Premiere: Samm Henshaw Drops “Chicken Wings” Episodic Video, Explains ‘Untidy Soul’ Series Inspiration

From the Untidy Soul cinematic universe, Samm Henshaw is back with the newest episode, “Chicken Wings,” his latest single from the forthcoming album, Untidy Soul.

The third installment follows Sonny during his shift at a retro diner, Henny’s Wings. Mid-shift, he’s tasked to dress as the diner’s mascot—a giant chicken—and hand out mixtapes. When he returns, the diner has transformed into a make-out spot with blaring trumpets. Towards the end is when he meets his love interest.

VIBE spoke exclusively to Henshaw regarding the “Chicken Wings,” how it plays into the Untidy Soul series, and the hilarious irony of why Henny’s Wings doesn’t sell chicken wings.

“‘Chicken Wings’ is probably one of the most random [songs]—I wouldn’t say pointless—but I genuinely just needed to write a song called ‘Chicken Wings’ about chicken wings,” he shared. “Putting it into the context of the overall story, it’s this idea of being able to spend time with someone that you care about, someone that’s important to you, and just be able to chill and not feel the need to go and do things. A lot of things on the project are based on this relationship I was in for a really long time; so there’s a lot of lessons I learned from this person. There’s a lot of things it taught me and helped me grow.”

The British crooner continued, “‘Chicken Wings’ is based off a few stories, but some days we just wanted to chill or some days she wanted to do something and I’m like, ‘Can we just chill?’ Let’s stay at home and eat chicken wings. We don’t always need to do too much.”

With the Jim Pilling-directed visual being listed as Episode 3, Henshaw explained, “The way we presented the Untidy Soul video series, I just wanted it to feel like a TV series. I’m obsessed with shows like Atlanta, Master Of None, [and] Insecure, so I saw a connection with these shows I’m interested in and the songs.”

“All these songs are stories essentially that are just being told about individual characters’ lives. It wasn’t this linear storyline that was continuing every episode,” he revealed. “With every show I watched, something different would happen every episode, but it was still about the same character. So I’m just gonna make Untidy Soul a world and I’m gonna create a character and allow these characters to have different stories within this world and we’ll try and connect it in some sort of way and so Episode 3 is just a continuation of the story we’ve been telling.”   

Another easter egg you’ll notice is that at the beginning of the “Chicken Wings” music video, the story takes place two years earlier. When asked from what, he explained. “Basically, the ‘Still Broke’ music video is present day. ‘Grow’ is two years before. ‘Still Broke,’ and ‘Chicken Wings’ is two years before ‘Grow.’

“So, it’s just prequels and that’s what was really fun. When we were making it, we thought a lot of people might miss this, but once they figure it out, they’ll go back and you’ll see there’s a bunch of things that connect every story in a little way.”

Henshaw and his team are currently gearing up to film the fourth and final episode, but he clarified it’s not a single. “We have another single coming out, but it’s not related to the series. The fourth episode of Untidy Soul is just gonna be a conclusion to everything.”

As for the moment in the song where the narrator states chicken wings aren’t actually sold at Henny’s Wings, Henshaw reflected on the real-life moment that inspired it. “I had an experience where my ex and I went to KFC once in London, and they were like we don’t have any chicken,” he said. “And I was like ‘you realize…’ It’s like going to see a magician that doesn’t do magic. I thought it was hilarious.”

Watch the full video for “Chicken Wings” above. Untidy Soul is slated for release on Jan. 28.