As Chlöe Bailey launched her solo debut In Pieces, she responded to yet another controversy from her recent collaboration with Chris Brown.
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Since branching off from the hit duo with her sister, Chlöe x Halle, the 24-year-old endured a trial by fire. When she’s not trending from debates about her new sound, she’s making headlines for racy visuals. In an interview with Teen Vogue, for the first time Chlöe addressed the backlash from working with Chris Brown.
For Chris Brown’s critics, there’s no defending his track record of abuse and violence. Fortunately, Chlöe didn’t attempting to, like Kelly Rowland and Jordin Sparks (who both got dragged for downplaying his not-so-distant past).
Instead, Chlöe acknowledged the disappointment, but hoped the music will “speak for itself” on “How Does It Feel?”
“I love my fans so much. Without them I wouldn’t be here. We all have every right to our opinions, so I don’t fault them for that,” she said.
“In my case, I always want to let the music speak for itself, and I’m grateful to Chris for making the record so special and being a part of the video with me, and I’m just as grateful to my fans for rocking with me through it all.”
It’s not like the Praise This star was hurting for cosigns. In 2015, Beyoncé handpicked Chlöe and Halle as protégés with a Parkwood Entertainment record deal. In Pieces has production by The-Dream and Metr0 Boomin, and songs with Missy Elliott and Future.
In an interview with Power 106 host Bryhana Monegain, Chlöe elaborated that she was immediately drawn to the song itself. After previously collaborating with Chris, she knew their vocals would “sound beautiful together.”
The same misogyny that enables Chris to thrive, despite repeated violent offenses, is also why Chlöe gets dragged at every turn. After her brief sex scene in Swarm, Chlöe somehow became a bigger villain than the serial killer character.
Fans Can Expect The Unexpected On In Pieces
Like her life in the public eye, Chlöe describes her first solo project as a “rollercoaster ride” with “a lot of loops, a lot of twists and turns.” While flexing a musical range that will leave you “stuck upside down for a bit,” the story of In Pieces is the track connecting every part of the ride.
“I hear music with everything and I wanted it to feel like how my life felt. I wanted it to have ebbs and flows. I didn’t want it to be predictable,” the “Body Do” beauty said.
“I didn’t want it to feel like the same thing, because in life we’re constantly evolving, and that’s how the music sounds.”
Listeners are safe in the capable hands of Chlöe, who “wrote, produced, arranged, and engineered almost every track on In Pieces.
If you think Chlöe and Halle’s tennis court got a workout during the pandemic, the older Bailey sister says she hit the studio even harder.
“There’s around, I think 120 [songs] that I did for this within the three years for this specific project. And some that didn’t make it, maybe they’ll see the light of the day, maybe they won’t. Maybe I’ll sell them. You never know,” she said.
After whittling the album down to almost 10% of the songs she made, every note of In Pieces is deliberate. Everything from the experimental sound to collaborating with Chris is a calculated risk. It’s also a reminder that we’ve only seen a fraction of her talent and potential.
If the scathing scrutiny superstars like Rihanna and Beyoncé faced is any indication, Chlöe is next in line. Not even this controversy can rain on her future reign.
What do you think of Chlöe Bailey’s new album In Pieces and the Chris Brown controversy?
