The Future of Pop Music and Why It Looks Like Chloe X Halle
Lord, have mercy.
If you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you probably don’t know who Chloe x Halle is. They are an r&b duo from Georgia who rose to fame after posting popular covers to YouTube despite having minor acting roles throughout the 2000s.
For most, they were introduced to them by way of their hit “Do It” which had the world in a chokehold amidst a global pandemic. It inadvertently became the song of the summer for 2020 as the song became a sensation on the kids’ favorite video-sharing app Tik Tok with a viral dance challenge recreating the choreography from the iconic video.
They also gave many stellar and varied performances from the tennis court in their background for events like YouTube’s Dear Class of 2020, The Today Show, The BET Awards, The 31st GLAAD Awards, and even to ring in the new year for NBC’s New Year’s Eve 2021 Show.
For dedicated fans like me, you were introduced to Chloe and Halle Bailey during their early days of recording covers of songs like Rolling In The Deep, Girl On Fire, and most notably Pretty Hurts which garnered the attention of a particular pop icon by the name of Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter.
Ever since then, their steady climb to becoming mainstays in popular culture can be seen with the evolution of their dynamic brand, infectious music, and exceptional stage presence from Sugar Symphony and The Two Of Us EPs to The Kids Are Alright to Ungodly Hour.
In the year 2021, the criteria for what makes someone an icon on pop music has been heavily debated on social media, and everyone born after 2002 is dying to find the Beyoncé, Mariah, Michael, etc. of their generation. While no one can truly replicate their impact, influence, and contributions to music, the metrics are clear that the next regency of music requires supreme vocal ability, songwriting, stage presence, and cultural influence.
Enter, Chloe X Halle.
Chloe X Halle’s dominance of pop culture, music, and the Twitter trending page came to a head in 2020 as people were heavily encouraged to remain locked in the house to avoid the spread of COVID-19. While an abundance of people did not listen to the advisories, Chloe X Halle graced us with the luxurious album Ungodly Hour which I enjoyed countless ungodly hours of from my garden apartment bedroom. With certified bops like Forgive Me, Tipsy, Busy Boy, Do It, Don’t Make It Harder On Me, and the best title track of the year Ungodly Hour.
This era spawned countless viral moments that would have the girls trending for days if not weeks from their appearances on award shows that garner millions of views, photoshoots, and their weekly Instagram live sessions — appropriately named Ungodly Tea Time.
The majority of the comments each time they enter our screens is not only the immaculate arrangements they themselves put together but the accompanying visuals that simply take your breath away. If that wasn’t enough, they somehow manage to top unbeatable performance and subvert our expectations with each release.
Moving into 2021, our sister duo took some time apart, literally, as Halle Bailey had to jet to London to take part in filming the next Disney live-action reimagination of The Little Mermaid where she will be playing princess Ariel, serving goddess vocals, and ultimately snatching our scalps again whenever that soundtrack drops.
Meanwhile, Chloe has been holding down the fort very comfortably as she’s been taking the time to work on music and post more covers to Tik Tok that send the internet into a whirlwind as we wait for new music to come from the talented group.
Well, that day came…
On June 18th, Chloe performed an audacious cover of Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, which sparked a large debate about sex positivity because she dared to embrace her body and athletic ability. However, the consensus is that she stepped out to show the world what she is capable and ready to do.
Once the hype around that died down, Chloe sent the world into a panic when she dropped a snippet of a song for her 23rd birthday.
After violently shaking the table with this release, she allowed the 30-second sound bite to percolate throughout our brains and eventually became a variety of little Tik Tok challenges that you can view here, here, and here.
From there, she would leave us to our own devices with this snippet running carefree in our minds until its official release that she once said would come 8/??.
Little did we know a month would pass, September 1st was around the corner, and we still only had that infectious 30 seconds to cling to. Well, the internet had it and fans began invading her comments begging for her to release the song, some even convinced it would never see the light of day.
It wasn’t until September 2nd that we got word that the song along with a music video would drop on September 10th.
As I’m still recovering from having all the oxygen stripped from my lungs and chills cold enough to turn my skin into stone like the men in the Have Mercy video did when they observe Chloe’s voluptuous figure. The sorority meets medusa concept dripped in pink and diamonds matched with back-breaking choreography let all of us know that we were not ready for this level of excellence.
The song alone is enough to want to get up and bust a move, but the moves Chloe busted in that video told me to sit my ass down or go to the nearest gym.
Having garnered over 1 million views in less than 5 hours — now sitting at a comfy 3.7 — , Chloe has effectively cemented herself as a pop legend in the making as she has the voice, dancing ability, and writes/produces her own music which she’s done since the beginning of her Chloe X Halle days.
The song has an infectious beat, produced by Murda Beatz, featuring a sample from TT The Artist and Uniiqu3’s song Girls Off The Chain, having everyone saying, “booty so big, Lord have mercy!” Chloe slides all over this beat with spellbinding lyricism and cadence complete with her signature siren-like harmonies.
The video provides stunning cinematography, vibrant colors, exhilarating choreography, and luxurious fashion. A work of art, and one of the best videos of the year. Creative Director and Video Director, Andrew Makadsi and Karena Evans, as well as the rest of the crew, deserve all the awards for this.
We were also blessed with surprise appearances from the internet’s boyfriend, Rome Flynn, Donte Colley, Ms. Tina Knowles-Lawson, and another pop icon, Bree Runway.
Earlier this year, there was a lot of debate over whether Chloe X Halle was breaking up or not, overlooking the fact they were on separate continents for the majority of the year, giving them opportunities to work on their individual styles which are immaculate in and of themselves. Now that they are united, it is clear that Chloe X Halle is here to dominate the music and film industry as they have a few projects coming up.
We learned recently that “The Little Mermaid” is set to be released on May 26 2023 😐.
Meanwhile, Chloe is set to appear in a film called “Jane”, starring alongside Madelaine Petsch, Russel Crowe’s yet to be released “The Georgetown Project”, and you can see her latest acting project, “Electric Easy”, a neo-noir musical drama, on podcast services.