This actually surprises me, looking back at my list a year and a half later. Then I recall how I made the list, jotting down off the top of my head all the songs I really, really love and then deciding whether I liked them more or less than the one above or below it, and shifting them round accordingly. Hey Ya! Isn’t a song I think of very often, but it’s usually somewhere on my MP3 player. It’s the big squelching bass and crisp percussion, and those Cameo-style vocals. R&B pop was at the time characterised by melodically weak songs – all hook, no substance – and OutKast came in with very catchy, strong songs that evoked the best of 60s Motown and 70s funk.
Hey Ya! was written and produced by André 3000 for his half of The Love Below/Speakerboxxx – the other disc was Big Boi’s. The song went top five in most territories, won a Grammy, and was named the 20th most successful song of the noughties by the Billboard Hot 100. André started writing it the previous year (2002) on an acoustic guitar, inspired by the Ramones, Buzzcocks and Smiths. After tinkering with it a while, he brought in session musician Kevin Hendricks to create the synth bass. When he finally came to record it, André improvised the lyrics based on a screenplay he’d written. Continue reading
Reinspired 