# Spitting Off the Edge of the World
**"Spitting Off the Edge of the World"** is a song by the American indie rock band [Yeah Yeah Yeahs](https://www.edgepedia.org/yeah-yeah-yeahs), featuring the singer-songwriter [Perfume Genius](https://www.edgepedia.org/perfume-genius) (Mike Hadreas), released on June 1, 2022 as the lead single from their fifth studio album *Cool It Down*.[1](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/yeah-yeah-yeahs-return-with-new-track-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world-18128/) It was the band's first new song in nearly a decade, following 2013's *Mosquito*, and it opened an album whose title is borrowed from a Velvet Underground track.[1](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/yeah-yeah-yeahs-return-with-new-track-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world-18128/) • [2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/yeah-yeah-yeahs-come-back-spitting/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | June 1, 2022, via Secretly Canadian; lead single and opening track of *Cool It Down*[1](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/yeah-yeah-yeahs-return-with-new-track-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world-18128/) • [3](https://yeahyeahyeahs.bandcamp.com/album/cool-it-down) |
| Length | 4:17[3](https://yeahyeahyeahs.bandcamp.com/album/cool-it-down) |
| Featured artist | Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas), sharing vocal duties with Karen O[1](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/yeah-yeah-yeahs-return-with-new-track-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world-18128/) |
| Producer | Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio, the band's longtime producer[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/yeah-yeah-yeahs-come-back-spitting/) |
| Songwriters | Karen Orzolek, Nick Zinner, Brian Chase, and David Andrew Sitek[4](https://music.apple.com/mu/song/1623183246) |
| Recognition | Pitchfork "Best New Track"; nominated for the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Performance[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/yeah-yeah-yeahs-come-back-spitting/) • [5](https://www.grammy.com/awards/categories/best-alternative-music-performance/2023/) |
| Year-end ranking | Number 3 on The Guardian's 20 best songs of 2022[6](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/05/the-20-best-songs-of-2022) |
## Background and release
The song arrived on June 1, 2022, alongside the announcement of *Cool It Down*, the band's first album since *Mosquito* (2013) and their first release for the label Secretly Canadian.[1](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/yeah-yeah-yeahs-return-with-new-track-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world-18128/) • [7](https://pitchfork.com/news/yeah-yeah-yeahs-announce-first-new-song-in-9-years/) The album was released on September 30, 2022, with "Spitting Off the Edge of the World" as the opener of its eight tracks.[3](https://yeahyeahyeahs.bandcamp.com/album/cool-it-down)
[Karen O](https://www.edgepedia.org/karen-o) said the song was inspired in part by the looming climate catastrophe: "I see the younger generations staring down this threat, and they're standing on the edge of a precipice, confronting what's coming with anger and defiance. It's galvanizing, and there's hope there."[1](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/yeah-yeah-yeahs-return-with-new-track-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world-18128/) In a Guardian interview she described the track's mood as "defiance of ruin. It was me wanting to convey to my child that all's not lost."[8](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/03/yeah-yeah-yeahs-return-karen-o-radical-freedom) According to an NME review, she said the song was a byproduct of evoking [David Bowie](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-bowie) in the studio and tapping into his "frequency of artistry", and that Hadreas was recruited because "Mike really has a bit of Bowie in him".[9](https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/yeah-yeah-yeahs-cool-it-down-review-3318061) In a New Yorker interview she said that a piece by producer Dave Sitek turned into "Spitting off the Edge of the World", and linked the song's climate themes to California's wildfires, heat waves, and drought.[10](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/karen-o-has-found-a-more-joyful-kind-of-wildness)
## Music and lyrics
The track is a slow-building power ballad driven by expansive synthesizers, with Karen O and Perfume Genius trading and combining vocals as crashing drums and keening guitar build to a large peak.[1](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/yeah-yeah-yeahs-return-with-new-track-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world-18128/) • [2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/yeah-yeah-yeahs-come-back-spitting/) Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal, a critic who has written for the publication since 2005, described the synths as the kind found on records by M83 or Vangelis, and read the song as Karen O facing "impending climate collapse", pinging between "existential hopelessness and mighty resistance".[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/yeah-yeah-yeahs-come-back-spitting/) The opening lines run "Cowards, here's the sun / So bow your heads / In the absence of bombs", and Hadreas sings the pre-chorus line "She's melting houses of gold".[4](https://music.apple.com/mu/song/1623183246) • [11](https://www.phonotonal.com/2022/06/yeah-yeah-yeahs-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world/) In the second verse Karen O adopts the voice of the younger generation with the line "Mama, what have you done?"[6](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/05/the-20-best-songs-of-2022)
The Guardian's Laura Snapes read the song as Karen O seething at politicians who put capitalism ahead of climate, with the burning sun melting their "houses of gold" as bittersweet vindication.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/05/the-20-best-songs-of-2022) Pitchfork's album review noted that the song slows the drum beat of the band's earlier opener "Gold Lion" to a mechanized crawl, trading folky guitar strums for the cosmic churning of synthesizers.[12](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/yeah-yeah-yeahs-cool-it-down/)
