The original name for the Outkast song ‘Hey Ya!’
Outkast created some masterpieces in their time and delivered some of the most original and innovative music during the late 1990s and early 2000s. In an era that produced many samey MCs, the duo of André 3000 and Big Boi always gave listeners something fresh and exciting.
As such, it is no surprise that last year, the pair overtook Eminem for the best-selling rap album ever with their 2003 project Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. With singles such as ‘Roses’ debuting in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, the chart-topping album was groundbreaking.
However, it was the project’s second single ‘Hey Ya’ that really shook things up. The Grammy-award-winning track became the first song on Apple’s iTunes to reach one million downloads and sat at number one on the charts for weeks.
The single’s incredibly compelling music video entranced viewers and was a throwback to the televised performances of the 1960s. Although ‘Hey Ya’ was a highly successful track, it had an alternative title and was initially named something different.
André 3000 wrote ‘Hey Ya’ in 2002. When it was released the following year, it became an instant hit among fans and critics alike, thrusting the duo back into the limelight. One of the most memorable lyrics from the track is one that appears in the bridge when André charismatically sings, “Shake it like a Polaroid picture.”
The catchy line caught on so quickly that the Polaroid Corporation actually penned a deal with the duo that saw Outkast hold Polaroid cameras during some of their performances. The track even saw the brand come back into fashion and boosted sales.
However, it is another line from the song that influenced its original title. During the song, André 3000 raps, “Don’t try to fight the feeling / ‘Cause the thought alone is killing me right now / Thank God for Mom and Dad / For sticking two together ’cause we don’t know how.”
Although the song is funky and upbeat, its lyrics, upon closer inspection, are actually quite profound and heartfelt, as such it is unsurprising that, at one point, it was called ‘Thank God for Mom and Dad,’ a title that makes plain its complicated lyrics about the challenges of keeping a romantic relationship afloat.
The song has previously been described as deceptively happy, but this was André 3000’s aim. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine about the track, the album’s recording engineer, John Frye, recalled André’s ingenuity, unveiling, “He had the bulk of it already conceptualized in his head.”
Describing the recording process, Frye added, “It all happened quite fast. We recorded the skeleton part, with the intro and the first verse and hook, all in one night.” Although the track was initially called Thank God for Mom and Dad,’ it’s hard for fans to imagine it being anything other than ‘Hey Ya’.