Kirby is officially a Grammy Award winner — in spirit, at least. The pink, spherical creature helped earn Charlie Rosen and Jake Silverman a Grammy for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or Acapella for their rendition of Meta Knight’s Revenge from the 1996 classic Kirby Superstar. The cover art was originally performed by the aptly named 8-Bit Big Band, a 30- to 65-piece orchestra that specializes in putting their own spin on video game music.
In the past, the 8-Bit Big Band has performed Zelda’s Lullaby from Ocarina of Time, Fourside from Earthbound, Big Blue from F-Zero, and more. You can listen to the group’s performance of the reimagined Meta Knight’s Revenge in the embed above – it’s a seriously jazzy take on the original track, and I daresay it sounds even better than Nintendo’s remake featured in Super Smash Bros. is included.
Video game music doesn’t get nominated for a Grammy very often, but this win is particularly timely given the recent release of Kirby and the Forgotten Land. In 2011, the song Baba Yetu from Civilization IV won a Grammy after being re-released on a separate album. Journey was nominated for Best Score Visual Media Soundtrack in 2012, but ultimately lost to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.