The Maccabeats are back with a Hanukkah bop! It’s perfect for your pandemic holiday celebration (hey — don’t knock a good Zoom dance party until you’ve tried it!). It’s a cover of this year’s biggest earworm, BTS’ “Dynamite,” called “Candlelight”.
We should acknowledge that this is the Jewish a cappella group’s second holiday song named “Candlelight.” But, truly, who can resist a perfect Hanukkah rhyme? We certainly can’t!
The way the Maccabeats adapted the BTS lyrics to Hanukkah and pandemic themes (Zooms and newsfeed overloads) are pretty perfect. For example, our favorite Jewish a cappella group turned BTS’s “life is sweet as honey” into “life is sweet as jelly/fry it up, get in my belly!” (Definitely craving some sufganiyot right now!)
And while the Maccabeats can’t quite replicate BTS’ production values, perfect wardrobe, and inimitable dance moves — because who can?! — they do bring their best Hanukkah sweaters and some fun 2020 touches. The video features band memebers reenacting some of TikTok’s most popular trends, and they also incorporate their families and their day jobs, as well as fun Hanukkah props like candles, sufganiyot, and Hanukkah socks.
Honestly, we’re fans. And so is Tamar Herman, the Jewish journalist who wrote a whole book about the South Korean boyband:
https://twitter.com/TamarWrites/status/1335968532148981760
Thank you, Maccabeats, for the miracle of “Candelight” (version 2) — it will definitely stay stuck in our heads for all eight nights.
Image via Maccabeats YouTube
