It consists of vocalist and guitarist Clemens Rehbein, bassist and percussionist Philipp Dausch, and their band members, Antonio Greger and Sebastian Schmidt.

[4] After meeting in school, Clemens Rehbein and Philipp Dausch finished their secondary education at Jacob-Grimm-Schule in Kassel, Germany in 2012.

[6] After only playing two live shows[2] over two weeks in 2013, the duo recorded their debut album in a simple home-made studio in Rehbein's childhood home.

[8] The day after the video came out, the song "Stolen Dance" was first released (on their own label Lichtdicht Records[6]) on 5 April 2013 as a single and reached number one in Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and France.

[6] Milky Chance began a 100+ show tour, driving across Europe with allegedly simply "a guitar and a set of decks and some mpc.

[2] Milky Chance toured in support of the record, and on 5 December 2013, they won the 1Live Krone radio awards for Best Single with "Stolen Dance.

[6] Milky Chance played their first show in the United States in October 2014, in a sold-out performance at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City.

It received largely positive press from North American critics, and within a day of its release, SPIN named it their Album of the Week.

[3] SPIN further described the leading single "Stolen Dance" as a "serenely rollicking crossover jam," clarifying that the song "is no red herring — the great majority of Sadnecessary follows in its pattern of low-octane beats and gently lapping guitar strumming, making for a lovely and understated album.

[2] They were also guest artists on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,[13] and they played the House of Blues in April 2015, with plans to return to Boston as part of their upcoming North American Summer Tour.

[13] Also in April, they played at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, with their album Sadnecessary at that point having been on the Billboard 200 for 23 weeks.

Blossom was inspired by the experience Clemens and Philipp had in the previous two years and the two different worlds they had jumped into: touring and being home in their private life with family and friends.

[15] During their Blossom headline tour, they also played at the Osheaga Festival, Lollapalooza (Chicago and Paris), Austin City Limits, and Groovin' the Moo in Australia, as well as performing on Conan, all in 2017.

[19] On 9 June 2023, Milky Chance released their fourth album, Living in a Haze, which features guest appearances from Malian artist Fatoumata Diawara and Canadian singer Charlotte Cardin.

"[21] The music publication Noisey wrote, "The pair masterfully combines house and electronic beats with reggae and R&B influences; the lyrics, though, could have been written by a folk singer.