- We've seen women objectified in music videos,
like, as props.
- Yes.
- [Dometi] And that's flipped on its head,
the men are props.
I see the scene where you're spanking the guy.
Why was it important to get that message in there
and kinda flip this narrative on its head
about what a woman's space should be
in popular music videos?
- Honestly, everything you're saying is the exact same thing
I would say on these Zoom calls.
I was like, "Men can glorify ass in their videos.
"I wanna do it with this in an artful,
"really fun, beautiful way."
And I think it's so great how women can claim
their ownership of their bodies and not let the world do it
and we get to do it in the way that we want to,
and it was really fun.
I felt really pretty on the shoot days,
and I look back and I'm like,
"That's not the same person right here,
"but it was fun for the moment."
I'ma tap back into that sometimes, but it was really fun.
- OK, so last time I talked to you,
it was about this time last year.
You and Halle were performing "Ungodly Hour."
Now you come back on the main stage performing solo,
debuting your new single, "Have Mercy."
How does it feel to be back here on the main stage
performing solo?
- It feels really great.
I'm going to be honest, I'm very scared,
but I'm really grateful.
I think it's been such a big pot of emotions
for me this week, because the video is out,
and then performing two days later.
So I've been really anxious,
and I've been holding on to it near and dear to my heart.
I finished "Have Mercy" in April,
so I've been holding on to it for so long,
and to finally birth it, it's like, I'm in shock almost.
- It's gotta feel like a relief.
- Yes.
- Yet you still got the nerves for Sunday.
I mean, having done all that you've done and accomplished,
I think it's something refreshing
about hearing you say you're nervous,
'cause it's kinda surprising.
What is it that makes you nervous and anxious about this?
- Well, I think when you're nervous and have the nerves,
it shows that you're alive
and that you truly care about your craft,
and I still have such a long way to grow
and I'm so nit-picky about myself.
I don't know if it's 'cause my rising's Virgo
or if it's the Cancer sensitive side inside of me or what,
but I'm so nit-picky and there's so many things
that I'm like, "OK, do that, do that,
"notes this, notes that", and I'm always in my head.
But it's also excitement
because I'm finally showing the world
who I am completely 360,
so yeah, it's a huge range of emotions.
- Nerves, that's out of humility as well too,
so that's a beautiful thing.
What is it that allowed you to say, "You know what?
"Now is the time."
How did you know now is the time to drop this record?
- Well, every time I've been either doing press
or doing the shoots for my solo career,
it always takes me back to the moment
where I'd be in my room back in Atlanta,
dancing in the mirror, full going out.
And it's crazy because I'm going to actually
make that moment on the VMAs stage,
and it's something I've kind of always
seen for myself in my head.
And I'm so grateful and blessed to have my sister,
my best friend, and she was out filming 'Little Mermaid'
and I missed her so much.
And because music is so therapeutic for us,
I couldn't just stop creating, so it was just inside of me.
And so, now I'm like, "OK, I'm just gonna put it out,
"get this done, boom", and yeah.
So timing is everything and it just happened,
so I'm really grateful.
- So when did you realize
that this would actually become an album?
That this was something
that you were actually gonna put into the world,
not just for yourself, to express yourself?
- Yeah, music high-key really saved my life
and it was really pouring out of me
in a way that I couldn't really contain.
And as I was creating it,
I started seeing it visually in my head,
I started coming up with mood boards, all of that,
and it kinda just started creating within itself.
And I was doing it, and then I even paused it
when we got in the pandemic,
and then that's when sis and I were doing
our Backyard Tennis Court Tours of 'Ungodly Hour,'
so that was really fun.
And it's crazy to see how the album,
what I originally thought it was going to be,
has evolved into this really empowerment, loving myself
kind of record, and I can't wait for everyone to hear it.
I'm still narrowing down the songs.
There's so many, 'cause I've just been creating so much.
- How many did you record?
- Oh, so many, like a hundred, I think.
- Jeez!
- Yeah, and then now I'm narrowing it down from 30.
Yeah, around there, so just gotta - it's kinda hard.
- What is the overall vibe?
When you have 100 songs, are you picking the best
from each particular vibe,
or do you pick a sound and say,
"I'm gonna stay here
"and I'm gonna do the best of this sound"?
- I think, honestly,
it's really about what sounds cohesive as a project.
