Funk icon Chaka Khan belted her recent single “Like Sugar” on Wednesday’s Ellen.
The singer recruited a quartet of breakdancers for the track — a fitting touch for a song about a “funky, funky groove.” “It’s like sugar, so sweet/Good enough to eat,” she sang over a thick bassline and dense rhythm track. “When I feel the funk, I give in/Get up on yo feet.”
“Like Sugar” appears on Chaka Khan’s recently issued 12th LP, Hello Happiness, her first album since 2007’s Funk This. Producer Switch, a former member of Major Lazer, co-produced each of the set’s seven tracks and issued it as the first title on his new label, Diary Records.
Chaka Khan, who performed a lengthy version of gospel song “Going Up Yonder” at Aretha Franklin’s August funeral, recently announced a co-headlining U.S. tour with soul singer Michael McDonald. The summer trek launches June 19th in Detroit, Michigan and wraps August 4th in Rohnert Park, California.