Kirby, Kirby, Kirby. We already know he’s the star of the show, but now Nintendo’s pink mascot that’s shaped like a friend is being acknowledged as a star on the grand stage of the 64th annual Grammy Awards.
Before you get too excited, I regretfully have to pull the rug out from under you by saying that our pudgy pink round boy himself isn’t specifically being nominated for a Grammy against the likes of Lil Nas X, Megan Thee Stallion, and Billie Eilish. Though let’s all agree that if he did, he’d eat up the competition.
As noted by Eurogamer, Charlie Rosen and Jake Silverman, who arranged an updated, big-band version of the track “Meta Knight’s Revenge’’ from the 1996 SNES game Kirby Super Star, have been nominated for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or Acapella. But if Shrek and Donkey can make an appearance at the 2002 Oscars to accept their award for Best Animated Feature, who’s to say Kirby can’t show up on the Grammy stage as well? Here’s that jazzy rendition of “Meta Knight’s Revenge’’ being performed by The 8-Bit Big Band and Button Masher for your listening pleasure while you read the rest of the article (you’re welcome).
This marks the third time that video game music has been nominated at the awards show. The first was Christopher Tin’s nod (and ultimate victory) for Best Instrumental Arrangement with Vocalist in 2010 for “Baba Yetu” for Civilisation IV in 2011. That was followed by Austin Wintory’s nomination for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for Journey in 2013. Alas, Wintory would end up losing to some totally unknown artists named Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for their work on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
If Kirby does win, you know he’ll be a professional and keep his speech nice and short, addressing his adoring audience with a “hi” or “poyo,” so there’ll be no need to rudely cue him off the stage. Here’s a list of all the other folks being nominated for a Grammy. The Grammys take place on January 31, so let’s all give Kirby our support in making history as the second-ever video-game-related Grammy award winner.