Chance The Rapper’s New Video Will Force You to Smile

The young ‘n’ breezy hip-hop star made an amazing, euphoric video for his November hit, “Sunday Candy.”

We would never call Chance’s lyric, lightly-tripping music “light rap,” but his work has an undeniable joy to it. It’s wonderfully accessible. Part of that Sunday afternoon vibe comes from the soul and funk samples, some comes from the dribbles of jazz piano, and some from the offhanded sweetness and fluid rhythm of Chance’s delivery. In contrast to Kendrick Lamar’s powerful protest record To Pimp A Butterfly—which leverages sonically aggressive beats and desperate cries to unnerve and upset—Chance The Rapper’s singles are exuberant love songs, suffused with sunny nostalgia and sly flirtation.

To best deliver that feeling, Chance has just released a colorful, pinwheeling video for his November single, “Sunday Candy.” Filmed in one take on a stage filled with candy-striped scenery and 1950’s-style diner counters,  the “short film” is a fun mish-mash of Grease dance numbers, men in suspenders and fun interludes by singer Jamila Woods, whose mellow, Corinne Bailey Rae-esque sound complements Chance’s understated bits. Watch it once, and you’ll watch it seven more times.