It's been almost a decade since Chlöe Bailey and Halle Bailey burst onto the music scene, catching the attention of Beyoncé with their YouTube cover of "Pretty Hurts" in 2013 and signing a contract with her management company Parkwood Entertainment in 2015. The sister duo, Chloe X Halle, would go on to release three EPs, two studio albums, one mixtape and a number of singles (not to mention act in the hit series Grown-ish).
But last year, Chlöe, 23, and Halle, 21, started pursuing solo careers. And as no surprise to their fans, they're both totally killing it. Halle is set to star in Disney's live-action version of The Little Mermaid, which is reportedly scheduled to premiere in 2023, and Chlöe dropped her new single "Have Mercy" last year, with a debut album on the way.
Chlöe talked about her journey during a recent interview with Elaine Welteroth for In The Know's January 2022 digital cover story. And although she said that she and Halle see "no downsides" to entering the biz together, she admitted there is one thing that annoys her.
"I hate when people online constantly try to compare my sister and I," Chlöe said. "It is the most shallow, most disturbing thing. It was very off-putting to know how people would try to put two young Black sisters who love their craft so much and love each other so much, how they try to pit them against each other just because they're different in some ways. So that's the only downside."
Indeed, the two continue to cheer each other on. As Chlöe put it, "It's been so empowering having my sister next to me."
This isn't the only judgment Chlöe has faced. When Elaine asked if "you feel like you are under a different level of scrutiny because of your curvy build as a young Black woman," the singer said she isn't alone.
"Well, it's not just me," she replied. "It's any Black, beautiful woman. Any woman, period. It's something all of us go through in our life in any field. It's just more multiplied because of the platform that I'm given on social media. No matter what women do, no matter how talented we are, no matter how screwed on our head is, someone will always have a problem because we choose to celebrate our body and the skin that we're in."
However, Chlöe isn't letting any haters bring her down. "No matter if you have a slim figure or if you have a more curvy figure, you shouldn't dim your light, period," she added. "We shouldn't form ourselves and do certain things just because of what we think the world will say. It's not fair to ourselves to do that because it's more work thinking that way. It's easier to just be yourself and have fun and be free. It's more stifling and more suffocating when you're calculating what you can and can't do just because other people can't."
And continuing to be herself is exactly what Chlöe plans to do in this next chapter as a solo artist.
"I've never sat down and been like, 'Okay. This is what I'm going to be. This is what I'm gonna do in public. This is what I'm gonna keep private,'" she said. "I've never done that. I was just like, 'F--k it. I'm gonna be myself. If people like it, they do. If they don't, they don't.' But I will say, when I am on stage, that person people see, that's the version of me that is completely unfiltered, completely confident, completely fearless."