"Sugar" is a song by American hip hop boy band Brockhampton from their fifth studio album, Ginger (2019). The song features guest vocals from Ryan Beatty. It was written by Matthew Champion, Ciarán McDonald, Dominique Simpson, Ian Simpson, Beatty, Jabari Manwarring, Romil Hemnani, and Chuks Chiejine, and was produced by Jabari Manwa and Romil Hemnani. The song impacted contemporary hit radio formats in the United States on November 19, 2019, as the album's fifth single, before being released globally on December 13, through Question Everything and RCA Records. It is a hip-hop, pop, and R&B slow jam, driven by an acoustic guitar loop. Lyrically, the themes include drug abuse, codependency, and the stress of uncertainty.
"Sugar" received positive reviews from music critics, with several naming it a highlight on Ginger. Some critics praised the song's production, as well as its boy band-qualities. The song peaked at number 66 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while charting within the top 40 of charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. It was awarded a double platinum certification in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as platinum certifications in Australia and triple platinum in New Zealand from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ), respectively. The commercial performance of the song has been attributed to a viral dance challenge on TikTok. It was promoted with the release of two music videos, both directed by Kevin Abstract. The first one features a series of incongruous scenes after an alien interrupts a sex scene that a cartoon sun watches. The video was complimented by critics for its weirdness and sci-fi elements. The second video features the band and Beatty singing on a sound stage. Brockhampton further promoted the song in 2019 with performances on The Ellen Show and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
A remix of "Sugar", featuring English singer Dua Lipa, was released as a single on March 6, 2020. The remix adds additional vocals from Lipa and Jon B., as well as new contributions from Beatty, Joba, Champion, and Bearface. It also adds Brian Casey, Lipa, Jermaine Dupri, Jon B, Manuel Seal Jr., Usher Raymond, and William Wood as writers. The remix features a sample of Usher's song "Nice & Slow" and sees Lipa joining in on the first verse, before duetting with Beatty and weaving her vocals in and out throughout, while Jon B. sings with Bearface in the third verse. In the lyrics, Lipa sings about a consuming love that makes her look past all of its negatives. Music critics complimented Lipa's performance in the remix for blending her vocals with Brockhampton. The remix was also commended for the pairing of unlikely collaborators. It was promoted through the release of a visualizer that sees Champion sitting on a basketball net.
Writing and recording In September 2018, Brockhampton released their fourth studio album Iridescence, which debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart. Despite its chart-topping debut, the album lacked longevity and crossover hits. Going into the recording for their follow-up in early 2019, the band desired to create an album people would keep going back to that had a crossover hit. Brockhampton attempted to go back to their roots, where they would just make music as a "group and family". The band started on more than 30 songs, referred to by band member Romil Hemnani in retrospect as the "pregame warm-ups", though ultimately abandoned those songs to search for completely new inspiration. After Brockhampton invited American actor Shia LaBeouf to their Los Angeles creative space to discuss promotional ideas, band members Dom McLennon and Jabari Manwa got back into the album-making mentality. The two began working on music immediately afterwards and within 20 minutes, they had the foundation for a new song, with the help of Chuks Chiejine. Manwa met Chiejine through Nigerian artist Odunsi (The Engine), a mutual friend of theirs while Manwa was stuck in London due to visa issues.
They started with Chiejine playing a riff on the guitar, before Manwa began working on the beat. The former moved to the keys, bass, and chords, prior to the latter playing the hi-hats. McLennon was immediately inspired to write and record, and he pointed out that the beat evoked a "nostalgia of being a hungry young artist working the graveyard shift at Target". Within a few hours, McLennon had recorded his verse. At first, the song consisted of his verse and the beat. Drawing on advice he received from producer Michael Uzowuru, Hemnani decided to pitch down the song by two semitones, in an effort to discover new pockets for harmonies. The song, as well as "No Halo" and "Boy Bye", was finished that night. The following day, its mixing process began. The band developed a few other additions to the track following that, including Bearface's bridge, the rearrangement of the chords leading into the chorus, and the addition of Ryan Beatty's vocals. Beatty came up with the hook melody before him, Kevin Abstract, Manwa, and McLennon all put ideas forward, writing the hook together.
"Sugar" was written by Matthew Champion, Ciarán McDonald, Dominique Simpson, Ian Simpson, Beatty, Manwa, Hemnani, and Chiejine, with the production being handled by Manwa and Hemnani. The song was recorded by Manwarring and Hemnani at the BH Factory in Los Angeles. It was mixed by Tom Elmhirst at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, while the mastering was handled by Vlado Meller at Vlado Meller Mastering in Charleston, South Carolina. The remix version adds Brian Casey, Dua Lipa, Jermaine Dupri, Jonathan Buck, Manuel Seal Jr., Usher Raymond, and William Wood as writers.
