Social media challenges are all the rage these days as artists seek more creative ways to promote fans’ engagement with their new music. But as artists catch on, they’ve begun to find even more ways to prompt engagement, like offering prizes for their favorite participants. City Girls used this approach to powerful effect ahead of their “Twerk” video, and now, even Chance The Rapper is jumping on the bandwagon with his new “owbum” on the way.
https://twitter.com/chancetherapper/status/1128402922218381315
Chance, who originally teased his new single “Groceries” with TisaKorean as a jubilant dance video ahead of its Friday release, issued his own “Groceries Challenge” on social media, offering to pay fans’ actual groceries for the next year. “I would like to pay for your #GRoCERIES for the next year,” he tweeted. ” I’m picking the 10 best dance videos posted with #Groceries and paying for their groceries THROUGH NEXT SUMMER! extra points if you do it with friends/parents. EXTRA EXTRA points if you do it at work/school.” It didn’t take long for the submissions to begin pouring in, proving exactly how effective the fan challenge method has become in the wake of Drake’s “In My Feelings.”
I would like to pay for your #GRoCERIES for the next year. Yup. I’m picking the 10 best dance videos posted with #Groceries and paying for their groceries THROUGH NEXT SUMMER! extra points if you do it with friends/parents. EXTRA EXTRA points if you do it at work/school pic.twitter.com/5x6SK3gOJa
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) May 17, 2019
From New York > To Alaska > To VA
Even Separated, We Still Gotta Get Crazy To That New @chancetherapper 😂🔥🏆 #GRoCERIES #Owbum
W/ @imbriyoncetoo @BeatsByDINUZZO 🎃 pic.twitter.com/5xZsTH56U0— Tydre (@MallyMal214) May 17, 2019
Some challenges are fan created, like the one that grew out of Beyonce’s Homecoming rendition of “Before I Let Go.” Some lend a bit of the original artists’ star power to their participants, allowing newer artists like DaniLeigh to garner some attention for themselves. Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” began its monumental rise as the Yeh-Haw Challenge on video sharing app TikTok. It looks like the practice is here to say, which can only be a good thing — so long as participants observe the “safety first” rule.