Karen O song featured in Google Doodle honoring trailblazing journalist Nellie Bly

Today marks what would have been the 151st birthday of Elizabeth Cochran, who is better known as the trailblazing journalist Nellie Bly. In her honor, the Google Doodle of the day is not only animated, but features a new song by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O.

Bly came to fame in 1885 after she wrote a blistering response to a Pittsburgh newspaper op-ed called “What Girls Are Good For” that said women should only be at home to do chores. According to Mother Jones, this letter caught the attention of a Pittsburgh Dispatch editor, who hired her. She rose through the ranks of the media, constantly championing the rights of women and the poor. While at the New York World, she famously posed as a mentally ill woman to show the awful conditions at Blackwell’s Island.

In 1889, she became a worldwide celebrity by traveling the world in 72 days, eight days shorter than Jules Verne’s imaginary trip Around The World in Eighty Days.

Karen O wrote the song “Oh, Nellie” specifically for the Google Doodle. The animation was designed by Katy Wu. In an interview with CNN, Wu said that she sees similarities between Bly and Karen O.

“If you see her onstage, she's daring in her own way. She doesn't conform; she does what she wants,” Wu said of the singer.

screenshot from GoogleDoodles YouTube video

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