in chlÖe, we (somewhat) trust…
Hot Takes
What went wrong with Chlöe’s highly anticipated debut era, and where she can go next after what will eventually be recognized as a minor career misstep.
BY HARPSICHORD
OCTOBER 11, 2023
Digital illustration of a promotional photo for ‘In Pieces’ of Chlöe Bailey.
On September 26, audio released of Chlöe Bailey speaking on “The Dotty Show.” “I’m almost done with my next [album],” said the singer, which prompted the host to go “Whoa!” It had been a shock, because her highly anticipated debut, In Pieces, just came out six months prior. Then the host asks, “when can we expect it?” Almost sounding a bit defeated and annoyed, Chlöe dryly answers, “Whenever God and my label wants it.” The host goes on to ask what lessons were learned from the debut album, to which Chlöe quickly answers “No! No! No! Just beat it and make better music.”
Okayyyyyy…… Well…. Let’s take a deep look back, shall we? **Sigh**
To say the least, Chlöe Bailey’s debut studio album, In Pieces, is all over the place. While the project showcases Bailey’s operatic vocal range and spontaneous ability to adlib in odd places, the persona being presented seems scattered. While the singer does a stellar job of displaying that she’s a complex woman, at times her views on what she’s experiencing seem surface level. Listeners aren’t getting the full answer to “Who is Chlöe Bailey?”— a young woman navigating and fumbling through early fame and novice romance.
In order to debut successfully at the top of the game (the “top of the game” being the Billboard charts and high public approval), one must establish their identity with authenticity, likability, and most importantly infectious, relatable music. What’s transpired with Chlöe since the start of her solo career speculations into the actual release of In Pieces— and the aftermath of it debuting at No. 119 on the Billboard 200– is society’s expectations lost in translation with the artist’s own intentions. Simply put: Maybe Chlöe doesn’t know how to navigate playing the game of controlling the narratives she’s faced with.
The Implications of the 2020 BET Awards
Sunday, June 28, 2020 will forever be the most important date for the life of Chlöe Bailey’s solo career. That became the moment where a narrative was thrusted upon her. That became the point where she had been initially challenged as a solo star by the public at large.
Viewers of the BET Awards were in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, wondering how the network would pull off a telecast of studio taped virtual performances in lieu of an absent auditorium full of celebrities. Slated to perform that night: Bailey, and her sister, as their girl group, Chloe x Halle. With rousing performances of “Forgive Me” and “Do It,” the duo seemed to have finally had their breaking moment for their second studio album. “Do It,” in particular, became the group’s first and only single to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier that week. But just when the group’s mainstream momentum gained, Twitter and Instagram users echoed and debated whether “Chloe should go solo.”
Looking back at that performance— and honestly witnessing it in real time— the seeds had been planted for her solo career. Halle— who had the news break a year prior that she would portray Ariel in the live adaptation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid— surprisingly played more of a background role. It had been Chlöe with grander body movement and louder vocals during “Forgive Me”— sharply contrasting her sister’s more subdued nature. It resembled a page of Beyoncé making her leading presence known while on stage with Destiny’s Child.
Although the performance style worked, what had been clear is that two women were becoming their own artists. And at that moment— during a literal pandemic nonetheless— their two paths weren’t always meant to be in sync with one another. While Chloe x Halle’s chemistry remained intact, viewers' opinions were split on how much further that chemistry could be sustained. Some went as far to suggest Chlöe’s performance style looked sexier, and that her sister held her back from fully going all out.
With those thoughts looming, Chlöe played on the speculation along with her sister, as they continued to promote their album, Ungodly Hour. Then on Tuesday, January 19, 2021 both ladies launched their own separate Instagram accounts for the first time in nine years. Two days later, her solo Tik Tok account, @chloebaileywashere, featured the singer dropping it low to the #BussItChallenge sparked by Erica Banks’s “Buss It.” This added more fuel to the fire, as Chlöe seemed to tempt more conversation revolving around her sex appeal.
