For Chloe Bailey, going solo wasn't easy after years of performing alongside her younger sister Halle.
The siblings rose to fame as Grammy-nominated duo Chloe x Halle, the first act signed to Beyoncé's Parkwood Entertainment label in 2015 — thanks to cutting their teeth since childhood and going viral with covers of Queen Bey's songs. As Chloe prepares to release her debut album In Pieces on Friday, the 24-year-old musician opens up to PEOPLE in this week's issue about finding her own way as a solo artist.
Chloe's career was launched at just 3 years old, when she landed the role as the younger version of Beyoncé's character Lilly in 2003's The Fighting Temptations film. From there, she kept acting in their native Atlanta and started singing professionally with Halle, 22.
"We'd be performing at clubs in our church dresses in Atlanta, and then we'd bust out singing for producers outside of hotels," she recalls of her first performances with Halle when they were ages 10 and 8, respectively.
Over the next few years, they were encouraged by a dance teacher to film themselves singing and post them to YouTube, where Justin Bieber was then-recently discovered. Beyoncé's "Best Thing I Never Had" was climbing up the charts at the time, so they decided it'd be their first cover.
"We fell in love with the song, even though our little selves had no idea what the lyrics truly meant or the emotional weight it held," says Chloe, who took the lead with their DIY production style. "We burned [the song] on a CD, put it in our stereo, and our older sister [Ski] was behind the tripod. She would press 'play' with her toe as she was paying attention to the camera."
After begging their parents to let them post the video, it quickly went viral and led to appearances on Disney Channel and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Another video, a cover of Beyoncé's "Pretty Hurts," then caught the attention of the 41-year-old superstar herself, leading to their deal with Parkwood.
"I'm grateful that she saw something in these two little Black girls with short-ass locs on YouTube and gave us a chance," says Chloe, who later opened for Beyoncé on tour with Halle as they worked on their debut album, 2018's The Kids Are Alright.
Following another opening slot for Queen Bey, the release of their 2020 breakthrough album Ungodly Hour and five Grammy nominations, Halle landed the role of The Little Mermaid in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and went overseas to film. "Both of us had a lot of separation anxiety," explains Chloe. "We were attached at the hip ever since she came out of the womb."
As she began crafting In Pieces around that time, the prospect of solo stardom felt "really scary" for Chloe. "We both didn't really know who we were individually without the other," she admits. "There was a moment of self-doubt where I was like, 'Can I do this without my sister?"
For a while, she even felt uncertain about her own talents. "I didn't even like the sound of my voice. I didn't feel it was special without my sister's voice layered with it," says the "Have Mercy" musician. "I didn't feel that what I brought to the table was special."
Luckily, she's been able to lean on her sister for support, even when they're physically apart. While making the album, she'd often call Halle in tears. "I'd be like, 'I'm so scared. I don't know if people want to listen to this. I don't think I can do this without you," says Chloe. "She'd be like, 'You always tell me to let people see what you've always seen in me since we were little girls.'"
As she moves forward with the In Pieces era and her upcoming tour while Halle embarks on the Little Mermaid promotional cycle, the sisters will look out for one another. In fact, they might just be each other's biggest fans.
"I'm so grateful to God that no matter if we are doing something within our group or individually, we are both simultaneously killing it," declares Chloe. "I'm so proud of her."
