If you went to bed early last night you might have since woken up to “Angels,” a new song from Chance the Rapper. Those of you who were staying up until dawn surfing the web (or watching The Late Show With Stephen Colbert) could have easily heard “Angels” before falling asleep, and maybe the song’s bright, gleeful energy was the perfect soundtrack for the sunrise. I certainly felt that way after I dashed to grab “Angels,” which, like May’s Surf—an album by Chance’s band, the Social Experiment, and its leader, Nico Segal, aka Donnie Trumpet—was immediately available for a free download on iTunes.
Concision is part of what helps “All My Friends” rocket skywards, and it’s also part of what makes Chance’s “Angels” feel like it’s constantly floating in the air. In fewer than three and a half minutes Chance, Pivot Gang rapper Saba, and the Social Experiment tap a spectrum of emotions—elation, sorrow, pride, and a twinge of nostalgia, among others—while riding a sunburst of melting vocal samples, buoyant horns, airy keys, and light steel drums that sound like they leaped over to “Angels” from a bop track. “Angels” moves like a pop song stuck on the rotation for Top 40 radio stations, even as it portrays raw and heavy details of Chance and his life in Chicago.
