At this point in 2020, it’s hard to even glance at any information source without deepening this sustained sense of despair. Imagine what it’s like for someone like Stephen Colbert, who has to actually put a smile on and joke about this dumpster fire of a year every night. Yet power to him, the late-night host continues on cheerily, even when a musical guest like Ben Folds comes on to remind him of how crappy everything is with a performance of “2020”.
Folds delivered a #PlayAtHome performance of his new single on Thursday night’s Late Show. Colbert introduced the waltz by saying it “really captures the spirit of the moment” before the piano pop master took over from his (shockingly white) office. Sitting behind his keyboard, Folds asked, “How many years will we cram into one?” while recounting how much terrible history we’ve repeated in just six months’ times. Even he had to chuckle anxiously when he sang, “Pray we get through, but hey don’t hold your breath/ ‘Cause we’ve got plenty to wreck and there’s six months left.”
Watch the replay below.
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Last we heard, Folds was spending his time in quarantine working on new music. His last solo album was 2008’s Way to Normal, followed by the Ben Folds Five reunion record The Sound of the Life of the Mind in 2012 and the yMusic collaborative LP So There in 2015.
