It is difficult to see an amazing musical duo go their separate ways. It is equally hard to watch young artists grow up. This is how I feel about Chloe x Halle. Halle is starring in the live action Little Mermaid movie coming out next year and Chloe will co-star in the thriller Jane. Chloe has also launched a solo music career along with a more sexually expressive image. As usual, there have been equal amounts of praise and backlash for Chloe. Folks have a hard time when a woman has a firm grasp on their sexuality. In a conversation with Elaine Welteroth for Yahoo’s! In the Know’s January cover, Chloe stated that Beyonce has helped her celebrate her body and sexuality. Chloe also said that being sexy is connected to being confident. Here are a few highlights:
“I can honestly and genuinely say it was Beyoncé who made me look at my body and say maybe it is okay to have my body. Maybe it is okay to have a plump butt. Maybe it is okay to have to shake and jump to fit in my jeans,” Chloe shared with In The Know. “During the ‘Bootylicious’ era, I would go and see her flaunting her curves and be like, ‘She looks damn good!’”
In her cover interview for In The Know’s January 2022 digital cover, Chloe opens up about her insecurities as she steps into the spotlight solo while learning to celebrate both her body and sexuality — no matter what anyone has to say about it.
Elaine: Whether you intend to or not, you’re challenging why it makes us uncomfortable for a woman to be overtly sexual. So, I wanna ask you, what is it like to embody that mirror in a sexually repressed society?
Chlöe: Well, one, that’s incredible that you think that’s what I’m doing, but there are so many incredible women I have looked up to that have done that long before me. Donna Summer, Kelis, Beyoncè, Nina Simone. There has never been a point in time that a society has ever been comfortable with the woman being powerful in the skin that she’s in. So I just have to give kudos to every woman who’s inspired me, every one of my peers right now who’s saying, “I love my body. I feel sexy.”
When I hear the word “sexy,” when I want to be sexy, when I want to feel sexy, I don’t really think of that as a bad thing. I don’t think of it as being promiscuous. That’s just being confident. A man can sit up there with his shirt off, ripped, and, like, flex his pecs and all that shit. That’s sexy. But he doesn’t get ridiculed for doing that. It’s when a woman pokes her ass out, when she poses a certain way so her hip curves more, or when she puckers her lips and has her boobs perched up in her bra, that’s when it’s a problem. You know?
Elaine: Do you feel like you are under a different level of scrutiny because of your curvy build as a young Black woman?
Chlöe: Well, it’s not just me. It’s any Black, beautiful woman. Any woman, period. It’s something all of us go through in our life in any field. It’s just more multiplied because of the platform that I’m given on social media. No matter what women do, no matter how talented we are, no matter how screwed on our head is, someone will always have a problem because we choose to celebrate our body and the skin that we’re in. No matter if you have a slim figure or if you have a more curvy figure, you shouldn’t dim your light, period. We shouldn’t form ourselves and do certain things just because of what we think the world will say. It’s not fair to ourselves to do that because it’s more work thinking that way. It’s easier to just be yourself and have fun and be free. It’s more stifling and more suffocating when you’re calculating what you can and can’t do just because other people can’t.
It has been such an honor to watch Chloe and Halle grow into the formidable women that they have become. I have also enjoyed watching Chloe really embrace her body and sexuality. Chloe is going through the natural progression of maturation. She is 23, which is around the age that most of us begin to experiment with our image and sexual expression. I agree that being sexy is connected to being confident. It is difficult to be sexy without confidence. As for the people who were shaming Chloe for embracing her body openly and pushed her to tears during an Instagram live last year, they can kick rocks. They were the main people talking about how fine she was.
The more women fully embrace their power, the less control the patriarchy and by extension society will have over them. I also agree with Chloe that the backlash is attached to her being a Black woman. America loves to attack women who demonstrate body autonomy. They seem to have it out for Black women who openly embrace their sexuality (hello Janet Jackson, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, and Lizzo). I am happy that Chloe is not dimming her light for anyone and I am looking forward to her solo album. Have Mercy is on heavy rotation on my Spotify and if it is a preview of the album, then Chloe’s solo album is gonna be lit!
