The singer discusses the criticism she constantly faces during an interview on Latto's new Apple Music 1 show.
Chlöe Bailey has had to grow a thick skin when it comes to the criticism circulating about her. The "Body Do" singer appeared as the first guest on Latto's new Apple Music 1 show, 777 Radio, where she opened up about how she's struggled with the public's reaction to her shedding the kid-friendly image she established early in her career and how comparisons to her younger sister, Halle Bailey, add to her frustration.
Chlöe -- who debuted her first solo album, In Pieces, on Friday -- told the "Big Energy" singer that people's reactions to her sultry posts on social media, her sexy solo singles that differ from her previous work as part of Chloe x Halle, have left her "confused."
"It's like, if I do it, it's forced, it's contrived. But… I've come to the conclusion it's because they're not used to seeing me in that light," she said. "They've grown up with my sister and I since we had our little short baby locks on YouTube and everything. But it's like, this has been me. When I perform, that's when I feel the most confident and the most sexy. It's nothing contrived or forced about it. That's just passion coming out."
She noted that while the criticism can sometimes "get under my skin," she's ultimately glad that "people are talking."
"I'm like, 'Damn it, y'all just don't let me be. You let everybody else be and not me,'" she said. "But it's OK."
For Chlöe, the commentary crosses the line is when it comes to her sister. "Honestly, it really pisses me off," she said of people comparing her to Halle or attempting to pit them against one another. "I think out of everything, that's the thing that gets under my skin the most, when people are comparing us, because we are best friends, we're sisters. Sometimes we forget that we're not twins, and it's like, don't mess with my blood. Don't mess with her."
She went on to explain, "Sometimes I just have to brush it off because people only see what they want to make up, what they want to believe, and it's like, sometimes I don't need to give off that energy and waste my time explaining something that I know isn't true."
The singer joked that, although she'd like to respond to her critics, her "clap backs aren't the best," so "I just need to just learn to just be quiet."
Chlöe recently starred in the highly-anticipated Amazon Studios' series, Swarm, in which she played the tragic character Marissa, a fan of the fictional pop star Ni'Jah, whose body of work and art style are very similar to Beyoncé's.
From co-creators and executive producers Janine Nabers and Donald Glover, Swarm follows Dre (Dominique Fishback), a young woman obsessed with Ni'Jah, whose fandom takes her to dark, unexpected places, which begins after a tragic incident involving her sister, Marissa (Bailey), and Marissa's boyfriend, Khalid (Damson Idris).
The singer told ET that she pulled from her experience as a sister to shape Marissa's character, explaining, "That's what this piece meant to me, the bond of two sisters. No matter how crazy their life gets, that they will always stay together no matter what, till death do them part. It's a story about a girl who's figuring herself out, and we all have outlets in which we do that."
Chlöe echoed a similar sentiment when speaking about her relationship with her real-life sister, sharing that, despite their similarities and the bond that will always keep them together, they have a lot of different interests. "[Going solo] was very scary in the beginning and we both had separation anxiety, but now I feel like it's made us both stronger and believe in ourselves a little more and in turn, it makes our bond stronger," she said.
"It's easy to believe in someone else, and it's harder to believe in yourself, so I feel like we've gotten to do the hard self-work on our own, traveling apart from each other and everything like that, so it makes us appreciate each other even more," Chlöe concluded.
Latto's new 777 Radio show is a limited series airing exclusively on Apple Music 1. It will air biweekly on Thursdays on Apple Music 1 at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET, beginning March 30th.
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