I love music, I'm such a fan of music, all kinds,
and it's been fun experimenting with my voice,
and I've kind of learned
that I love my tone sounds on pop records,
which you guys really haven't even heard yet.
So it's kind of been fun finding myself through the music.
And yeah, it's just whatever feels the best.
I'm all about a feeling.
- You talk a lot about mood boards.
You mentioned it now,
we talked about it last time we chatted.
How did the vision come together for this video,
the treatment?
Who put it together?
You gotta walk me through it from top to bottom.
- OkK, well I have the best team ever.
Shout out to Parkwood and Columbia and Drew,
who was my creative director.
We really wanted this to feel fun, and we both saw pink.
And we were trying to figure out
what could kind of, you know, and he thought of a sorority.
At first, I was like, "Huh?"
But then I kinda saw the light,
and me, I love everything with a suspenseful twist.
I love a storyline.
And I was like, "OK, if we do sorority,
"can we add a little dark twist up in there somehow?"
And so, after watching the video,
I wanted to really kind of make it all about ass,
but in an artistic way.
And I think it's so cool how women
have this incredible power,
how they can leave men in a trance with their bodies
and their spirits and the way they carry themselves.
So it's literally luring in men and turning them into stone,
so it's like a modern day Medusa.
- What I love about that so much
is it serves multiple purposes,
which we're seeing happen more and more
in the ecosystem with women artists.
It's not just ass for ass sake.
Even if it was, that'd be cool too.
- Mhm.
- You've got a lot of it.
But it's also about what it looks like
when women have agency over their own bodies.
- Absolutely.
- I saw who directed this video.
Why was it important for a Black woman
to be behind the vision
and directing this video and carrying it out?
- Yes, well, shout out to Karena.
She's incredible.
It was so cool being directed by her on the screen,
and then looking to the left
and seeing Andrew do poses on the side.
It was a family feeling and a vibe on set,
and I was so happy.
And I think it's amazing how Karena gets it,
because she's a woman, she's a Black woman,
and there's some things
that I didn't even have to really explain
because she knows it by living life,
and I think you kind of get to see the power that we hold
within the music video.
It's fun.
I felt sexy doing it, but it's also very empowering.
- Nah, it was amazing.
Also amazing, Miss Tina.
- Yes, Miss Tina.
- Miss Tina popped up.
How did that come about?
(Chloe sighs)
- Wow, OK.
So in the video, it's like the mysterious neighbor peeking,
and we were like, "Who could do this right?"
And Ricky, who's with Parkwood, he was like,
"Oh, she would be amazing."
I was like, "Are you kidding me?
"If she'd do it, hell yeah."
And she came and she did it.
And one, she's so beautiful,
and I was just so shocked
with how long she stayed the whole day,
and she sent my mom the most beautiful message
that almost brought me to tears.
And I'm just really grateful for her
and Bey's support and their love.
And it's because of Miss Tina birthing Bey and Solange
that, that's why my sister and I are doing
what we're doing now, seeing examples like that.
So it was almost like a really huge full circle moment.
- Now you know the Internet is gonna go crazy,
they're gonna, I'm getting, literally,
I don't know if you can see 'em,
goosebumps thinking about it.
You see my arms.
- I see, I see.
- Because Beyonce's such a once in a generation artist
and you are a whole different entity.
- Thank you.
- Yet we see notes of that greatness in you.
- Thank you.
- And seeing Miss Tina in the video
is almost like, "Yeah, she sees it too."
How do you process that,
when you get support from Beyonce and Tina Knowles,
and when you feel like you're carrying on a legacy
of all these women that have been the foundation for you?
- I don't really process it, quite frankly.
It's such a huge compliment.
Bey has always been such a huge inspiration to me,
so for people to even say
that that's the vibe they get from me
is a huge compliment in itself,
because she's a legend, she's an icon.
So it's like, OK, well, I have a lot to do
and a lot to grow, so I would only hope
to even have an ounce of her success.
So we'll see what happens, but I'm really grateful.
I can't wait for people to see me through the music
and just learn about me completely,
so it's gonna be really a fun ride.
- One of your earliest Instagram posts
that caught my attention was you posted Nina Simone dancing.
- Yeah.
- With the caption, "Freedom".
What did that mean to you?
Why did you post that?
