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Karen O, Michael Kiwanuka Collaborate On New Song, 'Yo! My Saint'

Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O has dropped a new song featuring the English soul artist Michael Kiwanuka. "Yo! My Saint" is a sultry, slow-burning ballad full of yearning and heartache.

"Don't you tell another lie, don't you tell another truth," Kiwanuka sings. "My heart isn't bulletproof from visions of you." Karen O replies: "The perfect crime that I'll commit is loving you despite all this."

Karen O wrote the song for a new, artfully produced promotional video from the French fashion company Kenzo. The short film, directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, follows a fashion photographer, played by Dirty Beaches frontman Alex Zhang Hungtai, as he falls for model Kiko Mizuhara. Like the song itself, it's told in several different sections or chapters, as the music continues to shift in unlikely directions. (The song first appears about two minutes into the video).

A 7" vinyl version will be available starting Jan. 22.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.