You guys remember Outkast’s hit ‘Hey Ya!’, right?
Okay, so I’m aware that loads of you weren’t even in utero at the time this song was released, but you’ve no doubt heard it anyway.
The 2003 pop-friendly smash from the revered hip hop duo Outkast – compriseds of Andre 3000 and Big Boi – was No. 1 in multiple countries across the world at the time.
Headed by one of the most respected writers of all time Andre 3000, the song is an upbeat, seemingly positive anthem.
Except, it’s really not all that happy when you take a listen and forget about the backing instruments.
As it turns out, there’s a majorly dark meaning to it.
The below shows one TikTok user breaking it down, only for you to never be able to shake it like a polaroid picture to the tune again:
While the song seems like it is an uplifting hit to dance to, it turns out that the lyrics, right down to the title, are telling you something more.
As the first single on Andre 3000’s side of the Outkast double album: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, it reached the #1 spot on the US Billboard 100 from December13, 2003, until February 7, 2004.
Sadly, the UK only let it get to number 3 on the UK charts, which is inexcusable on our part.
But that’s probably down to people thinking it was some fluffy party song, when it was actually meant to be a ballad of heartbreak and confusion.
They all seem so happy in the video.
YouTube/Outkast
In a TikTok video, user @elizabethdevasto shared the song as part of a series she’s catchily titled ‘Songs that hit different when you know what they’re written about’.
In her video, she said: “André 3000 actually wrote this about modern-day relationships and how messed up they are.
“In the beginning of the song, he even references his own relationship; how his baby doesn’t wanna leave him, how he doesn’t really know what the reason is behind it.”
The group themselves have addressed this too.
Back in 2021, the official Outkast Twitter account addressed the viral meme which stemmed from the sad lyrics.
They wrote: “Alright alright alright alright alright we made one.”
The picture underneath showed a shot of Andre 3000 in the song’s video with his head divided up into two parts.
The smallest part was labelled ‘a bop’ and the largest part was labelled ‘the saddest song ever written’.
The song has been addressed by the band before.
Twitter/Outkast
Have a look at some of the lyrics.
At one point, Andre sings: “You think you’ve got it
“Oh, you think you’ve got it
“But got it just don’t get it when there’s nothin’ at all
“We get together
“Oh, we get together
“But separate’s always better when there’s feelings involved
“Know what they say – its
“Nothing lasts forever!”
“So what makes, so what makes”
“Love the exception?”
Hmm. When you really go through the lyrics, they all seem quite sad and despondent, don’t they?
If there is a deeper meaning, it ain’t in the video.
YouTube/Outkast
Making reference to another part, the TikTok video continues: “What he’s talking about is in modern-day relationships, people stay in them because they just don’t want to be alone, not because of their love for the other person.
“If you just read the lyrics it actually sounds like a really sad song.
“Even at the breakdown at the end, he makes a reference to how people are just gonna see it as a happy song and not even think about the deeper meaning behind it, nor do they even wanna hear about it.”
That lyric reads: “Y’all don’t want to hear me, you just want to dance.”
But Outkast must know we’re still talking about this hit as yesterday on 7 September, they took to TikTok to share a satirical video of a woman explaining to people that they won’t want to hear it and they want to dance instead.