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Australian Prime Minister Responds To Petition Calling For ‘Hey Ya!’ To Become National Anthem

Australian Prime Minister Responds To Petition Calling For ‘Hey Ya!’ To Become National Anthem

There's no doubting it's a banger

James Dawson

James Dawson

The Australian Prime Minister has responded in parliament to a petition calling for the song 'Hey Ya!' by Outkast to become the countries new national anthem.

Despite being signed by just four people, Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, responded to the petition on Monday.

"The Australian National Anthem is widely accepted and popularly supported by a majority of Australians. The Australian Government has no plans to change the Anthem," reads a letter from Turnbull.

"Thank you for bringing this petition to my attention. I appreciate the important work of the Standing Committee on Petitions in putting community concerns before the Parliament."

I guess that's pretty much the standard rejection letter the governments responds to petitions with, but it also comes after a push to change the country's national anthem lyrics so that it is more inclusive toward Indigenous Australians, which the government also rejected.

Since 1977, Auz-land's national anthem has been 'Advance Australia Fair'

With lyrics such as "Beneath our radiant southern Cross/ We'll toil with hearts and hands/ To make this Commonwealth of ours/ Renowned of all the lands," it's a more typical example of national anthem fodder - as apposed to 'Hey Ya!' which infamously states: "Shake it, sh-shake it / Shake it, sh-shake it / Shake it, sh-shake it / Shake it, sh-shake it."

Sing it with me!

"Shake it like a Polaroid picture."

The group's hit, Hey Ya, became a radio sensation in 2003.

I think we can all agree that the duo of Andre 3000 and Big Boi, forming Outkast, are a bigger, better and more consumable musical force than The Beatles.

Okay, maybe that's an over-exaggeration, but you can't deny that 'Ms. Jackson', 'Hey Ya' and 'Roses' are absolute bangers.

Back in 2000, the pair released the album 'Stankonia', along with the singles 'B.O.B', 'So Fresh, So Clean' and 'Ms. Jackson'. The latter was the most successful of the three, topping charts and winning Grammy awards, as well as forcing people to apologise to a woman they had never met because (ooooh) they are fo' real.

via GIPHY

So, just who is the mysterious Ms. Jackson? It's actually singer Erykah Badu's mother. Badu is the mother of Andre 3000's son.

When the song was released, Andre 3000 and Badu had split, so the song was a way of Andre communicating with her about the breakup and the well-being of their child, Seven Sirius Benjamin.

In a recent interview with Rap Radar, the singer finally opened up about the song and its lyrical content. It turns out that she was okay with Andre's verse, respecting the honesty of it as well as the hindsight. Big Boi's verse, on the other hand, which included lines like: "My baby's drama momma don't like me/She be doing things like having them boys come from her neighbourhood to the studio, tryna fight me/She need to get a piece of the American pie and take her bite out/That's my house, I'll disconnect the cable and turn the lights out/And let her know her grandchild is a baby, and not a paycheck/Private school, daycare, shit, medical bills; I pay that," left its mark on her.

Credit: rapradar

"When I heard Andre's verse, I felt very good because his verse was really, really inspiring," she said. "He just said how he felt, and it was his honest feelings. And I always respected that and listened to what he felt and appreciated."

It turns out that Ms. Jackson's name is actually Kolleen Wright - but that's nowhere near as catchy.

"She bought herself a Ms. Jackson license plate," Erykah said when asked if her mum liked the song. "She had the mug, she had the ink pen, she had the headband, everything. That's who loved it."

The former couple's relationship is 'cool', according to Andre, mainly for the benefit of their son. He claims they often speak, help each other out in certain situations and even collaborated in 2015.

Featured Image Credit: YouTube

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