One Year of Chloe x Halle
One year on from the release of Ungodly Hour, Maryam Rimi reviews Chloe x Halle’s sophomore album, exploring the theme of Black sisterhood and reflecting on the impact the duo have had for the past twelve months.
It is no easy feat to release and promote your sophomore studio album during a pandemic that has pushed the world to a standstill. Still, Chloe x Halle executed it excellently. Their debut, The Kids Are Alright, was widely lauded as a coming-of-age anthem, mixing genres and sounds in an effort to find their musical style. In comparison, then, Ungodly Hour was a siren call to their audience that says that the girls, now 22 and 20, really are ‘Grown’.
From the opening message in the Intro, ‘Don’t ever ask for permission, Ask for forgiveness,’ it is clear that the album’s central message is one of empowerment and a commitment to being unapologetically themselves. The Atlanta-born sisters may have come of age, but they are still exploring what it means to be young women in the world. Self-actualisation and autonomy are recurring threads throughout the album, with the album’s third track, Baby Girl, affirming soulfully: ‘Baby girl/it's your world’.
“Black sisterhood is what makes this album so great.”
Every song on Ungodly Hour feels fresh and unique, but still everything comes together seamlessly. Chloe x Halle’s mesmerising harmonies, evident from the opening track Intro/Forgive Me, demonstrate just how perfectly in sync these sisters are, reminiscent of the close relationship and synchronicity between the duo’s mentor Beyonce and her own sister, Solange. As someone who has grown up with only sisters, it is impossible for me to extricate the cohesion of this album from the pair’s relationship. Black sisterhood is what makes this album so great.
Not only is it present throughout the album, but also in their process; their bond radiates through their home performances. I can’t think of any other artists who have been as consistent as these two when it comes to finding original ways to bring live performances to their fans during the pandemic, blessing us with high-production concepts from the tennis court in their garden. They even released a deluxe version of their album with two new songs in February of this year, proving that they don’t plan on letting the hype die down any time soon.
Different facets of sisterhood are explored and illustrated in the album. In Forgive Me, we see Chloe x Halle suggest that you can be an older sister to your younger self with the lyrics ‘don't you forget about/The little girl that you met now/The one that's in your spirit/She's still got your back’. Meanwhile, Ungodly Hour’s standout single Do It portrays the sisterhood between friends by being the perfect getting-ready-with-your-girls anthem. The ‘homies only kind of mood’ of the song is reflected in its fun music video, complete with the 90’s outfits and old-school back up dancers.
Throughout the record, Chloe x Halle are able to take common young adult experiences of love, loneliness and complicated relationships and take them above the mundane, their gorgeous vocals transforming them into something that feels positively angelic. Tipsy, for example, takes a story of an inattentive lover and transforms it into a southern-gothic inspired, seemingly ‘crazy-ex-girlfriend’-esque tune that sounds like it ought to be playing in the background of a scene from American Horror Story: Coven. The shortest track on the album, Overwhelmed, serves as an interlude in Ungodly Hour’s trajectory, as the girls sing the melancholic lyrics ‘Runnin' so fast, I done worn my shoes/Head on the pavement, I'm just tryin' to win’. Experiencing burn out is so common in your early twenties that there is a comfort in hearing that even superstars like Chloe x Halle can relate.
The pair shift from burnout to loneliness as they sing ‘Are you afraid of the silence?/Are you afraid of what you'll find in it?’ highlighting the unease of being alone in one’s own company. There is power in being comfortable with ourselves, though, they assure us as the song comes to a close. The album’s upbeat outro ROYL, about living in the moment and overcoming everyday trials and tribulations, ends the album on a positive note; it is the perfect score to the closing credits of the Black coming-of-age movie of my dreams.
But growing up hasn’t come without its setbacks. Chloe was a victim of misogynoir on social media after participating in viral TikTok challenges like the #SilhouetteChallenge and the “BussItChallenge. She was also criticised for posting photos on her Instagram page that were deemed ‘Too Sexy’. In a vulnerable Instagram Live, she addressed the criticism explaining that she felt happy to be at a place in her self-love journey where she felt confident as a Black woman to ‘stand in her power.’ She also instructed other women watching never to change who they are to make society feel comfortable. In taking ownership over her body, and in her refusal to back down from the haters, Chloe embodied the empowering theme of their second album. Many artists and celebrities such as Halle Berry, Gabrielle Union and Cardi B also came to her defence, again in demonstration of the power of sisterhood among Black women.
“The album’s central message is one of empowerment and a commitment to being unapologetically themselves.”
The pair’s work ethic is admirable. Between releasing music videos and starring in Grown-ish, the two have also somehow found the time to partner with DKNY, and Halle is now filming for her titular role in Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid. If the past 12 months have shown us anything, it’s that it is Chloe x Halle’s world, and the rest of us are just living in it. Their refined second album, lockdown performances and sisterly love have me excited for what’s in store for the duo. Chloe x Halle really are doing it for the girls.