The matter concerning sex appeal and becoming a solo sensation is common fodder for pop stars. Think about the low riders and crop top of the “Naughty Girl,” Beyoncé herself. Or about the chair routine of Janet Jackson in “Pleasure Principle,” or Britney Spears and the boa constrictor at VMAs. While their talent is on full display, what keeps a crowd more engaged than the taboo natures of sex and attractive temptation? It’s important that when analyzing the solo status of Chlöe at this point, her 2020 BET performance is mentioned. To say the least, that moment set a tone of confusion.
Once they grew older, Chlöe and Halle flirted with the mature subject matters of romance and sex— particularly on songs like Ungodly Hour’s “Busy Boy.” However, it started happening at a time when the general public outside the fanbase were just getting familiar with the actual music and personas of two people they once viewed as child stars. Consequently, the BET performance thrusted Chlöe in a sex appeal role a little too abruptly. The general public didn’t have much time to process how Chlöe had already grown up and matured enough to handle sex. They had also unexpectedly placed her in a role filled with expectations on what is acceptable, tolerable, and outright cringy.
A year after that performance might have been rather quick for her to be seen moaning and simulating tantric acrobatics while performing Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good.” On June 18, 2021, ABC aired a primetime special entitled “Juneteenth: Together We Triumph— A Soul of a Nation.” This marked Chlöe’s first solo TV performance without her sister. While Simone’s classic 1965 song rejoiced in the idea of feeling liberation during the civil rights era, Chlöe’s delivered interpretation of the song nearly seemed to suggest the pleasures of “Feeling [a] Good” orgasm. “It’s a new dawn. It’s a new day,” twerked Chlöe to the bewilderment of social media.
And from there the emphasis on sex persisted further and further. From the microphone licking at the 2021 Video Music Awards; to the pussy pats in the music video for her debut solo single, “Have Mercy.” From Chlöe singing “I’ll f*ck you right, I will” to her then-showmance-partner, Gunna on “you & me;” to more stripper-inspired gyrating in the music video of “Treat Me”.
Sex. Sex. Sex. And very little public interest in the actual vocals that delivered the song, or even the avant style of the production she worked with. Someone who had been very talented seemed to be type casted rather fast into a sex icon. Except… the sex icon who may not know what she’s doing.
Her Beyoncé Mentorship
Since the start of the 2010s, Black women who occupy the R&B and pop spaces have been compared to Bey, who happens to own the management company and record label of Parkwood. Tinashe has seen a hit in her public perception, because she spoke out against this in an interview at the start of her career. Normani has received some backlash at the start of her career when she tried to refute those claims. However, once Chlöe started her solo quest, she embraced the notion of being compared to her mentor.
When it was time for Chlöe to pick her next single after “Treat Me,” she had two options. Does she go with “Surprise,” a slinky quiet storm option that also discusses sex like the previous two singles, or “For The Night,” an upbeat pop number that asserts her in a more independent diva role.
“When the Queen speaks,” teased the singer about her next choice. Fans immediately knew that she was talking about Beyoncé. Most of her supporters had suggested “For The Night,” because it would have gained heavy radio airplay and would have been a change of pace. At the time, women artists were being sought after for their more confident records, as the discourse about women incorporating sex too much in their music was becoming tiresome for the market.
And to their surprise… Chlöe (and Beyoncé) went with “Surprise.” Although “Surprise” is a smooth number that expresses Chlöe’s maturity, it showed that she could only be known for one thing in the eyes of the public. At the 2022 BET Awards, Chlöe slayed the stage, but once again she did so in a sexual manner. This left the audience up for more debates, and lended them the opportunity to once again pick apart her sexuality. In a way, some of her fans in the deepest parts of the internet and blogs wondered if she was being sabotaged by her mentor– who happened to be releasing her highly anticipated Renaissance album that summer.