Music and lyrics
Musically, "Sugar" is a 1990s and 2000s-influenced, hip hop, pop, and R&B slow jam, with folk and funk elements. The stripped-back production is anchored by an acoustic guitar loop, while it also uses processed guitars, bubbling drums, shingles of synths, and an R&B groove. The song is centred around a melodic, Beatty-performed hook where the singer uses layered vocals over a "sparse", guitar-driven beat. He sings an anxious confessional to a crush, saying he can not sleep without thinking about this person and that he needs answers on how they feel about him. More production elements are added around Beatty's voice as the song progresses, that transform it from downtempo to upbeat.
Brockhampton sings rhythmic lyrics in falsetto harmonies that stick to Gingers emotional and introspective themes. The lyrics of "Sugar" talk about drug abuse, codependency, and the timeless stress of uncertainty, while also seeing the band reflect on past relationships and yearn for a partner to be by their side. The verses of the song keep it hip hop, with the band members singing from a positive place, reminiscing on the good memories and focusing on their accomplishments. McLennon performs the emotional first verse with a vocoder-like drawl style, while Matt Champion sings about using drugs to cope with anxiety in the second verse; both of them rap their verses with a sense of childhood nostalgia and longing to move forward. In the bridge, Abstract raps about passports, while Bearface promises his love is real in a pre-chorus towards the end before closing the song repeating the line "Do You Love Me?"
The remix version of "Sugar" adds new vocals from Lipa and Jon B., as well as additional contributions from Beatty, Joba, Champion, and Bearface. The remix opens with Bearface sampling Usher's "Nice & Slow" (1998). Lipa uses soulful vocals and joins in on the first verse, piggy-backing off McLennon's opening line from the original version "I move mountains on my own, don't need nobody help", before reworking the rest of the lyrics. She shows up throughout the rest of the remix, duetting with Beatty in his parts while also adding backing vocals. Lipa sings about yearning, longing, and devotion, while exploring a consuming love that makes her look past all of its negatives. Jon B. sings with Bearface on a reworked third verse. Abstract's bridge remains the same, while Joba performs a new outro repeating: "I'm your Candyman/I'll be your Candyman."
Release and promotion "Sugar" was released through Question Everything and RCA Records on August 23, 2019, as the second track on Brockhampton's fifth studio album Ginger. The band originally intended to release the song as the album's lead single, however it leaked in June 2019, resulting in them deciding to promote the song following the album's release. The band officially announced "Sugar" as the fifth single from Ginger in November 2019. The song was promoted to contemporary hit and rhythmic contemporary radio formats in the United States on November 7, 2019, as a promotional single. It officially impacted the former radio format on November 19 as a single. The song was released for digital download and streaming on December 13, 2019. It received playlist promotion through streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music, as well as promotion on social media platform TikTok. A remix of the song featuring Lipa was released for digital download and streaming as a single on March 6, 2020. The remix was accompanied by a visualizer that sees Matt Champion sitting on top of a basketball hoop. It was sent for radio airplay in Italy on March 13, 2020, five days before being serviced to contemporary hit radio formats in Canada.
Reception "Sugar" was met with positive reviews from music critics. The song was named a highlight on Ginger by Shahlin Graves of Coup De Main Magazine, Erika Marie of HotNewHipHop, Julie Van Praet of Hot Press, Sophie Caraan of Hypebeast, Matthew Strauss of Pitchfork, Derrick Rossignol of Uproxx and the staff of Vulture. In Rolling Stone, Charles Holmes described the song as "wistful and sweet", while also mentioning that it feels like "a bold swing after the darkness" of the previous album track "No Halo". In another review from the publication, Claire Shaffer name the song one of Brockhampton's "most boy band-esque tracks", whereas The Guardians Michael Cragg called the song "honey-soaked". Marie called the song a "noteworthy addition" to Ginger. The staff of DIY viewed it as a "sleek R&B-esque number", drawing comparisons to the band's other songs "Bleach" (2017) and "1999 Wildfire" (2018). In a review from Clash, Debbie Ijaduola said "the lyrics overpower production here, resulting in a song that's more melancholy than perhaps was intended". Dan Weiss of Consequence opined that "Sugar" shows growth for Brockhampton musically. Writing for HipHopDX, Daniel Spielberger thought it is the band's "best foray into genre-bending" on Ginger.