“Hey Ya” Lyrics And Meaning (OutKast’s Andre 3000)

You could not escape the OutKast hit Hey Ya! back in 2003 and 2004.

It was absolutely everywhere. And not just in the United States, but overseas, too.

Everybody happily danced along whenever it came on in a club.

And many sang along, at least to the chorus and the few other lines they could understand.

But what virtually no one knew is that the song had a secret.

A much darker and sadder meaning that the upbeat rhythm and melody suggest.

Keep reading to learn exactly what Andre 3000 was actually singing about in his megahit Hey Ya!

 

Hey Ya Lyrics And Meaning

In September 2003, Outkast released one of their best-known songs: Hey Ya! The song was one of the most successful of the decade, spending several weeks at the top of the Billboard charts and receiving a Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.

Outkast is an American duo that mixes many styles in their musical shaker: hip-hop, rap, rhythm and blues, soul, pop, funk and more. Its members are André 3000 and Big Boi.

In 2003 they released an album that is considered one of the best of the millennium so far. It’s called Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and it has the particularity that it’s a double album, with one featuringAndré 3000 (Speakerboxxx) and the other Big Boi (The Love Below).

Big Boi focused on beats and rhymes from the American South, while Andre 3000 incorporated much more jazz and funk. André 3000 composed the song Hey Ya!

Hey Ya! is a tremendously rhythmic, fresh, lively, fun, catchy, and of course danceable song. Very danceable.

It is a song with a varied range of nuances, rhythms, counter-rhythms, choirs, vocal games, harmonies, and choruses, all perfectly assembled. It certainly is a kaleidoscopic song, and one of the best of the past decade.

It really is difficult to label it since it has influences from pop, rock, funk, soul, gospel, and more: a true melting pot.

In fact, a specialized magazine once said that trying to classify this song is like trying to catch water with a rope. Journalism needs musical labels to be able to offer references.

However you classify it, the bottom line ins this: many consider it a great song and it will never lose its validity.

 

Hey Ya! Lyrics

 
One, two, three, uh
My baby don’t mess around
Because she loves me so
And this I know fo sho (uh)
But does she really wanna
But can’t stand to see me walk out the door? (Ah)
Don’t try to fight the feeling
Because the thought alone is killin’ me right now (uh)
Thank God for Mom and Dad
For sticking two together
‘Cause we don’t know how (c’mon)
Hey ya! Hey ya!
Hey ya! Hey ya!
Hey ya! Hey ya!
Hey ya! Hey ya!
You think you’ve got it
Oh, you think you’ve got it
But got it just don’t get it ’til there’s nothin’ at all
We get together
Oh, we get together
But separate’s always better when there’s feelings involved
If what they say is
“Nothing is forever”
Then what makes, then what makes
Then what makes, then what makes (what makes, what makes)
Love the exception?
So why, oh, why, oh
Why, oh, why, oh, why, oh
Are we so in denial when we know we’re not happy here?
(Y’all don’t want to hear me, you just want to dance)
Hey ya! (Uh oh) Hey ya! (Uh oh)
Don’t want to meet your daddy
Hey ya! (Uh oh)
Just want you in my Caddy (Uh oh)
Hey ya! (Uh oh)
Don’t want to meet your mama
Hey ya! (Uh oh)
Just want to make you cum-a (Uh oh)
Hey ya! (Uh oh)
I’m, I’m, I’m just being honest (Uh oh)
I’m just being honest
Hey! Alright now
Alright now, fellas (Yeah?)
Now, what cooler than being cool? (Ice cold!)
I can’t hear you
I say what’s, what’s cooler than being cool? (Ice cold!)
Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright
Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright
Alright, alright, alright, alright
Okay, now ladies (Yeah?)
Now, we gon’ break this thang down in just a few seconds
Now, don’t have me break this thang down for nothin’
Now, I want to see y’all on y’all baddest behavior
Lend me some sugar, I am your neighbor
Ah! Here we go
Shake it, shake, shake it, shake it, shake, shake it (Uh oh)
Shake it, shake, shake it, shake it, shake it (Uh oh)
Shake it like a Polaroid picture, hey ya!
Shake it, shake, shake it, shake it, shake, shake it
Shake it, shake it, shake it, sugar
Shake it like a Polaroid picture
Now, all Beyonce’s, and Lucy Liu’s
And baby dolls
Get on the floor
Get on the floor, you know what to do
You know what to do
You know what to do
Hey ya! (Uh oh) Hey ya! (Uh oh)
Hey ya! (Uh oh) Hey ya! (Uh oh)
Hey ya! (Uh oh) Hey ya! (Uh oh)
Hey ya! (Uh oh) Hey ya! (Uh oh)

 

Hey Ya! Meaning

Let’s start with the video, which you can see just above. It honors the song. It’s very well done and very funny.

