It only took eight years and an orchestral cover for one of Persona 5's funkiest songs to be nominated for a Grammy

Shoji Meguro is a certified JRPG snob, and his work has been buried in nearly every Spotify playlist that I've created. His work from Atlus games such as Catherine, Persona, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and others live in my head, adding flavourful vibes such as J-Pop and Jazz to my relatively ordinary music library.

Persona 5 is arguably his most recognisable game, and as a result the soundtrack was nominated for a number of awards. I don't know if it won any, but now it has a second chance thanks to jazz band The 8-Bit Big Band.

Its rendition, which features Jonah Nilsson, Button Masher and other musicians, of the battle theme Last Surprise has been nominated by the Grammy for Best Arrangement Instruments and Voices. It will have to compete with the likes John Legend's track Always Come Back and Willow Smith's Big Feelings.

It's an amazing arrangement that somehow adds extra jazzy vibes with a sprinkle of more retro digitised sounds. The band is only interested in their audio arrangement. However, I recommend watching the entire video to see the accompanying graphics. Of course, the iconic battle menu is also included.

The 8-Bit Big Band isn't the first to be nominated for a Grammy. The orchestra won Best Instrumental or A Capella for their performance of Meta Knight’s Revenge, from Kirby Super Star in 2022, making this the group's 2nd nomination for the music award. The 8-Bit Big Band tweeted that it was "so excited" to be nominated for another award. They added "LONG LIFE VIDEO GAME MUSIQUE !!!"

It's cool to see videogame tracks get their flowers at a commercial awards show. Especially when it's in a category that's not dedicated to videogames. The Grammys added a videogame category in 2023. Stephanie Economou won the first award for her work on Assassin's Creed Valhalla Dawn of Ragnarok. Stephen Barton & Gord Haab took home last year's Star Wars Jedi Survivor Award.

This year's--deep breathe--Best Score Soundtracks for Videogames and Interactive Media Nominations are for Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, God of War Ragnarok : Valhalla, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Star Wars Outlaws, and Wizardry: The Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.