celeb news Chloe Bailey: "My music is categorized as R&B because I'm black"

[Burn]

 

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."

 

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 one came from outside of the R&B categories — her 2018 best new artist nod as one-half of Chloe x Halle.

 

The "Have Mercy" singer named Whitney Houston and Beyoncé as two artists she looks to for inspiration regarding standing firm in genre experimentation, specifically lauding the latter artist's latest smash album. "That's why I was really proud of Beyoncé doing Cowboy Carter," she said, "because Black people originated country music. It's just showing that possibilities are endless."

 

The "Treat Me" singer also finds solace in knowing that her work is often ahead of the curve. "What I kind of love about my art is that it sneaks up on you," she explained. "When In Pieces came out, not many people really got it. But now a year later, people are like, 'Oh, it's genius! It's beautiful! It's amazing!' No one ever gets it when it first comes out."

 

Chlöe is currently gearing up for the release of Trouble In Paradise, her sophomore solo studio album, which is slated to drop "later this summer." 

 

https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/chloe-bailey-music-categorized-rb-black-1235715383/

[XO_Life]

Your music is R&B because you make R&B music, stupid.

[rigo]

Oh girl don't set up the Twitter on fire

[JO1s]

8 minutes ago, XO_Life said:

Your music is R&B because you make R&B music, stupid.

Well yes and no some is some isn't. The grammys categorizes a lot of black artists pop music in the R&B catagory too...

[Virgos Groove]

I feel like people are interpreting this as "I've never made R&B music", which is NOT what she said.

 

Yes, she has plenty of R&B songs, but she also has stuff like Ungodly Hour's title track or Boy Bye, which are pop songs, but still get categorized as R&B.

 

Black artists in general have a harder time crossing over to pop radio or award show categories, even if they change their sounds. (Rihanna was the exception.) On the other hand, white artists can experiment with R&B and hip hop and not have to worry about pop radio dropping them.

Edited Saturday at 11:52 PM by Virgos Groove

[Galaxy]

FKA Twigs said something similar back when she released her debut

 

Quote

When I first released music and no one knew what I looked like, I would read comments like: 'I've never heard anything like this before, it's not in a genre,'" she continued. "And then my picture came out six months later, now she's an R&B singer. I share certain sonic threads with classical music; my song "Preface" is like a hymn. So let's talk about that. If I was white and blonde and said I went to church all the time, you'd be talking about the 'choral aspect'. But you're not talking about that because I'm a mixed-race girl from south London."

 

[dinorhino]

15 minutes ago, JO1s said:

Well yes and no some is some isn't. The grammys categorizes a lot of black artists pop music in the R&B catagory too...

Or hip/hop rap. Like Ajay saying Beyoncé was "rapping" on Alien Superstar

[xluvxduffxmusicx]

27 minutes ago, JO1s said:

Well yes and no some is some isn't. The grammys categorizes a lot of black artists pop music in the R&B catagory too...

Yeah but is the majority of it R&B or Pop? Just because there are three Pop songs on a 12 track album doesn't mean it'll suddenly be categorized as Pop or split equally in half. 
 

I don't listen to Chloe so I can't say for sure. But using Normani as an example, there is really only three or four pop songs on her album, so if she were to claim something similar it would be factually incorrect also.

[ChooseyLover]

Yeah no. Others have said this and they had a point. Definitely not her case.

[dinorhino]

10 minutes ago, ChooseyLover said:

Yeah no. Others have said this and they had a point. Definitely not her case.

Yea she definitely is pretty thoroughly contemporary R&B with more pop influence here and there but it's never been pure pop like Rihanna or anything

 

[BussC,XOXO]

this is going over so many people's heads

[CottageHore]

This was true when FKA twigs said it back in 2014 but Chloë, girl, you make r&b music, that's just a fact 

[Onyxmage]

Also because its RnB.  

[Onyxmage]

4 minutes ago, BLΔCKP!NK said:

this is going over so many people's heads

No its not. Im the first to defend any black artist who does pop as a POP artist, which yes she is a popular artist but her music is in fact RnB. I do know there is definitely a bias in the industry though.

[dumbsparce]

Boy Bye is pure pop and grammy worthy. Didn't know it was categorized as r&b on playlists and such.

[Sprite]

Wait it sounds like a lot of her songs are rap not pop...

Edited Sunday at 02:23 AM by Sprite

[Afterglow]

She's right and I was saying the same thing in the Normani thread about Janet Jackson. Too many people throw Janet into R&B girl when she is factually a bonafide popstar in every way.

[Maxxxine]

So what genre is me? 
 

[SimpleKindofLife]

In Pieces was an R&B record though… no pop artist is singing songs like Pray It Away or How Does It Feel. Ungodly Hour had many pop moments and her voice always stands out on those kinds of songs the most like ROYL or Tipsy. I think it would serve her very well to lean into the super poppy sound right now because it's been proven that the R&B fans are very fickle when it comes to her output.

[Batsy Armada]

She might have some pop-oriented songs, but she generally makes R&B—overall. I understand the point she's making, as that can be said for a number of artists, but I don't feel like she's one of them.

[suburbannature]

Y'all need to read the quote before commenting. 

[Digitalism]

I know what she meant but it's not like she is releasing Katy's California girls and they call it rnb.

Her music is mostly RnB what are they suppoused to do? 

[Suilen]

She's obviously talking about songs like Body Do and Boy Bye.

[Kékette]

In France "we" are like that, "black = rap/r&b artist", it's a bad thing of course. But in USA too ? I'm surprise.

[Taylor fanboy]

 

She's right and she should say it!

 

This is too musically complex to be labelled as R&B alone.