Renaissance soon became the main topic of discussion for the remainder of the summer, and Chlöe was left behind. This is not to say that Renaissance became Parkwood’s main priority, but anyone with a brain on how the music industry works would be fooling themselves if they said that wasn’t the case. Unlike “Have Mercy” and “Treat Me,” “Surprise” did not end up charting on the Billboard Hot 100. It faded away, and by the end of October, “For The Night” was finally released, but with an unnecessary feature with Latto. That song also didn’t chart, while “Cuff It” from Renaissance stormed to the Top 10 of the Hot 100.
When Beyoncé embarked on her Renaissance World Tour in summer 2023, many wondered if her pupil would get some stage time. She didn’t, while other acts such as Doechii, Coi Leray, and Megan Thee Stallion did. Then there was some backlash that will be referred to in the first to last portion of this article.
The Chris Brown Issue
On January 24, 2023, Chlöe announced her debut album, In Pieces, would be arriving in March of that year. Her promotion seemed a bit confusing, because it featured her covered in a dress holding a heart and a sphere. It seemed to represent a balancing act, maybe taking notes that the sex had gone a bit too far with the previous three singles. Later that week she released “Pray It Away,” which was more of a heartbreak song with the inclusion of more soul. There had been nothing suggesting sex, but there was a bit of cursing in the number. Oddly enough, some fans said they preferred the clean version rather than the explicit one that mentions a “fuck n!gga.”
“Pray It Away” ended up not charting– making four songs that missed the Hot 100. At this point, critics started casting the “she’s a flop” judgements onto Chlöe, which is damaging for a star trying to break major in pop. As a hail mary play, her next single “How Does It Feel” enlisted the power of successful men. It sampled Usher’s “Throwback” from his legendary Diamond-certified album, Confessions. The feature however turned many off: Chris Brown.
Speaking on Tinashe once again: Tinashe expressed in an interview with Zach Sang that her label attempted this at the start of her career and how it backfired. When she wanted to go pop with her 2015 song, “Player,” they forced her to collab with Chris Brown. Chris Brown does not appeal to pop markets, but rather rhythmic audiences. Much of this has to do with the controversies surrounding domestic abuse and his online antics against many industry folks and critics.
When a female artist collabs with Chris Brown nowadays, they receive more backlash than he does himself. His loyal fanbase does not support his duet partners, but rather his own music. Most of the fans of the female artists in turn are upset with the decision they’ve made. When Chris Brown won an American Music Award, last fall, the audience boo’ed causing Kelly Rowland to hush the crowd. Her fans revolted against her for a few days on social media. Normani received backlash for being his dance partner in the music video for “Warm Embrace,” as they wondered why she spent time helping him as an extra rather than providing her own solo music. Even going as far as Rihanna, her song “Birthday Cake” received a lot of flack in 2012 despite her telling the public she forgave him for his abuse towards her.
Chris Brown does fairly well for himself, or when he collaborates with a male artist (see: “No Guidance” with Drake), but when it comes to women who are expected to stand for one another, not so much. “How Does It Feel” happens to be one of the better R&B releases of 2023, as it shows Chlöe is capable of handling her own. But again, the song became her fifth consecutive single as a lead artist to not chart on the Hot 100. It would eventually be nominated for “Best R&B Video” at the 2023 VMA’s but ended up losing to SZA’s “Shirt.”
The In Pieces Album Itself
When In Pieces finally debuted on March 31, 2023, the momentum for it was very low. People were already deterred because it seemed like nothing but mishaps could happen for Chlöe at this point. When she revealed the tracklist on March 20, outlets and fans noticed that “Have Mercy,” “Treat Me,” and “For The Night,” were all noticeably absent from the tracklist. That in itself is a blunder, because those songs would have counted towards RIAA certifications. With “Have Mercy” being a major streaming success, the headlines would have looked better because of the inclusion, which would have gamed the numbers in a dog eat dog pop world.
