After a 17-year hiatus, Andre 3000 is poised for a comeback with his debut solo album, New Blue Sun. The album departs from rap, focusing on the legendary OutKast member’s flute-playing skills and boasting eight tracks.
‘New Blue Sun’
Andre 3000 is making a comeback after 17 years with a debut solo album titled New Blue Sun.
Set for release on November 17, New Blue Sun was announced on Nov. 14 on Andre’s Instagram page. The album, however, will not be a rap album, but the artist/songwriter will play the flute and have eight tracks on it.
New Blue Sun will be co-produced by Andre 3000 and features the playing instrumentalists Nate Mercereau, Surya Botofasina, Deantoni Parks, Diego Gaeta, Matthewdavid, V.C.R., Diego Gaeta, Jesse Peterson, and Mia Doi Todd.
Andre 3000 Gets Candid About The Upcoming Album
In a recent interview with NPR’s All Songs Considered podcast, Andre 3000 shared his inspiration and fascination with wind instruments:
“I’ve been interested in winds for a long time, so it was just a natural progression for me to go into flutes,” André says. “I just like messing with instruments and I gravitated mostly toward wind.”
Exploring this passion, he embraces the flute on New Blue Sun, utilizing various wind instruments such as a digital wind instrument, a Maya flute, and others made of wood and bamboo.
While New Blue Sun deviates from rap, Andre 3000 reassures fans that he hasn’t abandoned the genre. He expressed his desire to eventually release a rap album but emphasized the importance of finding an interesting and appealing way to articulate his thoughts at this career stage:
“There’s this misconception that I just won’t do it,” André says of releasing a rap record. “I think people feel like I’m sitting around on rap albums, or sitting around and I’m just not putting them out in that way. And no it’s not like that.” He continues: “In my mind, I really would like to make a rap album. So maybe that happens one day, but I got to find a way to say what I want to say in an interesting way that’s appealing to me at this age.
Andre Plays ‘New Blue Sun’ For Frank Ocean & Tyler, The Creator
Andre 3000 also shared that he recently played the album for Tyler, The Creator and Frank Ocean at Tyler’s house and wanted to see how a younger audience feels about an older rapper making a non-rap album.
“I wanted to see how a younger audience would perceive it… I reached out to Tyler [the Creator] for him to check it out and I went to his house. “Frank [Ocean] just happened to drop by [too]…,” Andre 3000 said.
Andre 3000 also mentioned that Tyler was inspired by it and Frank liked several of the songs. Users on Twitter (X) reacted to the news of Andre 3000’s new album.
One user named @goodlife_al commented “This sh*it about to be weird as hell but I’ma still listen,” and one other user named @encrypted_bml commented “ I have a feeling this is about to be Fire. Andree don’t put out crap music.”
Other users felt differently as @ewalknotewok commented, “People have been waiting for almost 2 decades for a new 3 stacks album and ole boy is putting out a flute record, no verses. Elite level trolling.”
Andre Back On The Map
Andre 3000 has not released music since he and his OutKast partner, Big Boi released their album, Idlewild, in 2006. The Atlanta artist will look to have his seventh overall album go platinum, with the other six being all with OutKast.
In addition, Andre’s announcement of a new album was hinted at by Atlanta rapper and friend of Andre, Killer Mike. In June 2023, Killer Mike said Andre 3000 had an album in the works but later revealed that he was joking about him having a new album.
‘Blockbusta’
Another rap legend is preparing to make a splash in the realm of upcoming album releases. Busta Rhymes recently announced that his album, Blockbusta, will be released on November 24. Production on the album will come from Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, and Pharrell Williams.
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