From Beyoncé ‘s Cowboy Carter to Shaboozey ‘s “A Bar Song,” 2024 has been a watershed year for Black artists excelling critically and commercially in genres that have traditionally tried to box Black artists out despite having a storied history of Black innovators. Conversations about the blurring of genre lines have dominated the music industry for years, and it’s a sentiment that Grammy-nominated singer-producer Chlöe Bailey is incredibly intimate with. “Any music I do will easily and quickly be categorized as R&B because I’m a Black woman,” she told Nylon in her cover story.
“If someone who didn’t have my skin tone made the same music, it would be in the pop categories. That’s just the way it’s always been in life.” As a part of the Chloe x Halle duo — which includes her Little Mermaid -starring younger sister Halle Bailey — Chlöe regularly traversed genres.
On the duo’s two Billboard 200 -charting Grammy-nominated studio LPs, 2018’s The Kids Are Alright (No. 139) and 2020’s Ungodly Hour (No. 16), the sisters dabbled in soul, electronica, house, hip-hop, alternative rock, contemporary pop, R&B and more.
Chloe’s debut solo LP, In Pieces , featured a similar amalgamation of sounds, which helped her reach No. 119 on the all-genre albums chart. Despite releasing several pop-facing tunes, including April’s “Boy Bye,” Chlöe’s awards and chart success have primarily come in the R&B field.
Of her five career Grammy nods, just o.
