Coachella 2018: Chloe x Halle Talk ‘The Kids Are Alright’ & Key Collaborators
Coachella 2018 was already being referred to as Beychella before Beyonce performed, but the rebrand became official and everlasting in the wake of her history-making set. Queen Bey’s influence was not limited to the main stage, however. Chloe x Halle, two incredible artists signed to her Parkwood Entertainment imprint, made their festival debut in the Mojave Tent earlier that day (April 14) and stunned onlookers with their extraordinary poise and effortless musicality.
I caught up with sisters after their set and they expressed relief at a job (very) well done. The “Warrior” singers also opened up about The Kids Are Alright, revealing how they chose collaborators for their debut album. Chloe x Halle then explained Beyonce’s hands-off approach to mentoring. Other topics of conversation include future projects, the importance of a striking visuals and the goal of inspiring other young women with their message. Get acquainted with the future superstars in our Q&A below.
I loved your set.
Halle: Thank you so much.
Do you feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders?
Halle: Yes, yes. Definitely. You know we have been preparing for this Coachella show. We only had two official days to rehearse the whole show because we were just on the go since the release of our album, but we’re so happy with the result and we’re just grateful.
Chloe: Yeah, and the two girls who played with us, they were just the coolest. We love them so much and it just was a great show.
Now you can go and catch a few acts.
Chloe: Right? Exactly!
Who’s on your list?
Chloe: Definitely Tyler the Creator.
Halle: Beyoncé, of course!
Chloe: Yep.
It’s Beychella!
Chloe: I know! I’m so excited for Beyoncé.
The Kids Are Alright is getting incredible reviews. How do you process all of that praise?
Chloe: I’m just grateful to do this with my sister. We’re truly just having fun and sharing our feelings, and putting it into our music, and to know that people are receiving it so well and connecting to it on a deeper level, really means a lot to us.
The album has a profound message too.
Halle: Absolutely. We like to think of the messages in this album as messages to ourselves as young girls, as young women growing. These are mantras to raise our spirits up first, and when other people say that they can relate to it, it’s really an amazing thing because we do this as therapy for ourselves, to help the world.
There’s a real progression from Sugar Symphony. What was the goal when you started this project?
Chloe: We’ve been working on this album for three, four years, even before the EP and our mixtape. The mixtape was pretty much songs that we knew wouldn’t make the album, but we still liked them a lot. I feel like our music grows with us, we grow as young women, because we’re just being honest in our music and we’re music lovers, as well. So as we’re getting opened to new music and really other cool artists that are out there right now. We’re just soaking it all up and just creating what our heart says.
You worked with some amazing people on this album. Nasri, Inscore, Diana Gordon…
Halle: We love Diana. She’s here!
Chloe: We’re gonna hang out later, we just saw her.
How do you choose your collaborators?
Halle: You know, we connect. The people we connect with, we love to collaborate with. With Diana, she’s like our older sister. She’s such an amazing artist, an amazing writer, and we felt that as young up-and-coming writers, we could learn so much from her. Yeah, so definitely that connection was beautiful. We just loved her spirit. And it’s the same with all these other people on the album.
You know, Nasri and Adam [Messinger] helped us with “Happy Without Me.” They have just such beautiful souls, and are very talented men. And with GoldLink and Kari Faux and Joey Bada$$, they’re all amazing, young artists, that have something to say. And their music is really changing lives. So, we just wanted to align ourselves with people that we feel, have the same mindset, and same goal, and same, overall personality as us.
You just mentioned one of my favorite songs on the album. I love “Happy Without Me.”
Chloe: Aww.
Halle: Oh thank you.
Have you thought about your next single?
Chloe: I feel like every song on this album is our baby. And whatever song that the majority of our supporters gravitate towards, we’re gonna go for that, you know? Music is definitely about what the people want, and we just create from our hearts. It’s just hard for us to pick ourselves.
Your videos are stunning. How important is the visual element to getting your message across?
Chloe: Thank you! If we see something that’s beautiful, we’re like, “Oh, what is that, we wanna click on it.” So we wanted to give our fans that same excitement, when you see something that makes your eye pop, you’re like, “Okay.” Then you click on it, then you open the book, then you read the book. So, that was a big part of it.
Do you have any other projects on the horizon outside of music?
Chloe: Right now, our baby is our music, but we’re so excited to film second season of Grown-ish. And even get into other avenues of just expressing ourselves, whether it’s through screenwriting or writing a book or doing any other thing. Wherever our soul leads us, we’ll follow.
We’re at Beychella, so I have to ask how Beyoncé helps shape your sound.
Halle: What we love so much about Beyoncé is that she allows us to be free. She allows us to have our own ideas, and our own creativity, and she allows us to do what we want, and then at the end of the day, come to her and ask her opinion when we feel like we have a great product. That’s what we love. We write the songs in our living room. Everything’s done by us.
That’s incredible.
Halle: We executive-produced this whole album. Normally, when we write and we feel good about a batch of songs, then we present it to her. Of course, she has minor notes, you know, and is always teaching us that we can always grow. She gives us little tips like combining one song into another. It’s really cool. Stuff like that. She’s amazing.
Do you ever get any feedback that you don’t like?
Chloe: That’s very rare. She’s a genius in her own right, and whenever she gives us advice she’s like, “Whatever you all gravitate towards, you can use or not use.” And that’s what I love about her, the creative freedom that we have because a lot of artists who are given this big platform, they’re not able to create the music they want to create, and share the voice that they have. And I’m just grateful that my sister and I get to do that.
One last question. When you recorded that cover of “Pretty Hurts” did you think it would lead you here?
Chloe: My sister and I, we believe everything’s possible, but I would not have thought that, that video would have opened up so many doors. I knew one day, with God, that we’d get here, but I didn’t know that would be the way.
Thank you so much.
Chloe: Thank you.
Halle: Thank you very much.
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