"Hey Ya!" is released

Why it matters

The chord progression on "Hey Ya!" is G, C, D, E. The unusual thing about the song's structure is that the eight-bar verse pattern is actually two bars of 4/4 plus one bar of 2/4 plus three more bars of 4/4. Andre 3000 designed it that way deliberately. Most pop songs do not skip beats. "Hey Ya!" does, twice per verse, and it works because the surprise of the skipped beat is part of what makes the song so unforgettable. Andre has said in interviews that he wrote the song over a long period and was not sure it should be on the album until late in the process. The decision to release it as a single came from the LaFace label deciding the song was inarguably radio-perfect. They were correct. "Hey Ya!" sold over five million digital downloads in the US, which was an unprecedented number for any single in any genre at the time. The song has not stopped working. The opening guitar still triggers, in a substantial fraction of the population, the urge to immediately scream "my baby don't mess around because she loves me so." You can argue whether "Hey Ya!" is a rap song. It is on a rap album. It was made by a rap group. Beyond that the question is whatever you want it to be.