A medley of classic Super Mario music received an award at this year’s Grammys, alongside video game composer Austin Wintory.
The Grammys might be synonymous with celebrating the biggest artists in pop music, but it rewards video game music too across its stacked 96 categories.
This year’s gaming winners go beyond the usual Best Game Soundtrack award. The 8-Bit Big Band, who we’re big fans of and interviewed last year, won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental, or A Capella at this year’s ceremony for Super Mario Praise Break.
The track is a string of instrumental covers from across Super Mario history, including the Super Mario Bros. theme, Athletic Theme from Super Mario World, Bob-Omb Battlefield from Super Mario 64, and Gusty Garden Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy.
A *praise break* (also known as a ‘shout’) is a term associated with Black gospel music, where fast-paced composition, often using organs and drums, meets spontaneous dancing.
The 8-Bit Big Band managed to beat Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, Nordkraft Big Band & Remy Le Boeuf’s A Child Is Born, and Fight On by The Westerlies to win the award. This is the group’s second Grammy win, after they won the same award in 2022 for their version of Meta Knight’s Revenge from the 1996 SNES game Kirby’s Fun Pak.
Expert, exclusive gaming analysis
Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.
‘We JUST WON OUR 2nd GRAMMY,’ The 8-Bit Big Band wrote on X. ‘Thank you to everyone who listened and supported to all of our new releases and huge congrats to my co-arrangers on the now Grammy winning Super Mario Praise Break, the incredible friends and musicians – Bryan Carter and Matthew Whitaker.’
The 8-Bit Big Band, who mostly reside in New York, were also nominated in Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album for their album, Orchestrator Emulator, at Sunday’s ceremony. However, they lost out to Christian McBride’s Without Further Ado, Vol 1.
The gong for Best Game Soundtrack, meanwhile, went to Austin Wintory’s score for Sword Of The Sea. He’s been nominated at the Grammys in the past for his work across Journey, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, and Stray Gods, but he’s never won before.
Wintory beat out Wilbert Roget II’s soundtrack for Helldivers 2 (a 2024 game but the soundtrack was officially released in the eligibility window); Gordy Haab’s score for Indiana Jones And The Great Circle; Cody Matthew Johnson & Wilbert Roget II’s work on Star Wars Outlaws DLC Wild Card & A Pirate’s Fortune; along with the score for Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora’s second DLC, Secrets Of The Spire, by Pinar Toprak.
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
