Sometimes, loving someone is easier than liking them. Daniel Caesar addresses that complicated conundrum in his new single “Do You Like Me?” The 2023 Juno Awards nominee produced the romantic, slow-burning track with Raphael Saadiq and Dylan Wiggins, and the Machine Operated-directed video arrived today, February 1 — just in time to soundtrack myriad messy Valentine’s Day situations.
In the video, Caesar walks into an apartment as a woman is burning a photo of them together. They immediately launch into a heated argument, subtitled in Portuguese. She questions Caesar over where he’s been and demands an explanation. Caesar doesn’t understand why she’s so upset because he was just working, but she isn’t buying it.
Based on the song’s lyrics, the couple has questions looming larger than Caesar’s whereabouts. “Do you like the way I talk to you?” Caesar sings in his signature smooth high register. “Do I titillate your mind?”
By the time the woman storms upstairs, Caesar gets straight to the point: “Do you really like me? / Yeah, we’re still young, but for how many moons?” He wants to find true love despite the risk, and he owns up to his past shortcomings (“At first I was f*cking your friend / But I wanted you”) with hope that he can still have it all in the future (“Will you have my kids? You better / I wanna be in love again”).
The video progresses to the bedroom, where Caesar is still pleading his case. The couple seems to be at an impasse, and Caesar is left alone — looking very tortured by whatever is running through his mind — while she’s in the shower.
“Do You Like Me?” follows “Please Do Not Lean” featuring Badbadnotgood from last April. It marked his first solo release since 2019’s CASE STUDY 01. “Please Do Not Lean” is nominated for Traditional R&B/Soul Recording Of The Year at March’s Junos. All in all, momentum is (hopefully) building toward Caesar’s highly anticipated third studio album.
Watch the video for “Do You Like Me?” above.