Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Despair” Video

Patrick Daughters has directed a lot of great videos, but he’ll probably always be most famous for helming the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ iconic “Maps” clip. So it’s fitting that Daughters has once again linked with the YYYs, directing the video for their giddily emotive ode to friendship “Despair.” If Mosquito, the band’s very good new album, has a “Maps,” it’s “Despair.” And in making the clip, the YYYs have become the first band to film a music video on top of the Empire State Building. The video is framed as a drunken barroom reverie from Karen O, but once the band reaches the building’s summit, it’s a total endorphin rush of a visual, with Karen pinwheeling all over the observation deck and her two bandmates generally looking awed by everything around them. If you can watch this video without goosebumps, you are going about your life wrong.