Next week, Sufjan Stevens will share his highly anticipated new album The Ascension. We've already heard the epic "America" and electro-poppy "Video Game," and today we get the third song off the album, the gently epic and anguished "Sugar," plus its music video.
Ezra Hurwitz directs a visual of domestic Black life interspersed with surreal sugary metaphors and evocative modern dance choreographed by Kyle Abraham. “The way I approach choreography tends to blend elements of the everyday with moments of abstraction,” Abraham said in a press statement.
Read Next: The 100 best songs of 2023
“‘Sugar’ is ultimately about the desire for goodness and purity (and true sustenance),” Sufjan wrote of his song. “On the surface the song is just a string of clichés, but the message is imperative: now is the time to gather what is good and pure and valuable and make it your own, and share it with others. Feed your soul and speak new life into those around you. Give each other love, respect and sacrifice. Relinquish all the old habits, all the old ways of thinking and doing, all former practices—‘business as usual’—and bring new life to the world. This is our calling.”
Watch "Sugar" above. The Ascension is out September 25 via Asthmatic Kitty.
