It only took 8 years and an orchestral jazz cover but one of the funkiest Persona 5 songs finally got nominated for a Grammy

The Phantom Thieves at school.
(Image credit: SEGA)

As a certified JRPG sicko, Shoji Meguro has managed to bury his work in almost every Spotify playlist I've made. His work across Atlus games like Catherine, Persona, and Metaphor: ReFantazio live in my head rent-free, sprinkling flavourful vibes like J-Pop and jazz to my relatively normal music library.

Persona 5 has arguably become some of his most recognisable work, and the soundtrack went up for a slew of awards as a result. I'm not sure if it ever won any of them, but eight years later it has another chance thanks to jazz orchestra The 8-Bit Big Band.

Its rendition of battle theme Last Surprise, featuring Jonah Nilsson and Button Masher, has been nominated for a freakin' Grammy of all things, for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals. It'll have to face off against the likes of John Legend for his track Always Come Back, as well as Willow Smith for Big Feelings.

Last Surprise from Persona 5 - *Big Band Fusion Version* ft. Jonah Nilsson and Button Masher - YouTube Last Surprise from Persona 5 - *Big Band Fusion Version* ft. Jonah Nilsson and Button Masher - YouTube
Watch On

It's a pretty fantastic arrangement, somehow injecting extra jazzy vibes along with a sprinkling of some more retro digitised sound bites. Of course, the band's just up for their audio arrangement, but I recommend watching the full video for some lovely accompanying graphics. The iconic battle menu is included, of course.

This isn't actually the first time The 8-Bit Big Band has found itself in the Grammys. The orchestra won Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Capella in 2022 for their performance of Meta Knight's Revenge from Kirby Super Star, making it the group's second nomination for the music awards. In a tweet acknowledging the nomination, The 8-Bit Big Band said it was "so thrilled" to be up for another award, adding "LONG LIVE VIDEO GAME MUSIC!!!"

It's pretty cool to see videogame tracks getting their flowers in a more commercial awards show, especially when it's not even in a dedicated videogame category. The Grammys actually added one of those in 2023 though—Stephanie Economou was the inaugural winner for her work in Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök, with Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab taking last year's award for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

This year's—deep breath—Best Score Soundtrack for Videogames and Other Interactive Media nominations are for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Star Wars Outlaws, and Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.

Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.  

Read more
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 02: (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) Winifred Phillips accepts the Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media award for "Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord" onstage during the 67th GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony at Peacock Theater on February 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
'I cannot believe this': Composer Winifred Phillips was 'blown away' after winning a Grammy for a remake of a 44-year-old RPG
Best RPG 2024: Metaphor ReFantazio
Best RPG 2024: Metaphor: ReFantazio
Kasumi and Joker in Persona 5 Royal.
After 31 years in games, Persona director Katsura Hashino just got a 'Newcomer Award' and $5,000 from the Japanese government
The protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei facing off against a giant foe
Sorry Metaphor, but after playing 300 hours worth of Atlus RPGs in 2024, Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance is my favorite
Three goblins from the goblin cartels smile confidently in WoW: The War Within's Undermine(d) patch.
WoW's new Undermine(d) patch had a live jazz ensemble recording its big-band bangers, and they got to improvise: 'Usually those were the takes that ended up in the final version'
Geoff Keighley on stage at The Game Awards 2024
The Game Awards 2024 results: All the winners
Latest in RPG
No Rest for the Wicked Steam early access screenshots
No Rest for the Wicked developer Moon Studios is now 'fully independent' after acquiring the rights to the game from Take-Two
Project C4 teaser still
It's another day of Disco Elysium-related announcements trying to kneecap each other: Studio ZA/UM has put out a teaser for its first new game since 2019, and it's not Disco Elysium 2
Monster Hunter Wilds - a player yells in despair with their arms out, kneeling on the ground.
Some Monster Hunter Wilds players are skipping the endgame weapon grind because they just freaking hate how they look
Art of a woman smoking a cigarette on teal background wearing leather jacket, challenging the viewer.
After suing a Disco Elysium writer to prevent him from making his own game, a tech CEO who's allegedly banned from the Disco Elysium subreddit is trying to crowdfund a spiritual successor
Atelier Ryza's protagonist, Ryza, looks surprised as magic flares around her.
Japanese game producer argues that thick thighs on anime girls are a natural byproduct of economic recession
Monster Hunter Wilds official art
If you've captured them for a minute, monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds are legally allowed to leave
Latest in News
A masked man with an axe in the woods
Rebellion CEO seems kind of awed by major studios making massive videogames: 'How do you organize a game that has 2,000 people working on it?'
A young witch watering a smiling mushroom in a magic garden
Here's a roguelite dungeon crawler Steam reviewers call 'a botanical Diablo' and 'like Cult of the Lamb' except you manage a mystical garden
Destiny 2 Rite of the Nine: The Emissary, massive, ominously standing at the edge of a water basin.
Oops! Bungie rolled out Destiny 2's Rite of the Nine event three weeks early, and new loot is already dropping
Chatacabra from Monster Hunter Wilds
The latest Monster Hunter Wilds event quest gives piles of Armor Spheres for hunting a Chatacabra, making this a very bad week to be a frog in the Forbidden Lands
No Rest for the Wicked Steam early access screenshots
No Rest for the Wicked developer Moon Studios is now 'fully independent' after acquiring the rights to the game from Take-Two
A hunter posing with an absurd Blangonga outfit in Monster Hunter Wilds.
Attention, fashion hunters: There's a Monster Hunter Wilds mod to disable all those obnoxious glowing buff effects that distract from your fits