"Spitting Off the Edge of the World" is a song by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs,featuring American musician Perfume Genius,from their fifth studio album,Cool It Down (2022). It was released by Secretly Canadian as the album's lead single in June 2022,marking their first single release in nine years. Written by the band and producer David Andrew Sitek,"Spitting Off the Edge of the World" is a power ballad with lyrics inspired by singer Karen O's thoughts on the climate crisis.
"Spitting Off the Edge of the World" was praised by reviewers and nominated for the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance in 2024;it reached the top 30 of three digital charts and topped Billboard's television chart in 2025.
Background
In April 2013,Yeah Yeah Yeahs achieved their highest peak on the US Billboard 200 with their fourth studio album,Mosquito,at number five.[1] In December 2014,lead singer and pianist Karen O announced the band were "on a bit of hiatus" due to a lack of inspiration.[2] Yeah Yeah Yeahs announced their comeback in June 2017,[3] sparsely playing shows over the next five years and reissuing their debut studio album,Fever to Tell,in the interim.[4][5] In May 2022,the band announced new music.[6]
"Spitting Off the Edge of the World" is an indie rock song and power ballad that runs for four minutes and seventeen seconds.[9] The song's lyrics were inspired by Karen O's thoughts on both the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] It is characterized by synthesizers,"keening" riffs and "crashing" drums,creating what critics have called an "ominous" atmosphere.[11] Karen O sings lead with guest vocals performed by Perfume Genius,the first time a first Yeah Yeah Yeahs includes a featured artist.[12]
"Spitting Off the Edge of the World" received positive reviews and was nominated for the inaugural Best Alternative Music Performance award at the 2023 Grammys.[19] Stacey Anderson of NPR praised the "great,filmic swaths of synths","ominous production",and vocal performances;Perfume Genius's feature was also welcomed,with Anderson writing "together they build slowly through this pain,ultimately embracing an aura of heels-down defiance,a faith in the path of resistance."[20]Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal awarded the song a best new track title and wrote,"Karen [O]'s delivery is painfully vulnerable one moment and strident the next,pinging between existential hopelessness and mighty resistance. The song's titular refrain nails this internal conflict—a small act of defiance hocked into a bottomless abyss."[11] Jem Aswad at Variety similarly deemed it a "killer new song",praising Brian Chase's "powerhouse drumming,Zinner's towering guitars and O's unmistakable vocals" and comparing it to the sound of their 2009 album,It's Blitz!.[21]
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