André 3000 shocked by Grammy Award nomination
André 3000 was recently announced as one of the nominees in the Album of the Year category at the 2025 Grammy Awards. The Outkast member has since reacted to the news, revealing he was completely blindsided by the nomination.
Over two decades after triumphing in the prestigious category with Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, Three Stacks has found himself in the limelight once again with his debut solo album New Blue Sun. Given the fact it’s an instrumental project with a focus on his flute-playing skills instead of rapping, it’s no wonder the nomination came as a surprise.
André 3000 spoke to The New York Times about the achievement, revealing he hoped to be nominated in one of the genre categories but never expected to be among the pop stars for Album of the Year.
“I was just waking up and I heard that the nominations came in,” he said. “We were trying to be nominated in some type of way for alternative jazz or ambient, possibly. But I was totally surprised by this. So yeah, it was super, super, super duper cool.”
3000 faces tough competition for Album of the Year, going up again Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet, Charli XCX’s Brat, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department and Jacob Collier’s Djesse Vol. 4.
New Blue Sun was also nominated for Best Alternative Jazz Album, with his song ‘I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album but This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time’ going up for Best Instrumental Composition.
André 3000 previously received nominations at the 2024 Grammy Awards for his verse on Killer Mike’s ‘Scientists & Engineers’ alongside Future and Eryn Allen Kane, which ended up winning him the award for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance.
The 67th Annual Grammy Awards is set to take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California on February 2nd, 2025. Beyoncé is the most nominated artist at the ceremony with a total of 11 nominations.