For hardcore fans of Chicago MC Chance The Rapper, Peter CottonTale may be a familiar name. As the keyboardist of The Social Experiment, the band with which Chance delivered the standout side project, Surf, CottonTale has been an essential ingredient of many of Chance’s biggest hits like “Cocoa Butter Kisses.” Now, on Peter’s birthday, Chance gets to return the favor, as a member of an all-star ensemble cast on CottonTale’s new solo single, “Forever Always.”
Aside from Chance, the song also features soulful singer Daniel Caesar and indie English crooner Rex Orange County. Pop singer Madison Ryann Ward and singer-songwriter Yebba also appear in the mix. The track is anchored, of course, by Cottontale’s smooth, Rhodes-esque keys with romantic lyrics delivered by CottonTale himself and embellished by the other singers and then knocked completely out of the park by a quick hitter verse from Chance. The track builds to a full-on, gospel-inflected power ballad, complete with a choir and electric guitar solo before fading back into a tender lullaby.
“Forever Always” isn’t the first time Chance The Rapper has worked with these all-stars. Just last year, Chance and Daniel Caesar appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to debut “First-World Problems,” a track so new at the time it didn’t even have a title yet — and it still hasn’t been officially released. Check out “Forever Always” above.
