Okay, well, technically Kirby didn’t. But the mouthy pink video game character played a major role in the 2022 Grammy win for “the best arrangement, instrumental, or a cappella.” Musicians Charlie Rosen and Jake Silverman won the award with their arrangement of “Meta Knight’s Revenge” from 1996’s game Kirby Super Star, an iconic Kirby-centric game from Nintendo. Have a listen to Kirby’s Grammy-winning hit, here:
The award-winning arrangement, which we first saw on The Verge, was written by Rosen and Silverman. It was then performed by The 8-Bit Big Band. The band describes itself as “a full-sized Jazz/pops orchestra that formed to celebrate and realize some of the best musical themes written from various video games from all consoles! The orchestra ranges from 25 members all the way to 65 members depending on the music, and draws from some of most sought-after musicians from New York City, and around the world.”
We love this for them and for Kirby. Video game music doesn’t often garner much award attention, after all. But we feel like Kirby deserves this Grammy. He is after all irresistibly cute. And he just had a new game release all about him, so the timing feels right to us. We hope Nintendo gives us a little edit of Kirby cheering while holding the Grammy’s iconic gramophone. Just don’t swallow that Grammy, Kirby. That, we imagine, would make for a first.
The 8-Bit Big Band’s recognition for their rendition of the Kirby theme is also well-deserved. On their YouTube channel, the orchestra shares other arrangements they’ve played. These include versions of themes from Animal Crossing, Luigi’s Mansion, Super Mario World, Final Fantasy, and more.
We wouldn’t want to play favorites, but their version of “Zelda’s Lullabye” from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time pulls on our heartstrings.
Kirby may be the only one with the Grammy, but all of these video-game music renditions feel award-winning to us.