Andre 3000 Discusses “Backlash” To ‘New Blue Sun’ Flute Album: “I Understand”
Andre 3000 discusses the feedback on his latest release New Blue Sun. The album takes the acclaimed lyricist from the rap world to jazz as a woodwind artist, highlighting him as a flutist. Ahead of a concert in support of the album, the 49-year-old revealed his reception of both the critique and approval of his new endeavor.
“It’s kind of funny,” detailed the Georgia native to the Chicago Tribune. “The backlash is actually not from the rap community, or the jazz and spiritual jazz community. There’s actually more support — surprising support — from both sides.”
He continued to explain, “I think it’s more (OutKast) fans, which I understand. I always try to put myself in their shoes: If my favorite rapper said, “I’m not rapping,” and I like it, I like it. But if I don’t, I move on. I think some people take it as blasphemy or something.”
Andre 3000 attends the GQ Men of the Year Party 2023 VIP dinner at Chateau Marmont on November 16, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for GQ
Elsewhere in the same conversation, the chart-topping rhymer elaborated on the decision to release the project as Andre 3000 instead of a complete rebrand.
“In retrospect, I’ve asked myself, Would I have been better off releasing it under a new name? But I’m glad I didn’t. The ridicule that I get from it is the thing I did not expect. If I’m a fan of anybody, I’m not waiting 17 years for this great rap album to come out. I’m thinking, “Well, that ship has sailed.” I felt like the name “André 3000” showed the bigger story — the journey from where I was to now. I kept it so that wouldn’t get lost.”
New Blue Sun was released in November 2023 and set a new record with the track “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time,” becoming the lengthiest track to appear on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart at 12 minutes and 20 seconds.
“Even now people think, Oh, man, he’s just sitting on raps, or he’s just holding these raps hostage. I ain’t got no raps like that,” he previously shared of the pivot. “It actually feels…sometimes it feels inauthentic for me to rap because I don’t have anything to talk about in that way. I’m 48 years old.”
Give New Blue Sun a listen below.