--- title: Obama and Chance the Rapper Sing Christmas Carols Together description: President Barack Obama and Chance the Rapper sang Christmas carols together during the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. canonical: https://time.com/4589175/chance-the-rapper-obama-christmas-carols/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-02T18:36:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:08.874Z og:title: Watch President Obama and Chance the Rapper Sing Carols Together og:description: All of the feelings og:url: https://time.com/4589175/chance-the-rapper-obama-christmas-carols/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef36b17b4e56fae7/6988b073cf40a888fcc45be5/obama-chance-the-rapper-christmas-carols.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: 94th Annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch President Obama and Chance the Rapper Sing Carols Together twitter:description: All of the feelings twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef36b17b4e56fae7/6988b073cf40a888fcc45be5/obama-chance-the-rapper-christmas-carols.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama and Chance the Rapper Singing Christmas Carols Together Will Fill You With All the Holiday Cheer > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 2, 2016 6:36 PM UTC  Barack Obama, sings "Jingle Bells" with Chance the Rapper (L), and Santa Claus during the 94th Annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremonyon December 1, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images) Barack Obama, sings "Jingle Bells" with Chance the Rapper (L), and Santa Claus during the 94th Annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremonyon December 1, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images)Paul Morigi—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 2, 2016 6:36 PM UTC If you’re looking for something to cheer you up, look no further than the heartwarming footage of President Barack Obama and [Chance the Rapper](http://time.com/4464999/frank-ocean-chance-the-rapper-gq/) singing carols together at the [National Christmas Tree Lighting in Washington, D.C](http://time.com/4580764/national-christmas-tree-lighting-history-origins/). The Chicago rapper is famously one of the president’s favorite artists, who has [gone so far as to call Chance “family”](http://time.com/4549512/obama-on-favorite-rappers/) (Chance’s father had worked for the president while he was a senator and during his first term in the White House.) While Chance was the there to perform a rendition of [his signature song “Sunday Candy,”](https://twitter.com/deray/status/804464557582385156?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw) alongside Nico Segal, The Social Experiment, and Jamila Woods, he joined Obama and other performers including James Taylor, Kelly Clarkson, and Garth Brooks for a rousing rendition of “Jingle Bells.” Watch the full clip below; the singing starts at 11:24. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4589175/chance-the-rapper-obama-christmas-carols/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4589175/chance-the-rapper-obama-christmas-carols/"},"headline":"President Obama and Chance the Rapper Singing Christmas Carols Together Will Fill You With All the Holiday Cheer","datePublished":"2016-12-02T18:36:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:08.874Z","description":"All of the feelings","url":"https://time.com/4589175/chance-the-rapper-obama-christmas-carols/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Barack Obama","Music","chance the rapper"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef36b17b4e56fae7/6988b073cf40a888fcc45be5/obama-chance-the-rapper-christmas-carols.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltef36b17b4e56fae7/6988b073cf40a888fcc45be5/obama-chance-the-rapper-christmas-carols.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"94th Annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony","caption":"94th Annual National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony","creditText":"Paul Morigi—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4589175/chance-the-rapper-obama-christmas-carols/","name":"President Obama and Chance the Rapper Singing Christmas Carols Together Will Fill You With All the Holiday Cheer"}}]}] ```