Heads Will Roll

Heads Will Roll is the ultimate dance track of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's musical canon. Lead singer Karen O said of the hit single, “I figured if we were going to write a dance song it should be about heads bouncing on the floor and murder and slaughter.” 

 

She herself is an icon, coming up in the early 2000s in the male-dominated New York City music scene, quickly establishing a persona rooted in anarchy. The use of Barbie dolls on the cover artwork is subversive to this identity, as they are known for their perpetuation of unrealistic beauty standards and female objectification in a patriarchal society. The idea of Karen O as the antithesis to this, combined with the scene playing out in the track, results in a morbid scene created with beheaded Barbies, a handmade dance-floor, and real props. 

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A custom typeface was also created paying homage to album typography popular in the 80s, to add to the overall kitsch feel of the cover art.

 

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