The song impacted contemporary hit radio formats in the United States on November 19, 2019, as the album's fifth single, before being released globally on December 13, through Question Everything and RCA Records.

It also adds Brian Casey, Lipa, Jermaine Dupri, Jon B, Manuel Seal Jr., Usher Raymond, and William Wood as writers.

[2] After Brockhampton invited American actor Shia LaBeouf to their Los Angeles creative space to discuss promotional ideas, band members Dom McLennon and Jabari Manwa got back into the album-making mentality.

[3] McLennon was immediately inspired to write and record, and he pointed out that the beat evoked a "nostalgia of being a hungry young artist working the graveyard shift at Target".

[4] Drawing on advice he received from producer Michael Uzowuru, Hemnani decided to pitch down the song by two semitones, in an effort to discover new pockets for harmonies.

[5] The remix version adds Brian Casey, Dua Lipa, Jermaine Dupri, Jonathan Buck, Manuel Seal Jr., Usher Raymond, and William Wood as writers.

[18][22] The lyrics of "Sugar" talk about drug abuse, codependency, and the timeless stress of uncertainty, while also seeing the band reflect on past relationships and yearn for a partner to be by their side.

[24][25] The verses of the song keep it hip hop, with the band members singing from a positive place, reminiscing on the good memories and focusing on their accomplishments.

[30] Lipa uses soulful vocals and joins in on the first verse, piggy-backing off McLennon's opening line from the original version "I move mountains on my own, don’t need nobody help", before reworking the rest of the lyrics.

[40] The song was named a highlight on Ginger by Shahlin Graves of Coup De Main Magazine,[46] Erika Marie of HotNewHipHop,[22] Julie Van Praet of Hot Press,[47] Sophie Caraan of Hypebeast,[30] Matthew Strauss of Pitchfork,[48] Derrick Rossignol of Uproxx[49] and the staff of Vulture.

[23] In Rolling Stone, Charles Holmes described the song as "wistful and sweet", while also mentioning that it feels like "a bold swing after the darkness" of the previous album track "No Halo".

[13] For Pitchfork, Sheldon Pearce stated that the song, alongside fellow album tracks "No Halo" and "Boy Bye", makes it seem like the production crew "has unlocked its full potential".

[53] Steven Edelstone of Paste noted that Brockhampton leans into their "capital-P Pop tendencies", while comparing Bearface's performance to JC Chasez.

[54] In Contactmusic.com, Max Cussons thought that the acoustic touches and "cabin-like homely" hook are reminiscent of a Fleet Foxes or Bon Iver song, alongside mentioning that Bearface's "melodious, sensual serenade" is the "show-stopper".

[36] Alex Robert Ross of The Fader viewed the song as "very chill", while the Los Angeles Times' Mikael Wood described it as "tender and silky".

[57] Vulture's Chris Murphy stated "the remix does not disappoint" while praising Lipa's performance, saying she fits right in on the song as she "croons just like one of the boys".

[32] In Consequence, Nina Corcoran stated that although "Lipa doesn't command any singular moment or verse", she "sleekly croons right alongside the rest" of the band.

[16] For MTV, Trey Alston stated Lipa "claims the song as her own immediately", while also praising her appearance on the "final bone-chilling chorus" that makes "her case to be the next member of the group".

[59] Vulture ranked "Sugar" as the eighth best song of 2019; writer Dee Lockett noted that it has "the hallmarks of a grade-A boy-band bop" with "airtight harmonies, an irresistible hook, and matters of the heart".

[65][66] In November 2021, the song was awarded a double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which denotes 2,000,000 track-equivalent unit sales in the US.

[39] In 2020, for selling 70,000 track-equivalent units in Australia, the song was awarded a platinum certification by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).

[80] In April 2020, Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) awarded the song a platinum certification for track-equivalent sales of 30,000 units in New Zealand.

Color was handled by Irving Harvey and Sam Gursky with VFX by Frender and Max Colt, and animation by Moving Colour and Brian Covalt.

[88] The video opens with a sex scene between a man and woman, portrayed by Drew Carter and Meredeith Vancuyk, where the explicit parts are censored out and a frowning cartoon sun watches them.

[82][84][88] The sun was created by Moving Colour after a request from Ways & Means for "some old-school stop-motion, or clay-mation, similar to what we grew up with in the 80's from the California Raisins and Dominos Noid".

[89] An alien, portrayed by Bobby Keene, then creeks through the bedroom door and shoots the man in the head before singing the intro of the song.

[90][91] A series of incongruous scenes including an alien invasion, Matt Champion performing with the devil, also played by Bobby Keene, in hell, Abstract stuck to the ceiling by green slime, which drips onto the other members', and Bearface lying on a dirty carpet follow.

[93] Douglas Greenwood of i-D noticed that the video has the "weird, frenetic energy" of Uncut Gems (2019) and Good Times (1974–79) if either of those films "fornicated with an early 00s Nickelodeon TV show".

[27] For Highsnobiety, Sarah Osei called the video a "trippy, four-minute ride", whereas the Australian Broadcasting Corporation opined that it "gets progressively weirder" over its four minute length.

[100] Brockhampton delivered their first live performance of "Sugar" with Beatty on August 23, 2019, as the second song during their Friday Therapy concert at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, to celebrate the release of Ginger.