 

Meaning Of The Music Video

It was inspired by the first performance of The Beatles in the United States, specifically in 1964 on the television program The Ed Sullivan Show, with all that madness and collective hysteria where some even fainted (mostly, if not all, females).

Notice that André 3000 has several nicknames and in this video, he plays all the characters of the band.

Specifically, it represents 8 versions of himself. This is called multiple personalities. Considering what the video looks like and the song sounds like, it goes hand-in-hand quite well.

As a final curiosity, we want to mention that the song popularized the phrase “shake it like a Polaroid picture” in American culture. That phrase was used by the Polaroid company to reactivate its image.

From here we can get a double reading. There are certain classic things that are always striking and contemporary. On the contrary, there are other hugely popular things that quickly go out of style.

The latter is quite common, but the former more rare. There are not that many examples. And perhaps the greatest provider of such examples is music.

Oh yes, there are plenty of examples of classic songs that have stood the test of time. Hey Ya! will be one more, of course. In fact, it is arguably old enough now that it already is!

 

Lyrics Meaning

Despite the feeling of optimism and joy that you feel when listening to this tune, a revelation from the singer changes all that. It turns out there is deep sadness in the lyrics of Hey Ya!

Everyone always sings (or screams) the emblematic words “Hey yaaaaaaa”, “Shake it like a Polaroid picture” or the essential “Alright alright alright alright alright alright”.

But if they were to listen to the text a little more carefully, they might realize that the song actually has a whole other meaning. One that is much less fun.

Although Hey Ya! sounds like an extremely positive and happy song, the truth is that it is the story of a relationship that is not going very well.

“My baby don’t mess around because she loves me so and this I know fo sho!”. (My girl is not cheating on me because she loves me very much, I know that for sure).

But then he continues: “But does she really wanna, but she can’t stand to see me walk out the door?” There she suggests that she may not be happy in the relationship.

Then add the phrase “Thank God for Mom and Dad for sticking two together ’cause we don’t know how.”

Later, 3000 elaborates on the status of the relationship: “We get together, Oh, we get together. But separate’s always better when there’s feelings involved.”

Then a complementary phrase: “If what they say is ‘Nothing is forever’ Then what makes love the exception?”

Then follows a forceful phrase: “Why, oh, why, oh, why, oh. Are we so in denial when we know we’re not happy here?”

A song with a reflection on love and relationships that perhaps we had not noticed. Andre 3000 actually wrote this about modern relationships, and how messed up they are.

At the start of his song, he even references his own relationship when talking about how his other half doesn’t want to leave him, but that he doesn’t really know why.

At the end, it even refers to how people will definitely perceive it as a happy song, and not think about the deeper meaning behind it. He literally says ‘you don’t want to listen to me, you just want to dance’.

One fan even did a piano cover of it, revealing how sad the song sounds when sung differently. One social media user replied to the tweet from OutKast (explaining the meaning of the song) by noticing that he had just seen that there was an open coffin in the music video.

“It took me 15 years to notice that there’s been an open coffin in the middle of the stage the whole time,” he says. Naturally, this little detail in the video symbolizes the death of love that Andre 3000 experiences.

 

Hey Ya Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts

Two days after OutKast‘s tweet was posted giving more insight into the true meaning of Hey Ya!, more than 32,000 people went to the lyrics page for Hey Ya! on the Genius website.

A marked increase from the 6,039 people who visited the page in the seven days preceding the tweet. As of this writing, it has had over a billion visits.

Hey Ya! truly was (is?) a worldwide hit that peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 before being certified platinum. Today, it is 182nd of the 500 greatest songs of all time according to Rolling Stone magazine.

For another big hit, but one with much more controversy, check out our article on the Cotton Eye Joe lyrics meaning. You might be surprised by just how old this song is.

If you prefer hip hop, try our article discussing the Post Malone Psycho lyrics meaning. Personally, I much prefer Outkast, but Malone has millions of fans, so clearly many disagree with me.

Another monster hip-hop hit from the decade prior to Hey Ya came from the previously mostly unknown group Blackstreet. Check out our discussion of the No Diggity lyrics meaning to learn about their breakout hit.

And finally, we’ve got one of Stevie Nicks’ most famous songs that deals with another kind of loss. Read our discussion of the lyrics to Edge of Seventeen and their meaning for more on this.