Songfacts®:

• After Yeah Yeah Yeahs finished touring their 2013 Mosquito album, they went on hiatus. Vocalist Karen O took time out to have a baby, and multi-instrumentalist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase worked on other projects. The band remained in close contact, and in late 2019 Zinner sent O some song ideas. When the pandemic arrived, followed by the largest wildfire season recorded in California's modern history, O started writing about bringing up a child amid impending ecological doom. This atmospheric, synth-heavy track about climate crisis is the first single released by The Yeah Yeahs since Mosquito.
• On "Spitting Off The Edge Of The World," Karen O finds hope in seeing how the younger generation are confronting climate change with anger and defiance. In particular, "defiance of ruin," she told The Guardian. "It was me wanting to convey to my child that all's not lost."
• TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek is the man behind the boards. The Yeah Yeah Yeah's fellow New Yorker has produced tracks on all four of their albums.
• The Yeah Yeah Yeahs debuted "Spitting" when they played their first show in three years on May 30, 2022 at Los Angeles' Teragram Ballroom.
• The New York rockers released "Spitting" as the first single from Cool It Down. They snagged the album title from the Velvet Underground song of the same name from their 1970 album Loaded.
• Longtime Yeah Yeah Yeahs collaborator, audiovisual artist Cody Critcheloe, directed the video. He first worked with the band back in 2003 when he did the artwork for their Fever To Tell album. "The shoot in Kansas City was dreamlike," said Karen O. "The dreams you have after eating something really greasy right before bed; bizarre, poetic, and intense."
• Singer-songwriter Perfume Genius joins Karen O on the song and also guest stars in the video. "Perfume Genius was incredibly gracious to roll in the very cold mud as my co-pilot and steal scene after scene with his surreal charm," said the Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman.
• "Spitting Off the Edge of the World" plays in the 2025 Apple TV+ science fiction romantic action film The Gorge during a scene where the characters Drasa and Levi dance together. The song also prominently features in the trailer for the movie.