song” for powerful, pissed-off pleading. The high points of the track are O’s simple yet striking lyrics that are reminiscent of ramblings scribbled down by a heartbroken teen. The song ends with a high-pitched yelp from O, which gives the song a loveable quirk that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Moldy Peaches album. Although the track itself is not musically groundbreaking, O is able to tap into those all too familiar feelings of desire and confusion that come along with unrequited love in under two minutes. The final result is something that is almost uncomfortably relatable. If the rest of Crush Songs is anything like “Rapt”, they should probably sell the album with a box of tissues.