Outkast - Hey Ya

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I see this song in the same way I see the country stuff on the new Bubba Sparxxx CD - a sort of intersection between hip-hop's general confidence in being the biggest/best music on the planet and the wishes of individual producers to goof around a bit. And the former means that the latter can't have any particularly bad effect. Like Sterling says if "Hey Ya" was indie rock it would be good indie rock - it has a better beat and better lines than any of this skiffle-y stuff usually does.

― Tom (Groke), Saturday, 20 September 2003 07:16 (twenty years ago) link

I can't really think of any recent indie rock as straightforwardly sincerely sexual as "hey ya" either

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 20 September 2003 07:28 (twenty years ago) link

>Aaaannnnndddd sexism.

The girl's only in the video because she's got a great ass. If there was another reason for her presence, she would be facing the camera, instead of pointing her ass at it every time she's seen. So how is appreciating that ass sexist? Should I instead have called her out for her superb delivery of the two lines of dialogue the director gave her?

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Saturday, 20 September 2003 13:28 (twenty years ago) link

I like that it's in like 11/4, but I'm pretty much a sucker for weird time signature stuff in pop songs. I'm not sure if I like much else about it, though.

― Al (sitcom), Saturday, 20 September 2003 13:35 (twenty years ago) link

i have a black nephew. does that count?

― nathalie (nathalie), Saturday, 20 September 2003 15:11 (twenty years ago) link

It's not in 11/4; if it's in any regular time signature, it's 20/4. It's more like 3 measures of 4/4 + 1 of 2/4 + 2 of 4/4

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 20 September 2003 15:33 (twenty years ago) link

well yeah, you added it up right, but that still comes out to 11 half measures in total, whatever you want to call that.

― Al (sitcom), Saturday, 20 September 2003 15:55 (twenty years ago) link

Math-rap rules!

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Saturday, 20 September 2003 19:57 (twenty years ago) link

except he's not rapping. but for real, mainstream rap + odd time signatures would seriously be my dream music.

― Al (sitcom), Sunday, 21 September 2003 05:16 (twenty years ago) link

How about a Twista/Don Caballero collabo!

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Sunday, 21 September 2003 23:36 (twenty years ago) link

no.

― Al (sitcom), Sunday, 21 September 2003 23:42 (twenty years ago) link

I read a swipe of some article online where Dre was saying that he's sick of rapping, that he's been bumping Coltrane in his car and thinking about chilling out and going to music school, studying jazz and playing saxophone. Yeah.

I can totally understand feeling like that, but I fear the Andre 3000 Quartet album.

― Jordan (Jordan), Monday, 22 September 2003 14:02 (twenty years ago) link

that's not such a leap to make, there's already an octet of Andre's in the video.

― Al (sitcom), Monday, 22 September 2003 18:57 (twenty years ago) link

two months pass...

sorry, but I love the song too.

― dan carstens, Saturday, 13 December 2003 20:05 (twenty years ago) link

Damn straight.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 13 December 2003 20:14 (twenty years ago) link

If this doesn't beat "In da Club" in Pazz and Jop, there's no justice in the world. "Hey Ya" is without question the single of the year.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 06:25 (twenty years ago) link

the song is so amazingly rad it's hard to comprehend

― MerkinMuffley (MerkinMuffley), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:06 (twenty years ago) link

Wow. You don't get much "rad" anymore. That's high praise.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:09 (twenty years ago) link

Great name, man!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:09 (twenty years ago) link

Indeed. Welcome, Mr. President.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:16 (twenty years ago) link

Kenan I certainly don't doubt for one minute that "Hey Ya" is your own personal favorite single of the year, but how can you call it a better single than "In Da Club"? By what criteria!? Do you think the "single of the year, without question" should have any other qualities to it besides you liking it?

― Brontosaurus, Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:20 (twenty years ago) link

Not really, but if I must qualify it -- there's more going on. More innovation. More hook. That chorus. Oh, man. "Shake it like a polaroid picture." See, I've shaken it lots of ways, even like a horny pony (had to do a lot of guessing on that one), but I never even THOUGHT to shake it like a polariod picture. That's some vicious shakin' right there.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:25 (twenty years ago) link

hey i still like 'hey ya' despite it's incredibly annoying unavoidability but 'more innovation'????????!!!!!!! what's remotely innovative about it?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:28 (twenty years ago) link

i really really really dispute the 'more going on' part also, but anyways

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:29 (twenty years ago) link

Oh, come on! Acoustic guitar, drums, and handclaps drive the whole song. It's so simultaneously spare and generous, it's positively Prince-like. And even a little bit brave.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:31 (twenty years ago) link

thank you Blount! but also, innovation as criteria for a great single ("single of the year" even) ? Kenan are you one of those guys who plays Squarepusher at parties??

― Brontosaurus, Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:32 (twenty years ago) link

I'm not sure what that means, but no. Also, what makes you think I'm offering a definitive opinion? I'm flattered, but really.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:34 (twenty years ago) link

also, I'd dispute that merely having a sung chorus means "more hook" in 2003

― Brontosaurus, Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:35 (twenty years ago) link

acoustic guitars!!!! holy shit - why didn't we think of this before!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:35 (twenty years ago) link

Hey kenan, I think he just called you a C0RNY 1ND13 FUXXXOR!!!

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:35 (twenty years ago) link

It's got hook all over the place! The verses, the chorus, AND the coda! Hooks to spare!

