The Clock Strikes on the Ungodly Hour: It’s Chloe x Halle’s Time
There has always been something so aspiring about youth and the untapped talent and potential they inherently possess. Whether they’re training their way to Olympic gold, researching medical solutions for a cure to cancer, singing their way up the Billboard music charts, or helping to lead in a social revolution — youth evokes vigor, cultivation and promise.
What excites me so much about sister duo Chloe x Halle is their prodigious talent with a polish beyond their years. Their capacity to occupy various spaces in the industry as a unit, and as their own individual artists, is immense and quite thrilling to think about, it’s like watching or reading an enthralling YA story with protagonists you are deeply invested in.
I love an amazing YA protagonist. I love sinking into a coming of age story that allows me to encounter feelings, challenges, and relationships I recognize from my own life. To watch young women navigate their womanhood, sexuality, relationships and their agency. For me, the best coming of age follows those individuals who explore and question the accepted rules of morality and virtue; those who allow themselves to explore their dark side and embrace their mistakes; those who allow themselves a slight bit of titillation from sinful temptation.
I can’t begin to discuss Chloe x Halle without getting into their voices — which inspired me to draw a sketch of the girls. Halle’s soprano voice floats, Chloe’s mezzo soprano has gravity. Chloe is the cello, Halle is the violin — strong and beautiful individually, but absolutely divine in harmony. Their voices together are defined by such clarity and tight harmonies, it’s like a science, a chemistry, whilst being completely transcendent of reason.
If you’re in the loop, Chloe x Halle’s talent is undeniable. In that regard, I think the biggest critique I’ve seen about the girls is that they don’t make mature music, with their seemingly sweet and innocent image perhaps being off-putting to some. I find this perception of their early music to be rooted in misogyny, because like a lot of media made for, by and about young women, it’s never taken seriously — a discussion for another day. There’s really absolutely no reason why they shouldn’t be as big as Billie Eilish, or Destiny’s Child back in their prime.
Sonically, their first album, “The Kids Are Alright” is a mix between Janelle Monáe, FKA Twigs and Solange, each song harping a range of influences from grunge to Neo soul. They received two Grammy nominations for the album in 2019 — an album they wrote and produced completely on their own from their living room. One of my favorite things about Chloe x Halle is that they have never been interested in creating the kind of music the mainstream masses expect Black female artists to create. They aren’t interested in falling in line.
The sister act have been acting and performing since they were little girls. Beyoncé signed Chloe x Halle to her Parkwood Entertainment label five years ago after discovering their cover of her song “Pretty Hurts” on YouTube in 2014. And their stardom has loomed ever since.
With the release of their second studio album, “Ungodly Hour,” there’s no mistaking the growth in their development as artists and young women. They gave the project this name because the ungodly hour represents that time when you’re allowed to be vulnerable and imperfect. The concept is meant to subvert from the angelic image often projected onto them — reveal a little of the crack in their porcelain.
If “The Kids Are Alright” was a declaration of blossoming individuality and finding one’s voice, “Ungodly Hour” is a clear sense of ownership as they leap into adulthood with both feet. With confidence and vulnerability, they have full autonomy of their sexuality, womanhood and agency — all reflected in the music. They are fully embracing the complexities of adulthood, and give themselves permission to make mistakes and accept their flaws. Their creative growth matches that of their personal maturation. It feels like a completely natural and seamless transition between album cycles.
“Ungodly Hour” is a sonic landscape for a season of a YA limited series, starring Chloe x Halle as they lay bare their most personal experiences and secrets kept. The album is a satisfying 13 tracks, not too short and not extraneous. And the girls don’t waste a minute, a beat, a note or a breath. The LP is lavish with bold statements, elaborate production and sumptuous vocal prowess. The lead single, “Do It” — produced by Scott Storch and co-written with Victoria Monet — is a coolly infectious earworm, and was the perfect track to whet the appetite of day-ones and new fans who are craving new music to get excited about.
The album opens with an intro of what has become Chloe x Halle’s signature: ornate harmonies and layered vocalizing — present (and expertly mixed) throughout the entire project. Chloe states with composed authority, “Don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness.” Then a crescendo of strings seamlessly goes into Track 2, “Forgive Me” — a dark and badass reclamation of one’s time after being jilted. I love how the heaviness of the production contrasts with their celestial voices.
Track 5, “Tipsy” is one of my favorite moments on the album. A mischievous, experimental fantasy, the record was born from Halle playing country-sounding chords on the guitar. The song warns of the consequences their lover will face if they dare to betray the parameters of the relationship. It’s so much fun to see the girls take their creative concepts when songwriting this far to the edge. You can hear how much fun they had recording it.
