New York new wavers Yeah Yeah Yeahs became the first group to film a music video atop the city’s famous Empire State Building recently, with their clip for new single ‘Despair’ airing today.

How did it all come about? Well, they simply asked – with Anthony E. Malkin, chief operator at the skyscraper, saying: “The way I look at it is, why hadn’t this been done before? Credit to them for having the gumption to ask.”

Frontwoman Karen O, on the other hand, said the following of the experience:

“It’s definitely not just another cool day in the life of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It was definitely an iconic moment. It’s hard to do something like that and not to feel like it’s symbolic – it’s like the American dream for us, singing your song on top of the Empire State Building, feeling like: man, where were we 10 years ago, when we were sitting around in some punk rock dive bar, thinking about what to name our band, and New York City, and now here we are at the top. It really felt dreamlike.”

 

Watch the clip beneath: