Writing
André 3000 first began work on "Hey Ya!" in December 2002 at Stankonia Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. He used an acoustic guitar for accompaniment, inspired by bands such as the Ramones, Buzzcocks, and The Smiths. Already having visualized most of the song, he recorded the introduction, the first verse, and the hook. André began recording the vocals during this time, doing several dozen takes. He returned to work on the song several evenings later, with session musician Kevin Kendricks performing the bassline on a synthesizer.
Several months later, André 3000 worked with Pete Novak at the Larrabee Sound Studios in Los Angeles, California. André improvised the lyrics based on a screenplay that he had written. They experimented with various sound effects, including singing through a vocoder, and did 30 to 40 takes for each line.
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