The Disclosure-produced title track, “Ungodly Hour” sounds like how a dreamsicle tastes in the summer heat; it sounds like looking through a kaleidoscope. It’s a dreamy, hazy and feverish sequence in which the duo knows the value of their time and adds tax to it. It’s a fitting companion to that of “Forgive Me.”
Elsewhere on the album, the early 2000’s vibe of “Busy Boy” is a saucy track that I could easily hear knocking in the background of an episode of HBO’s “Insecure.” And the old school, 60’s nostalgia of “Don’t Make It Harder On Me” is the perfect needle drop for a rom-com. I cannot wait for Chloe x Halle to start composing and curating for film and TV.
Track 9 gives us a moment of pause to take a breath in the interlude “Overwhelmed” where they allow themselves to live in the feeling of being submerged. Their harmonization over the piano is a calm and soothing touch that progresses perfectly into Track10. “Lonely” is another highlight for me. It’s candy with a sweet groove; it’s like skipping a rock and creating beautiful ripple effects; it’s a refreshing, cool glass of something. In the first verse, they hit us with contemplative questions: Who are you when no one’s watching? Are you afraid of the silence? Are you afraid of what you’ll find in it? Scott Storch’s slinky production creates this airy, wavy aura. The beat feels like an open space where we can learn how to be alone with ourselves unencumbered.
The album’s apex — what I consider to be their pièce de résistance — is Track 12, “Wonder What She Thinks of Me.” It’s cinematic, bursting at the seams. The record sets the stage for a captivating musical moment. It’s like watching an opera, capturing the yearning and emotional turmoil of being the other woman. It’s an impressive showcase of their production and songwriting skills. Halle’s lyric soprano soars effortlessly, while Chloe finesses her rich timbre to lace the track with a sultry cadence, stressing every word. It’s a gorgeous composition with a sweep of strings that makes the whole thing feel epic.
The closer, track 14, “ROYL” (read as ‘royal’ and an acronym for “rest of your life”) is a sleeper hit; a grower. Chloe has said that the song pays homage to their last album, as the production includes them chanting. It’s the carpe diem of the album and the connective tissue between this and “The Kids Are Alright.” It will absolutely be used in the background of a YA adaptation.
For as long as I’ve been following Chloe x Halle, they have always been hands-on when it comes to the output of their music, taking much pride in their musicianship. Chloe has production credits on 10 of the 13 songs on the album, three of which she produced entirely on her own. She also recorded their vocals on 12 of the tracks. Halle served as an assistant engineer on all the songs, and co-produced two. Not one song on the album sounds like the other, but it remains a cohesive body of work. The songs compiled are discernibly more mature, more refined and molded to the palettes of the mainstream, but the work never loses the integrity the of the sound that Chloe x Halle have carved out for themselves. Their vision is still 20/20 from top to bottom. The vision is still authentically theirs.
At 31, I’m still figuring out what my purpose looks like and the most effective way to use my voice and express my point of view. It makes me irrepressibly happy and completely blissed out to see young women such as Chloe x Halle honing in on their life’s purpose, exploring their voices and using their platform. It’s inspiring and makes me feel hopeful.
As I undergo treatment for my cancer diagnosis and try to reckon with the existential crisis that comes with it, along with the added layer of a global pandemic, it’s been healing and cathartic to watch young Black women with such raw talent — who are absolutely poised for all of this — ascend in a time that feels unprecedented. It’s such an odd time in our world right now, and them thriving amid the unrest gives me peace. Chloe x Halle and “Ungodly Hour” are exactly what fascinates me about working in artist development.
Having Beyoncé as a mentor, the girls have made it clear that she has always given them the creative freedom to make the kind of music they want to make. “Let the world catch up to you, don’t dumb down your art,” she told them.
Since the album dropped on June 12, “Ungodly Hour” has been received with much praise, and a slew of new fans. As of today, it debuted at #16 on the Billboard 200, Chloe x Halle’s highest chart placement and biggest first week sales of their career. As my Twitter mutual and fellow fan Jabbar Lewis noted perfectly, the world is finally catching up to Chloe x Halle: “Here we are. Everyone is arriving.”
You can stream “Ungodly Hour” on all platforms. I also highly recommend you check out their first album “The Kids Are Alright” and their mixtape “The Two of Us.”
My Top 5:
1. Wonder What She Thinks of Me
2. Ungodly Hour
3. Lonely
4. Tipsy
5. Forgive Me