The only reason I cringe, is because we’ve seen young women do this and have celebrated them, only to find out later that they were pressured by executives and didn’t feel comfortable doing it. As long as that’s not the case, I’m happy for her.
As a woman in my 30s with very limited curves and a petite frame, I’ve often wished I had the body type that, to me, seems very celebrated in the media.. the Jennifer Lopez, Kim K type body. This woman looks to me like she fits the ideal but I can’t speak to her experience as a woman of colour and don’t mean to invalidate what she’s saying here. I guess what I’m saying is that as a skinny woman I’m like.. it’s been all about the curves for about 2 decades and I don’t completely get it when a young woman with a curvy body type says it take hard work and effort to feel sexy. Happy to be educated on this though!
This comment upsets me. There is a difference between JLo/Kim K and average “curvy” women. Those that did not get surgery to achieve those looks are not the beauty standard at all. Because we have fat on our stomachs and elsewhere. Thin has ALWAYS been the beauty standard, in the media and on the streets. When society still judges us for having fat, of course women with that body shape are still going to feel unattractive and unsexy. Idk it’s just weird to see a thin person say they have insecurities (which is valid), and then turn around and say they don’t get how someone bigger might feel the same way.
Hmm I think you may be misunderstanding me. To me, Chloe looks like she is the beauty ideal – thin yet curvy. She has an amazing body (to my eyes), similar to women like Jennifer Lopez and Shakira who were really idolized when I was growing up. So I feel like I don’t get it when a woman who looks like the ideal says that she has to work hard to get to a place of body positivity and acceptance. I’m certainly not saying that larger women can’t feel insecure. I’m not trying to negate what Chloe is saying either. But to someone who never had those curves and always wanted them growing up, and lived through 20 years of an hourglass figure being highly coveted, I don’t understand at what point in the past decade a woman like Chloe would be led to believe she doesn’t fit the ideal. I’m not trying to hate. I think I’m just astounded that even women like Chloe are made to feel bad about themselves I guess.
I get it. I too am a petite woman who has often felt I didn’t have enough curves to be really “sexy.” It sucks that the media seems to prefer one body type, especially when that body type is one I can never achieve.
The way I understand Chloe’s feelings is that I think our society actually has a way of criticizing and scrutinizing *all* female body types. No matter what you look like, there’s always something “wrong” with you.
Are you skinny and petite? “Why are you starving yourself? Eat a burger! Men like curves!”
Are you a curvy hourglass? “Have you no shame? Stop tempting men and parading your curves around! Also, don’t eat too much because if you gain more than 2 lbs, you’ll no longer be hot.”
Are you tall and thin? “You’re so skinny! Are you sure you’re eating enough? And also, tell me your diet secrets!”
Are you plus-sized? “Obviously you can’t possibly be fat and healthy at the same time! And by fat, I mean anything above a size 4!”
I think we have to note that there aren’t just two body types- “a slim figure” or “a more curvy figure,” unless curvy just means heavier – I’m actually not clear on that because when I was growing up initially curvy meant like hips, breasts, waist proportions and then it kind of morphed into “higher weight” which doesn’t always imply ratios that are curvy. And a lot of the “thin” women like influencers aren’t just skinny, they are actually curvy in the old respect due to various surgeries like BBL.
All this to say, it’s okay if you aren’t thin and it’s okay if you aren’t curvy. It’s okay if you are apple shaped, or pear shaped, or hourglass shaped, or anything in between. I think it’s important we get out of this thin vs curvy dichotomy that ignores people who are top heavy, bottom heavy, etc, etc.
Glad to hear her speaking up for herself. People have an easy time taking a lighthearted approach to straight guys taking their shirts and more off, and being sexual. There’s still work to be done in the reactions to LGBT artists including lots of skin and sexiness in their work. But at least for the men in our community, things are changing for the better. Even if attention is part of the motive, people are empathetic and respectful when these human beings talk about using fashion and art as a break from the pressures that come with the bigotry and victim-blaming around them.
That same empathy and respect isn’t quite there yet for women of any sexual orientation. It’s not as bad as it was before, but there’s still a lot of aggression, gaslighting, bullying, and scapegoating when they try to talk about it. It gets scary.