Persona 5's "Last Surprise" Earns Historic Grammy Nod, Breaking Ground for Game Soundtracks

The 8-Bit Big Band's jazz arrangement of Persona 5's iconic "Last Surprise" has received a Grammy nomination! This exciting development highlights the growing recognition of video game music within the mainstream music industry. Read on for the details.

Persona 5's "Last Surprise" Earns 8-Bit Big Band a Grammy Nomination

A Second Grammy Nod for The 8-Bit Big Band

The 8-Bit Big Band's dynamic jazz interpretation of Persona 5's battle theme, "Last Surprise," is nominated for "Best Arrangement, Instruments, and Vocals" at the 2025 Grammy Awards. This impressive achievement features the talents of Grammy winner Jake Silverman (Button Masher) on synth and Jonah Nilsson (Dirty Loops) on vocals.

"Another Grammy nomination! My fourth in a row!," bandleader Charlie Rosen exclaimed on X (formerly Twitter). "Video game music is alive and well!" This marks the band's second Grammy nomination, following their 2022 win for their cover of "Meta Knight's Revenge."

The 8-Bit Big Band's "Last Surprise" will compete against notable artists like Willow Smith and John Legend in the same category at the February 2nd, 2025 ceremony.

The 8-Bit Big Band's cover masterfully blends homage with innovation. Their jazz fusion arrangement, drawing inspiration from Dirty Loops' signature style, elevates the original track. As noted in the music video description, the collaboration with Button Masher added "advanced harmonic sensibility" to the piece.

2025 Grammy Nominations for Best Video Game Score Unveiled

The Grammy Awards also announced nominees for "Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media." This year's contenders are:

⚫︎ Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Pinar Toprak)
⚫︎ God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla (Bear McCreary)
⚫︎ Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (John Paesano)
⚫︎ Star Wars Outlaws (Wilbert Roget, II)
⚫︎ Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (Winifred Phillips)

Bear McCreary continues to make Grammy history with his nomination every year since the category's inception.

The award, first presented to Stephanie Economou for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök, was won last year by Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

The 8-Bit Big Band's Grammy-nominated cover demonstrates the enduring appeal of video game music and its capacity to inspire fresh interpretations for wider audiences.