Chris Evans’ Piano Cover Of Prince’s “Purple Rain” Is A Must-Listen

Showing off yet another one of his creative skills, Chris Evans played Prince’s “Purple Rain” on the piano and really struck a chord with his 12.7 million Instagram followers on Friday, Oct. 8. “Purple Rain on a sunny day,” the Knives Out actor captioned the first of his Instagram stories showing himself tickling the ivories to the tune of the 1984 hit.

Fans couldn’t comment publicly on the social media platform, so many moved over to Twitter to share their applause. There, one summed it up aptly: “Chris Evans playing Purple Rain on the piano is literally all I need in life.” Another gushed that he “signs missiles and can play purple rain on his piano, what a king.”

Given that Instagram stories are only viewable for 24 hours, Evans did fans a solid and added the video to a highlights folder labeled with a piano emoji. The “Purple Rain” cover comes after you click through some other of his piano performances from the past year, including a song by Italian composer Fabrizio Paterlini, Lionel Richie's “Easy,” and a festive rendition of “Christmas Time is Here.” (He just so happens to be wearing a NASA baseball cap in all of his performances, but its unclear if that’s purely coincidental.)

After Evans posted he was learning one of his favorites by Paterlini in November, it didn’t take long for the musician to catch wind of the cover. “Now I clearly understand when [someone] says ‘this made my day,’” Paterlini tweeted on November 25, noting he’d also previously played the Avengers end theme in his own Instagram stories. “The day ‘after’, I open my eyes with heart full of gratitude: THANK YOU @ChrisEvans for listening and sharing my music and THANK YOU guys for such a warm and overwhelming welcome in your awesome community,” the independent artist added of the newfound attention Evans brought to his music. “I’ll never forget this!”

Evans has been playing the piano since he was young, and he can also “fake it” on the drums, according to a 2019 Men’s Journal profile. The writer even described his Bösendorfer upright piano as the flashiest thing in his renovated, rustic farmhouse outside of Boston, where he reportedly spends most of his time.

As it turns out, Evans isn’t a bad singer, nor is he the only musical member of his family. In 2015, the actor’s brother Scott Evans shared a YouTube video of the duo performing James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” — or at least part of it. “Chris and I messing around over Memorial Day weekend,” Scott captioned the video. “Unfortunately we had the giggles and couldn’t make it through the whole thing without laughing for here is just a tease... With some sung apologies to each other. :)”

It must run in the family.