(t5!) Heroes Of The Zeroes Singles: #06: OutKast - Hey Ya! (2003)

Music appreciation, for the most part, is democratic and mankind is better off if it stays that way. Everyone likes and hates whatever they like and hate. But there was a time during the 2003-2004 changeover when the music appreciating public came across “Hey Ya”; when music appreciation was as close to a landslide as there will ever be. It was at the top of the Billboard Charts for nine straight weeks during that time. It dominated airplay. It was downloaded recurrently. The citizens bought its parent double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and most of them don’t remember another song off of it. Everyone loved it. Authenticity-obsessed rock kids loved it. Pretentious indie kids loved it. Drugged-out rave kids loved it. Uptight bosses loved it. Educated Harvard graduates loved it. Grey haired senior citizens loved it. Innocent bystanders loved it. The rhythmically challenged loved it. Every iPod in the world contained “Hey Ya!” in its microscopic hard drive.

But for a while there, red-blooded hip-hop kids had a hard time loving it. OutKast was supposed to be vanguards of rap, pushing it to the outer limits of its sonic spectrum. But many were afraid that Andre 3000 pushed the limits too far, so far in fact that he landed into an alternate universe of limits. As sonically progressive hip-hop can gloat, it has never seen a song as, for lack of a better word, weird as “Hey Ya!”. It confused the crap out of the aficionados and, subsequently, it angered them. Despite hip hop’s complete and unassailable dominance of mainstream pop over the last few years it seems that some commentators are still unhappy to see it step out of the ghettos or away from the block party. So it’s a great thing that before they can even throw stones at Andre 3K for his betrayal of the genre’s cornerstone sound, they too were eventually affected by “Hey Ya’s” outburst of pop euphoria. It’s like hip-hop’s Jackie Robinson; it’s so marvelous that you can’t deny it even if it’s a little different on the surface.

So now that we’re all in an agreement that it’s being universally adored, let’s look at what it is that everyone likes about “Hey Ya!”. Fantastic handclaps, gradually intensifying playful digital effects, uplifting harmonious chorus, undisguised sexuality ("don’t want to meet your momma/just want to make you come-ah"), the video’s band of Andre Benjamin clones, a seemingly infinite slew of “alright’s”, and an irresistible groove, all packaged into nothing more than an ebullient acoustic strum; it’s the millennium’s answer to Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline”, a fun sing-along among a group of people. I bring a six-string to a campfire and start furiously strumming the chords and belting out the verses, I can guarantee you every campers will belt along by the time the chorus hits.

And, as always, there’ll always be backlash attached to a song as massive and as overexposed as this. But, c’mon, you know that the opposition is only temporary. Let someone—even the most cynical—hear this again today and they’ll welcome it with open arms like a friend you once took advantage of. Its power can’t be resisted. Its energy can’t be ignored. Sooner or later, everyone shakes it like a Polaroid picture to OutKast’s “Hey Ya!”.