Songfacts®:

• Lead singer Karen O wrote the lyric about her boyfriend, Angus Andrew, when he left her to accept a job offer. Andrew is lead singer of the band Liars. "'Maps' is the ultimate 'you are always on my mind'-type song," she told Mojo. "Unfortunately, there is never enough humor in the feeling of missing someone, 'Maps' just indulges that emotion."
• The refrain is, "Wait, they don't love you like I love you." The word "Maps," which shows up in the chorus, is probably an acronym, but Karen O has never explained what it means.
• "Maps" is Yeah Yeah Yeahs most popular song, but it's an outlier for the band; the rest of their debut album, Fever To Tell, is much more aggressive. It was released as the third single after the first two, "Date with the Night" and "Pin," flopped.
  
  "By the time it came out, the label had given up on us," Karen O told Rolling Stone. "Then 'Maps' really struck a chord with the public, with the peeps."
• The music video breaks the fourth wall by showing the crew watching as the band performs the song. It was directed by Patrick Daughters, who also made the videos for "1234" for Feist and "Send My Love (To Your Lover)" by Adele.
  
  In the July 11, 2007 issue of NME, Karen O revealed that the tears she shed in the video were real, as Andrew was supposed to show up for the shoot, but was late.
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs write collaboratively and share the songwriting credits, so guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase are also credited along with Karen O.
  
  Zinner did some drum programming on the track that gave it something special. "We felt, 'There's something to this," Karen O told Rolling Stone. "It feels like there's kind of a shift in the ions in the room. It's mysterious and inexplicable."
• "Maps" was voted the best alternative love song of all time in 2009 by the British music magazine, the NME.
• There's a good chance you'll hear "Maps" if you find yourself at a karaoke bar, and Karen O is thrilled with it. "When people sing karaoke, there's a genuine emotional connection and passion," she told The Guardian.
• Kelly Clarkson's hit single "Since U Been Gone" features a precise replica of this song's guitar break. Karen O was not impressed. She told Rolling Stone: "It was like getting bitten by a poisonous varmint."
• Beyoncé used the "they don't love you like I love you" motif on her Lemonade track "Hold Up."
• "Maps" saw a resurgence in popularity in late 2024 thanks to the viral "Maps Dance" on TikTok. The challenge featured users dancing to a remixed version of the song, shaking their hips and hitting them with their hands. Then when Karen O sings, "Wait!" they pause in sync with the lyrics, as if emphasizing the line, 'Wait! They don't love you like I love you!'"
  
  Another trend has creators using a filter to erase their facial features, then watching them cascade back onto their face, frequently with unexpected outcomes.