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:36 (twenty years ago) link

the guitar in 'in da club' is PROFOUNDLY more 'innovative' than the guitar in 'hey ya'

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:37 (twenty years ago) link

Whew, I forgot this thread was old, I thought Trife was back. Thank christ.

single of the year!

― Gear! (Gear!), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:37 (twenty years ago) link

Blount, are you arguing this because you think "In Da Club" is a better song, or because you don't think much of "Hey Ya"?

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:39 (twenty years ago) link

Hey kenan, I think he just called you a C0RNY 1ND13 FUXXXOR!!!

Yeah, I know where he's going with this. He's calling me soft and easily influenced by the appearance of a guitar. Soon we'll be having another godforsaken argument about black vs. white music or some such nonsense.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:40 (twenty years ago) link

I love it, btw.

― Sean (Sean), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:43 (twenty years ago) link

I beyond love it. I think it's kind of amazing. At this point in time, from this band, making these sounds... well, maybe it's a shame that there's no rapping on it, because it feels a little like Andre is trying to leave that behind (come back, daddy!). And the album as a whole is spotty (not to be confused with spottieottiedopaliscious), but I won't get into that. This one song is perfect in every way.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:48 (twenty years ago) link

At this point in time, from this band, making these sounds...

What do you mean by this?

― Brontosaurus, Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:50 (twenty years ago) link

again, i LIKE 'hey ya' (although i am very tired of it and i never got tired of 'in da club', which was even more unavoidable)(so maybe i DO like 'in da club' better though it's not by a huge margin like say '21 questions' vs. 'roses'), but 'innovative'? 'brave'? is it innovative and brave just cuz it's a hip-hop artist doing a frank black song? cuz there's no way that doing a frank black song is innovative or brave in and of itself in 2003. maaaaaaybe you could argue that it's innovative or groundbreaking to get a frank black song played on hip-hop radio (maaaaybe)(and i'm taking it on faith it has been played on hip-hop radio - i still ain't heard it there) but if it has it isn't cuz hip-hop radio has let powerpop into it's heart, andre has shown us the light, it's cuz outkast are huge fucking stars and starpower can lube any hole (cf. van hagar's 'finish what ya started' which got aor luv but didn't change any formats for longer than the length of the song). i like 'hey ya' and agree it's catchy ('infectious' even) but, quoth jimmy, come on. i mean, come on.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:53 (twenty years ago) link

It's not a Frank Black record, it's s Stax record!

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:57 (twenty years ago) link

Well, both, really.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 07:57 (twenty years ago) link

What do you mean by this?

Outkast has been at the top of the game since just about the get-go, rhyming like fucking thunderstorms, and gradually, album by album, throwing more shit into the mix. But they've always had this southern soul backbone, and the new album feels like them saying, what if we forget rhyming? What if we go as far as we want with just this sound we've been leaning on, just the soul? And let's do it now, while no one's going to look down on us for emphasizing the production and whatnot, let's do it while we can get away with it. (Jay-Z, same deal -- it's all about the producer in 2003.) And the album has mixed results, to be sure. But "Hey Ya" nails it... acid and funk and gospel thrown into one stew, high and mighty.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:04 (twenty years ago) link

Oh yeah, and acoustic guitar.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:07 (twenty years ago) link

would it have been less or more unavoidable if it'd sounded like ms. jackson?

(alternate question: how unavoidable was it that andre would make a record that sounded like this?)

― tom west (thomp), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:08 (twenty years ago) link

More unavoidable, less interesting.

And maybe Andre's album only sounds unavoidable now that we've heard it.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:10 (twenty years ago) link

'ms. jackson' didn't seem nearly as unavoidable as this track, though it went to number one (whereas i don't think 'hey ya' has) so who knows. than again 'ms. jackson' didn't get nearly the network tv play this thing has ('hey ya' use as bumper music has been discussed elsewhere so i won't retread).

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:12 (twenty years ago) link

Funny you should say "Frank Black" record. I'd never even thought of that. But now you've got me thinking about how much soul music Frank Black must have listened to.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:16 (twenty years ago) link

i mean i don't won't to be like those clueless fuxx in the focus group who bitch 'caw i'm sick of hearing this one bloody unavoidable innit?' about bep or whatever, so i still say i like 'hey ya' even though i actually don't like hearing it NOW (80 times a day is enough) but i'm hardly gonna decide 'oh now it's a bad song' (not saying airplay won't get me to change my mind about a song but only by getting me to notice something i didn't notice before)(i ain't noticed anything about 'hey ya' i didn't notice the second time i heard it) just becuz radio, and tv, and grocery store pa's, and seemingly every free speaker in this land has blasted the thing.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:19 (twenty years ago) link

Would you prefer they blast a song you *don't* like?

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:21 (twenty years ago) link

in a way yes cuz then i wouldn't have already played the thing out myself and i know 'well this will be gone soon enough and that will be that' or i can try to figure out 'why is this song so damn huge?' and maybe grow to appreciate it somewhat or a bit more (this kinda happened with me with 'crazy in love') but with this it just transforms it from a song i liked to a song that's been so overplayed/praised/whatevah that any personal meaning or interpretation the thing might've had once has been eroded by overexposure. it's the same reason i don't really react anymore when i hear 'smells like teen spirit'.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Sunday, 14 December 2003 08:27 (twenty years ago) link

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