Mosquito

Album: Mosquito (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • The title track of American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs fourth album finds Karen O singing about those pesky blood-sucking insects. She told NME: "I basically wanted to write songs about things that I felt strongly about and mosquitoes turned out to be one of those things - I have a strong dislike for mosquitoes. I'm surprised there aren't more songs about mosquitoes actually."
  • The album cover was created by Korean-born, San Diego-based illustrator and animator Beomsik Shimbe Shim. He told NME: "I imagined a giant, hairy, female mosquito dragging up a helpless boy into the night sky. It could be happening onstage while Karen O is singing - or even in your room at night."
    He added: "Karen really wanted the mosquito to be a sexy and beautifully gross female. In the end I considered the mosquito as Karen O herself- the warrior-like female rock star."
  • Fun Fact: Did you know that mosquitoes are particularly attracted to people that have recently eaten bananas?
  • Karen O told UK newspaper The Sun the band thought 'Mosquito' was a great album title, "as they've been around since prehistoric times and aren't going anywhere."
  • The Shimbe Shim-directed video takes a rather literal interpretation of the track whereby a mosquito lands on a little boy's hand and starts sucking his blood, changing color with each gulp.

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