Songoftheday 06/19/24 - Shake it like a Polaroid picture...
"Hey Ya!" - Outkast
from the album Speakerboxx/The Love Below (2003)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (nine weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 28
Today's song comes (nominally) from the Atlanta rap duo Outkast, who returned in 2003 with their double-disc opus Speakerboxx/The Love Below, which had members Antwon "Big Boi" Patton and Andre "Andre 3000" Benjamin having what was like a solo album each. In August of that year, the pair simultaneously released a single from each disc, with Big Boi's "The Way You Move" entering the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 first. But three weeks later, Andre 3000's track would rocket in and overtake the former in no time. "Hey Ya!" written and produced by Benjamin, it fit into the totally ecletic makeup of The Love Below, where Andre skates between styles and periods, with the bouncy tempo and call and response vocals calling to the uplifting soul music of the 60s. But the lyrics tell quite a different story, as Andre ponders what may be the end of a relationship, where she has no more interest internally but doesn't want to actually break it off. The killer line, "Are we so in denial when we know we're not happy here?" is slipped in before the chorus so slyly that is washes over oneself unless paid attention to. But the theme slips in and out of focus in between calls to dance, sing, and shout. The production emphasizes a so goofy it's cool organ along with the percussion. Unlike "The Way You Move" and it's perfecting the hip-hop soul groove, "Hey Ya!" took pop music into a place it hasn't been before with sounds put into the mix I simply haven't heard before at the time. The music video, which has Big Boi in the beginning at a stage manager, sees Andre clone himself into a full band with backup singers and all in a music program from a past alternate universe...
"Hey Ya!" passed "The Way You Move" in its fourth week in the top-40, reaching #1 for nine weeks starting in December of 2003, while it stopped at #9 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the song spent nine weeks at #1 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart, and got to #9 on the Mainstream R&B list; on the older-skewing radio panels it hit #13 on the Adult Top-40 chart, and took a week at #1 on both the Dance Airplay list and the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. "Hey Ya!" even made the Alternative Rock radio chart at #16. Internationally, the single topped the charts in Australia, Canada (sales), Czechia, Norway, and Sweden, and reached the top ten in Denmark (#2), Ireland (#2), New Zealand (#2), Croatia (#2), the United Kingdom (#3), Italy (#3), Austria (#4), Germany (#6), France (#7), Switzerland (#9), Belgium (#10 Wallonia/#18 Flanders), and Finland (#10). At the Grammy Awards in 2004, "Hey Ya!" won for Best Urban Alternative Performance, and was nominated for Record of the Year, which went to Coldplay for "Clocks". The music video was also up for an award, which went home with (the then just late) Johnny Cash for "Hurt".
Both Outkast and the album will be back to the series.
(10/10)
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And lastly, from what I believe are the Grammys...
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