How the Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Maps” inspired the Lemonade hit.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Beyonce aren’t two artists you would think share a commonality in their work; however, one such song from each of their catalogs shares quite a bit of DNA. To begin this connection, we must return to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs break-out debut smash “Maps.” The track was initially inspired by frontwoman Karen O’s heartache over the growing distance between her and her then-boyfriend Angus Andrew:
“To write a love song that stands the test of time … that’s all I ever wanted to do. Especially as I’m a hopeless romantic. So this song is pretty important to me. It came completely out of the ether. He [Angus Andrew] was on tour, and we never saw each other, and I hated it, so I emailed: ‘Why do they get to be with you? They don’t love you like I love you.‘” — Karen O via The Guardian (2019)
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You can not only hear her desperate plea to stay but also see the hurt emotions brought out of Karen O in the song’s music video. The hook of the song, “They don’t love you like I love you,” would be the catalyst for Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig to write a song of his own. This all started with a simple response tweet in 2011 saying, “hold up… they don’t love like I love you.” This already changes the song’s energy from its sense of desperation to fed-up territory. The piece would take shape three years later, in 2014, when Koenig went into the studio with Diplo to cut a demo of the song. It would be during this session that “Hold Up” would get the choral structure we hear today. Originally, the was slated to be for one of Vampire Weekend’s upcoming records, but Koenig was persuaded to send the demo to Beyonce’s camp instead. The song would gain further writing credits from singer-songwriter Father John Misty, real name Josh Tillman. He would tell Stereogum the following about how he contributed to the track:
“About a year and half ago, my friend Emile Haynie played Beyonce some of my music, along with some tunes I’ve written for other people, back when she was looking for collaborators for the record…Pretty soon after they sent along the demo for “Hold Up”, which was just like a minute of the sample and the hook. I’m pretty sure they were just looking for lyrics, but I went crazy and recorded a verse melody and refrain too that, unbelievably — when you consider how ridiculous my voice sounds on the demo — ended up making the record — right between picking up the baseball bat and decapitating the fire hydrant.” — Father John Misty via Stereogum (2016)
The song would also get additional songwriting credits from Andy Williams (for a sample of “Can’t Get Used to Losing You“), Soulja Boy (for an interpolation of his “Turn My Swag), and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (for the interpolation of their hit “Maps“). Beyonce’s take clearly shows a sense of resentment towards his partner’s dissatisfaction and infidelity in their relationship. There is raw honesty and angst in how insane she has felt all this time over the scenario. In the whole story of her epic release Lemonade, it is truly a centerpiece. Karen O had the following to say after hearing the track for herself:
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“I was on the subway around that time. That Saturday night, I was still in the city, on a really crowded subway, and there was a girl listening to it and singing along with it. She had a good voice, too, singing a capella. Just hearing her singing it on the subway — that’s a New York moment for me.
You want to write a song that keeps finding its way back to people. And when one of the biggest pop stars in the world wants to sing it? I was like, “Yeah!” [“Maps”] was one of the earliest ones that we wrote. It happened so nonchalantly. But something about that song resonated and managed to stand the test of time. That’s just awesome — to complete something and send it to sail out to the world.” — Karen O via Rolling Stone (2019)