## Music video
The video was directed by Cody Critcheloe, also known as Ssion, a longtime Yeah Yeah Yeahs collaborator.[1](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/yeah-yeah-yeahs-return-with-new-track-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world-18128/) ABC's Rage described it as a loosely linked episodic narrative in which band members spit from great heights, return possessed from the grave, ride a [Mad Max](https://www.edgepedia.org/mad-max)-style limousine, and explode in a gasoline fight, culminating in a live performance.[13](https://www.abc.net.au/rage/features/yeah-yeah-yeahs-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world/101122736) Pitchfork noted its peak image of Karen O standing atop a spiky, gas-guzzling limousine while Perfume Genius, in undead makeup, steers down the highway, ending with a dive-bar-style performance.[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/yeah-yeah-yeahs-come-back-spitting/)
## Reception
Pitchfork awarded the song its "Best New Track" designation on June 2, 2022.[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/yeah-yeah-yeahs-come-back-spitting/) At the end of the year, The Guardian ranked it number 3 in its 20 best songs of 2022, writing that it was the band's first song to straddle both "vituperative disgust" and "heart-melting compassion".[6](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/05/the-20-best-songs-of-2022) Pitchfork's own year-end list also included the track, calling it a quietly epic song centered on the emerging generation.[14](https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-songs-2022/)
The song was one of the first nominees for the newly created Grammy Award category Best Alternative Music Performance at the 2023 ceremony, alongside [Arctic Monkeys](https://www.edgepedia.org/arctic-monkeys), Big Thief, Florence + the Machine, and [Wet Leg](https://www.edgepedia.org/wet-leg); Wet Leg won with "Chaise Longue".[5](https://www.grammy.com/awards/categories/best-alternative-music-performance/2023/) • [15](https://time.com/6251940/grammys-2023-predictions-who-should-will-win/) *Cool It Down* was separately nominated for Best Alternative Music Album.[16](https://as.com/us/tikitakas/premios-grammy-2023-estos-son-los-cantantes-y-artistas-nominados-por-categoria-y-lista-de-canciones-n/)
## Live performances and later use
The song has remained a fixture of the band's live sets. At a September 2023 show at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion, it opened the performance, running from its opening notes to the finale of "Date With the Night".[17](https://cdnc.heyzine.com/files/uploaded/v2/b01d95b175ff9a8dfd29db6931efd99eead49048.pdf) It also appears on the band's 2025 live album *Hidden in Pieces Live at the Royal Albert Hall*, reimagined through intimate arrangements featuring strings, piano, and double bass.[18](https://secretlycanadian.com/artist/yeah-yeah-yeahs/)
Perfume Genius's collaboration extended beyond this single: according to Karen O, he also contributed to the album tracks "Lovebomb" and "Blacktop".[19](https://archivo.warp.la/editoriales/warppresenta-yeah-yeah-yeahs/)
## References
1. [Yeah Yeah Yeahs return with new track 'Spitting Off the Edge of the World', Rolling Stone UK](https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/yeah-yeah-yeahs-return-with-new-track-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world-18128/)
2. [Yeah Yeah Yeahs: "Spitting Off the Edge of the World" Track Review, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/yeah-yeah-yeahs-come-back-spitting/)
3. [Cool It Down, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bandcamp](https://yeahyeahyeahs.bandcamp.com/album/cool-it-down)
4. [Spitting Off the Edge of the World (feat. Perfume Genius), Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/mu/song/1623183246)
5. [Best Alternative Music Performance 2023 Winners & Nominees, Grammy.com](https://www.grammy.com/awards/categories/best-alternative-music-performance/2023/)
6. [The 20 best songs of 2022, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/05/the-20-best-songs-of-2022)
7. [Yeah Yeah Yeahs Announce First New Song in 9 Years, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/news/yeah-yeah-yeahs-announce-first-new-song-in-9-years/)
8. ['All is not lost!' Yeah Yeah Yeahs return with riffs, risks and radical optimism, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/03/yeah-yeah-yeahs-return-karen-o-radical-freedom)
9. [Yeah Yeah Yeahs – 'Cool It Down' review: a triumphant return, NME](https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/yeah-yeah-yeahs-cool-it-down-review-3318061)
10. [Karen O Has Found a More Joyful Kind of Wildness, The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/karen-o-has-found-a-more-joyful-kind-of-wildness)
11. [Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Spitting Off the Edge of the World, Phonotonal](https://www.phonotonal.com/2022/06/yeah-yeah-yeahs-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world/)
12. [Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Cool It Down Album Review, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/yeah-yeah-yeahs-cool-it-down/)
13. [Feature Video: YEAH YEAH YEAHS ft. PERFUME GENIUS, ABC Rage](https://www.abc.net.au/rage/features/yeah-yeah-yeahs-spitting-off-the-edge-of-the-world/101122736)
14. [The 100 Best Songs of 2022, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-songs-2022/)
15. [Who Will Win-and Who Should-at the 2023 Grammy Awards, Time](https://time.com/6251940/grammys-2023-predictions-who-should-will-win/)
16. [Premios Grammy 2023: nominados por categoría, AS](https://as.com/us/tikitakas/premios-grammy-2023-estos-son-los-cantantes-y-artistas-nominados-por-categoria-y-lista-de-canciones-n/)
17. [Yeah Yeah Yeahs live at Hordern Pavilion, September–October 2023 issue](https://cdnc.heyzine.com/files/uploaded/v2/b01d95b175ff9a8dfd29db6931efd99eead49048.pdf)
18. [Secretly Canadian | Yeah Yeah Yeahs](https://secretlycanadian.com/artist/yeah-yeah-yeahs/)
19. [#WARPPresenta: Entrevista con Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Warp](https://archivo.warp.la/editoriales/warppresenta-yeah-yeah-yeahs/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › Alternative rock songs › 2020s alternative songs*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license