Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig Interviews Karen O for GQ

Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ Karen O and Vampire Weekend‘s Ezra Koenig have collaborated in the past—the two performed Karen’s “Moon Song” from Her at the Oscars together. Now, GQ has shared a conversation between the two New York rock’n’roll luminaries. Read the whole thing here.

Most of their discussion reveals Karen’s perception of technology and social media, saying that she’s inactive on Twitter, checks Instagram more regularly, and is generally skeptical of self-promotion. “As an artist, the work part is what it’s all about, really,” she said. “Any perks you get from the success, that’s an added bonus.” 

It’s also revealed that she learned about “Moon Song”‘s Grammy nomination via a text from Koenig. She also learned about D’Angelo’s return from Koenig. (Black Messiah was released the day the two conducted the interview.)

Karen also reveals that, inspired by The Playboy Interviews With John Lennon and Yoko Ono, she’s considered taking a break from music:

He’d disappeared from the public for about five years and basically became a househusband raising Sean. He talks about how it was the hardest thing he’s ever done, walking away from that conversation that we’re talking about. He needed constant reinforcement from Yoko against that nagging insecurity of “Who am I—what am I?” But that five years really renewed his spirit for music, for art, for life. So that made me scratch my head like, “Hmm, what would it be like to do that?”

Read the full interview here.

Watch Pitchfork.tv’s “Over/Under” featuring Vampire Weekend:

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