- So that has been one of my favorite videos for years
and it's been on my Finsta
and I always go back and watch it
because just seeing her come alive on the stage,
you can tell her mind is just elsewhere
and her soul is just free and open,
and that's how I feel on stage.
I feel like it's the perfect example
of how I feel internally.
And outside of the overthinking,
and when I get past all of that,
when the lights come on and it's that actual moment,
it's the feeling of freedom.
It's the place I feel most safe,
it's the place I feel most myself,
the place I don't feel judged.
And I think that video was like, "That's the feeling,"
'cause you can never really describe it to someone.
And it's really funny how, fast forward,
how me performing "Feeling Good"
was kind of my first performance by myself,
and being such a huge fan of Miss Nina Simone,
it's really funny how there's always these little nuggets
and little signs that things will come back around.
And Nina, Bey, Kelis.
Oh, I'm the biggest Kelis fan.
Imogen Heap, Grimes, there's so many incredible women
that I look up to, Missy Elliot.
So there's so many and yeah, I could go on for days.
- When I think about freedom,
when I think about how you express yourself on your IG,
when we got to see, "Oh, this is who Chloe is,"
it made me think about how many people
who've grown up in the public eye,
and the public isn't ready for them to grow up yet.
And usually they have this transition period
where it's like, "Hey, I'm an adult, I'm an adult".
You didn't wait for any permission.
You just said,
"No, I'm grown and I'm gonna do what I wanna do."
- [Chloe] Yeah, yeah.
- [Dometi] How did you get that confidence
and get to that space,
or was it something that was just natural, like,
"F what anybody thinks,
"I'm just gonna do what I feel like doing"?
- Honestly, it was really natural.
I seem very confident online.
Internally, I'm not really.
But on my Finsta, that's all I was really posting.
Ask Halle, all my family members who were on it.
So it didn't, it wasn't like,
"Oh, I don't really care, I'm just gonna," it just was me.
And that's why I kind of laughed at the response
because I was like, "Oh, it's just me being me.
"That's great you like it.
"It's cool if you don't, that's fine."
But I think it's important for us to learn
that no matter what people really say about you,
you kinda just have to put your blinders on
and just be yourself unapologetically,
and that's the really truly the biggest lesson I've learned.
A lot of times, people are like, oh I do too much,
or even performing wise, but it's just me feeling free
and getting it out, and I'm happy that I have the freedom
to express myself in that way.
- There's no such thing as having too much self expression,
in my opinion.
That's a wild, a wild critique.
But it's interesting
because you could kinda look at your Instagram and see that,
"Oh, she's about to birth something new that's just Chloe,"
just off of the covers.
When I looked at "You're Mine Still,"
how you flipped Blue's song and so many different records.
Why was it important to use that platform
and those cover songs to kinda introduce the world
to who Chloe Bailey is?
- Well, if you recall,
that's what sis and I would do all the time.
That's how we got started, with the covers.
And I think being such huge fans of music,
it's been easy to do and put a spin on things.
And Halle and I being so far apart,
I miss her and I miss hearing the harmonies
in either my left or right ear.
I miss that.
But it was fun doing that in my bedroom.
It was literally the curtain by my porch door
and I would just go.
- Alongside your music career, of course,
you're getting ready to star in 'Jane.'
- Yeah!
- How did you choose that project?
What's your process like when you're saying yes to things?
And how much of Chloe the musician
is related to Chloe the actress?
- Yeah, well I love suspense.
So when I read the script, I was like,
"OK, I'm gonna go for this."
I did the chemistry read over Zoom with Madeleine
and she's the dopest, and I got it and we did it.
We did it a month in Albuquerque,
and I can't wait to see it.
It's really fun.
I love acting.
It's another way to express myself,
like how I do with music.
It's storytelling.
- What else are you saying yes to?
What's next for you?
- A lot.
A lot of people don't know, when I was younger,
my main dream was to be a Broadway star.
So maybe one day I'll do Broadway or even something
if they adapted it into a movie.
Who knows?
But I really want an EGOT and I'm gonna get it
and I promise you that.
So we don't, you know, the sky's the limit.
- The sky is the limit.
That EGOT is coming.
And Chloe, we're just glad to be witnesses.
- Thank you.
- Thank you so much for the time.
- Thank you for your time.
I love you guys at MTV.
You all have always supported me, so.
- We love you back.
- Thank you.
- More than you even know.
Thank you so much.
- Thank you.