To the dramatic tone of a classical sounding keyboard, two figures bathed in twinkling light emerged on the stage.
“ I got money everywhere, falling off the trees…”
Background:
Ooo wee. I hesitate to say any artist is born for the stage, or even simply born for greatness. To many, it discounts the hours of work, and sometimes the record label machine formula of discovering talent these days. But if you’ve seen a snippet of experimental R&B music duo ChloexHalle’s live performances and music videos, you know they’re about as close as you can get to black musical excellence.
Most people familiar with the group know about their dream-like origin story. Singing, acting and performing at a young age, Chloe Bailey 21, and Halle Bailey 19, taught themselves the keyboard and guitar from online tutorials, a trademark of many Millennial and Gen Z musical talents. Their father taught them the basics of songwriting structure after noticing their passion and they have been on fire ever since. In 2012, they began uploading covers on YouTube, in 2013 they became Radio Disney’s Next Big Thing and in 2015 got signed by Queen Beyonce herself to Parkwood entertainment after she saw their popular Pretty Hurts cover.
Their first studio album, “The Kids Are Alright” was released to critical acclaim in March of last year, and before that they began starring in the Black-ish Freeform spinoff, Grown-ish with Yara Shahidi.
I’ve been seeing these girls sing DOWN(!!) since their ethereal video for their 2016 single Drop that made its rounds on Tumblr a few years ago.
Their live performances have always lived in my Favorites playlist on YouTube, so when this special one night only concert popped up on the upcoming events on my Spotify account I didn’t hesitate to purchase along with my longtime friend Onyx.
Set The Scene: This is my first time at the Fonda Theater. It reminded me of how much I missed the intimate medium sized venues that are peppered around LA County like El Rey Theatre and the Hollywood Palladium.
Onyx and I made our way to the front section that was slightly elevated to make sure she could see (she’s five feet even, I’m five foot nine #StalliGang). We were right underneath the DJ booth, which definitely hyped us up for the concert. DJ Hunnycat (A woman DJ!) took us from casually talking amongst ourselves- to me being down on the floor with the most elegant man in a trench coat hyping him up to Cash Shit by Megan Thee Stallion. He was throwing it back impeccably too, shout out to you sir.
The crowd was the kind that you could dance, laugh and ki with. There were black girls galore; as a ChloexHalle concert would be expected to. From elementary school age to brimmed auntie hat age. And like any concert with a good vocalist(s), the queer folks with their partners and friends were out in full force. It was a comfortability I forgot I missed from my DC days, being able to be around other black queer people, and how fun we make everything.
The Show: The duo opened to a standout of last year’s debut studio album, titled Everywhere. It’s a bop to say the least, a fun operatic vocal performance along with a Trap / Electro Beat that we’ve come to love from them.
Instantly, their comfortability on the stage grabs you. It’s the type of comfort that you expect from elders in their craft. It wasn’t a shift to an alter ego — it was just them, being naturally who they were on the stage. Every so often, one of the sisters would look down or up at the audience and beam the brightest smile at everyone, almost inviting you into the experience they were having on stage.
Chloe often melted into the character of the song she performed, slinking around the mic or providing the attitude. Halle, to put it simply — was a ray of sunshine on the stage. She sang with the brightest, most beautiful tone and her runs and falsetto would catch you off-guard and make you want to throw a shoe. That type of voice you hope to hear on the escalators going up to the pearly gates.
Throughout their show setlist, with standout songs like “Drop”, “Galaxy”, & “Babybird”, the duo’s vocals soared about the incredible production. I always think- maybe I care more for Halle’s classic jazzy voice on a certain track, or Chloe’s power in her soulful voice and then I hear the others verse and I stand. CORRECTED.
I wonder how they find melodies and beats to compliment both of their voices or is it just the beauty of their ability is that they can make themselves sound good on any beat in production.
Highlights of the show were:
- Mixing their song Fake ft. Kari Faux with the instrumental of DaBaby’s hit Suge. It turned the Fonda Theatre OUT.
- An acoustic version of Freeform’s spinoff Grownish’s theme song, when many fans in the audience taking that time to Showcase their posters and get a laugh and a few words from the sisters also they shouted out their cast members Ryan Destiny and Diggy Simmons that were in attendance that day (SN: Maybe one of y’all could slide in my dms and tell me who is pregnant 👀 ).
- Cool People. That’s it. That’s the Highlight. Here’s a clip below.
Closer to the end of the show, the duo announced their big news!! Their second studio album is coming soon and is titled “The Ungodly Hour”. The merch and the title is giving Queen of the Damned / Dark Aaliyah vibes. They also treated us to a performance of two new songs titled “Rest of Your Life” and “Do It”. All I got to say is you R&B girls better stay tuned. Below is a video of both songs during the performance.
As we left the venue, Onyx and I saw an old friend from elementary school. We caught up, laughed and hugged, and I couldn’t help but take in the moment as a sentimental girl would. While most concerts could cause this feeling, ChloexHalle are the definition of family creating a musical space, and music creating family. We were leaving the venue and singing their closing song when a couple joined us:
“I’ve been down on the regular, I’ve seen things with my retina
These old days I don’t feel that much, ohhhhhh
’Cause darling when you smile its like the rain dries out”
So happy there’s still cool people in the world.