By the end of the album's listen, we don’t know who exactly the pop star is. She has some emotional numbers and ballads like “Heart On My Sleeve,” but then there are the fun bops like “Body Do.” All in all, it sounds like confusion with no solid cohesiveness, except for maybe the imagery. The talent is obviously there, but the continuity that makes for stellar debut albums lacks. Even the final single, which features Future, called “Cheatback,” ultimately serves no purpose. That move like a Chris Brown feature seems like a record label attempt to gain sales rather than focus on the lead artist’s uniqueness.
As it became apparent that Chlöe’s sales weren’t doing the best, fans and commentators called for some promotion from her mentor, “The Queen.” “Just a simple Instagram post,” they suggested. DJ Envy of the morning radio show, “The Breakfast Club,” blamed Beyoncé for why the album only pushed 10,000 sales units in its opening week. As per Insider, Envy said: "I do feel if you're signed to somebody's record label, or you are in business with somebody, right, that's part of what you expect." He continued: "I'm signing to you because I'm hoping I'm going to get a Beyoncé verse. I'm signing to you because I'm hoping that I'm going to get some of your fans. I'm signing to you so I can get some of your knowledge, and wisdom, and your promo."
As harsh as all of that sounds, DJ Envy is correct. Why be signed to a major label of a superstar, if she’s not going to help you when your back is against the wall?
When she was confronted about the issue, Chlöe took the high road. She defended her mentor and told them that she is getting help from behind the scenes. She mentioned her opportunity to star in Donald Glover’s Amazon Prime mini-series, Swarm, which had the internet literally buzzing because her character played a pivotal role in shaping the overall plot. Since then she was able to star in another movie titled Praise This, and got a press circuit junket that only other women coming up in R&B and pop could ever dream of. “At least they’re talking,” was the sentiment she gave as a rebuttal, to much praise from her fans.
But there lies the overall problem….
“At least they’re talking” may be benefactory [Editorial note: Which is happening in this article, so she’s right about something…], but at a certain point it has to be more than just discussing the controversies. The music needs to stick– especially in a competitive market, where yes, she’s going up against her own legendary mentor. Attention spans are short and dismissive with much of today’s audience.
If Chlöe has the hopes and aspirations of being a major pop star, she has got to make music that not only highlights her uniqueness, but grabs a hold of people’s ears. And with that comes releasing the unexpected. Right now, it’s translating to the typical fodder that people are used to consuming: hypersexual women who are betrayed and sing about it, just to end back up with the individual and repeat the cycle of sex. There is not much mystery or progression with what Chlöe is doing, and with that the time seems to have run out. She’s moving like a social media influencer, instead of the talented musician her fans know her to be. And in turn, she’s not being respected for her talent and drive.
Signs It Will All Blow Over
Everything about Chlöe’s journey is not negative, and she shouldn’t be defeated [even if she does read this article, that’s not the intention]. The star was able to embark on a sold out tour during the summer, and there are videos of her fans screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs. At least she has a base that cares about her.
What Chlöe needs as her next move is a sure-fire hit and a conceptual era that doesn’t see her as one trick pony. She’s free to express her sexuality, but she’s got to do it with more wit and a mysterious air about her. The people need to talk, but it has got to be about the music for the next stage of her career. Her vulnerability and true feelings should not come out in interviews, but rather in the music itself. Make the revelations in the music, with a catchy beat, video, and meaningful lyrics.
That task may not be easy, but Chlöe offers something many of her peers don’t: An operatic vocal style. She’s a fan of Imogen Heap, and cites her as an influence, but that is rarely heard in her current music. She has the ability to play around with sounds that don’t appeal to the typical urban, rhythmic base that left her high and dry in the first place. Instead of proving that she wants to fit in, she has to fulfill her mission of standing out. After all, that’s what Beyoncé had to start doing by the time of I Am… Sasha Fierce, 4, and even Renaissance, and guess what? It worked…
