Persona 5’s “Last Surprise” Grammy Nomination Brings Game Music to the Mainstream

Persona 5’s “Last Surprise” Gets Grammy Nod for 8-Bit Big Band’s Jazz RenditionThe 8-Bit Big Band Scores Second Grammy Nomination with Persona 5 Battle Theme Cover

The 8-Bit Big Band’s orchestral jazz cover of Persona 5’s battle theme "Last Surprise" has just earned a Grammy nomination! Featuring Grammy Award-winning musician Jake Silverman (professionally known as Button Masher) on synth and vocals by Jonah Nilsson (keyboard and vocalist for the band Dirty Loops) this rendition of the aforementioned track is up for "Best Arrangement, Instruments, and Vocals" at the 2025 Grammy Awards.

"Just nominated for my 4th Grammy IN A ROW!!!," The 8-Bit Big Band leader Charlie Rosen said on Twitter (X). "LONG LIVE VIDEO GAME MUSIC!!!" Rosen’s statement includes his personal achievements in theater, but this is not The 8-Bit Big Band’s first Grammy encounter; the ensemble previously took home a Grammy for "Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella" in 2022 for their cover of "Meta Knight’s Revenge" from Kirby Super Star, which makes Last Surprise their second Grammy nomination.

The 8-Bit Big Band’s cover of Persona 5’s Last Surprise will compete against the likes of Willow Smith and John Legend in the same category at the upcoming 2025 award show on February 2nd.

Persona 5 has become celebrated for its acid jazz soundtrack, crafted by composer Shoji Meguro. Among the various tracks, however, Last Surprise is a fan favorite, especially since the battle theme accompanies players through countless hours of battling inside the game’s dungeons, known as Palaces. Its energetic bassline and catchy riffs have earned it a rightful claim to fame.

8-bit Big Band’s Grammy-nominated cover pays homage to the original but adds unique twists to it. The cover amplifies the song’s charisma by transforming it into a jazz fusion arrangement, the specialty of Jonah Nilsson’s band Dirty Loops. As the music video’s description explains, the group even recruited Button Masher to help "recruited Button Masher to help bring some more advanced harmonic sensibility commonly found in Dirty Loops’ sound."

2025 Grammy Nominations for Best Video Game Score Announced

The Grammy Awards have announced the nominees for the "Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media" category. This year's nominees include the following five games:

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

Notably, McCreary makes Grammy history as the only composer nominated each year since the category’s inception. Prior to this year, he was nominated for Call of Duty Vanguard in 2023 and the base game of God of War Ragnarök in 2024.

The award debuted with Stephanie Economou’s score for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök winning, and last year, Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab’s music for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor took the honor.

Video game music has long held a special place in fans’ hearts, and covers like The 8-Bit Big Band’s show how these compositions of classic titles can live on to inspire new interpretations that reach new audiences.