New Blue Sun Tracklist
New Blue Sun is André 3000’s debut solo album released on November 17, 2023. It is entirely instrumental and largely flute-based.
André surprise-announced New Blue Sun on November 15 with an Instagram post.
NPR simultaneously published an hour-long interview with André which gave more details about New Blue Sun.
No bars, no beats, no sub-bass. André doesn’t sing on this joint, either. What he does do is play flute, and plenty of it — contrabass flute, maya flutes, bamboo flutes — along with other digital wind instruments.
André’s only solo music prior to this was the two-track EP Look Ma No Hands he released on Soundcloud in 2018. Although one could argue The Love Below to be a solo album, André has only released sporadic features since OutKast split in 2007.
Due to the nature of the last few guest appearances from André, (“SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS”, “Life Of The Party”, “Where’s the Catch”, “Come Home”) there was a wide belief that if any new music were to drop, it would be rap. André’s announcement that the album would be composed almost entirely of the flute and other wind instruments took the internet by storm. André explained this choice in an interview with GQ, describing the difficulties he was faced with vis-à-vis rapping.
Even now people think, Oh, man, he’s just sitting on raps, or he’s just holding these raps hostage. I ain’t got no raps like that. It actually feels…sometimes it feels inauthentic for me to rap because I don’t have anything to talk about in that way. I’m 48 years old. And not to say that age is a thing that dictates what you rap about, but in a way it does. And things that happen in my life, like, what are you talking about? ‘I got to go get a colonoscopy.’ What are you rapping about? ‘My eyesight is going bad.’ You can find cool ways to say it, but …
After guesting on Killer Mike’s “SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS” in June, Killer Mike claimed André had played him nine songs from an upcoming solo album, although he quickly backtracked this statement.
“New Blue Sun” Q&A
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Why was this album title chosen?
Right now, if you look up in the sky, the sun that we’ve been living under for ages, even the Egyptian times, it’s the same sun. And it’s this kind of whitish, light, brightish kind of yellow. When people draw it or paint it, it’s usually this whitish or yellowish kind of sun. And unfortunately, that sun is gonna burn out. At some point that sun will die just like all stars.
And New Blue Sun, for me, was like, I guess in a sci-fi way, the next world or the next beings will be under a bluer, cooler burning sun. It will burn cooler, but it will be larger. So when you look up at the sky in these times, there’ll be this larger globe of bluish, still bright but bluish because it’s cooler. It’s kind of like this whole album and this whole direction is a new world for me. New Blue Sun is like a new direction.
— Andre 3000 via NPR
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Why are the song titles so long and absurd?
I knew if this album has no lyrics that I would try to give as much thought or information in the titles. And I been going through a phase where I love these really long titles. I was trying to find fun and I think that when people think of flutes they think of cymbals and chimes or meditation or this kind of ethereal kind of sound. They forget that we’re human, too.
I guess the rapper in me, like, I’m trying to humanize it or punkatize or like make it less precious. It is precious, but at the same time we’re human. So we laugh. I was trying to really inject some type of humanness because I’m a full-rounded person. I’m a Gemini. So you may think it’s one side, but I got this whole other, like, devilish kind of side, too. And I think every human has it in them. I was trying to show some balance in it. It’s not all incense burning, you know what I mean?
— Andre 3000 via NPR
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What have other artists said about this album?
André told NPR he played tracks for several friends and artists before its release, including one time for Frank Ocean and Tyler, the Creator.
Tyler was staring at this thing that he has in his house. Like, he’s a fan of travel suitcases and so he has a wall of like travel suitcases. And he was like, “Man, I’ve been trying to figure out how to configure these like Louis suitcases.” And he was listening to one of the songs and he was like, “It sounds like you’re chasing a butterfly through a garden and I figured it out. It helped me to figure out how to do this.” And I think Frank pointed out one of his favourite tracks out of the three.
?uestlove called the album “good medicine music.”
If you aren’t in that space in which you are thinking about seeing life in 2050 & 2060 … and need Space & Silence
This album will be a welcome introduction.
