Chloe x Halle - Ungodly Hour [Album Review]
Chloe x Halle’s Ungodly Hour represents the young R&B sister duo flinging away their halos, but their voices are as angelic as ever.
In the beginning, two young sisters were bestowed with the heavenly light of Beyoncé…
Showing talent from a young age, Atlanta born, LA based sisters Chloe and Halle Bailey had their own YouTube channel set up to show off their impressive singing skills on the stage, before their years had even reached double figures.
Heading into their tweens, the precocious sisters started posting videos of their duets covering hits by popular artists such as Rihanna, Taylor Swift and their idol, Beyoncé. Though their voices were incredible, a big draw to their early videos was their sisterly cuteness and try-hard enthusiasm.
Over time they refined their performances to an impressively high standard; Chloe’s rich, soulful voice complementing her younger sister Halle’s silkier, more heady vocals perfectly.
They diligently continued posting their covers, amassing more and more views and fans with every video, until, in December 2013 aged just 15 and 13, they hit the big time when their cover of Beyoncé’s ‘Pretty Hurts’ went viral.
In fact, the video got so big that it caught the attention of Queen B herself and in 2015, Chloe x Halle achieved in their early teens something that no artist had ever done in their lifetime, becoming the first ever act signed to Beyonce’s management company, Parkwood Entertainment. Essentially, they nailed it.
Fast-forward to today, past the duo’s multiple R&B singles, EPs and mixtapes; their debut album; a few high-profile onscreen roles here and there, a Superbowl pre-game performance and a casual appearance in their mentor’s audio-visual phenomenon Lemonade and finally we arrive at the release of Ungodly Hour, the sisters’ second full-length album, but the first they’ve released as adults.
Chloe, 22 and Halle 20 are now suddenly grown-up women with all the flaws, complications and desires that accompany young adulthood. Ungodly Hour, as the title suggests, sees the sisters expressing their more sinful side, using their beautifully haunting harmonies to explore the hedonistic highs and lows of growing up, including, but not limited to sex, jealousy, drinking and the complications of entanglements with bad-boys.
Thankfully, the duos’ newfound sense of independence hasn’t led them down a road of unimaginative good-girl-gone-bad pop. Instead, it has allowed them to expand their creative horizons and further develop their excitingly inventive yet wholly accessible R&B sound.
From start to finish, the album is a joy to listen to. From dancefloor bangers like ‘Forgive me’ and ‘Do It’ to twisted pop hits like ‘ROYL’, ‘Lonely’ and title track ‘Ungodly Hour’, the album is the ultimate soundtrack to a modern girl’s night out, boasting 13 tracks that fizz and pop with an irresistibly fun form of feminine energy. Though the songs are nearly always catchy as hell, Chloe x Halle go above and beyond making dance friendly hits, peppering their songs with points of intrigue and a distinctively dark quirkiness. Tracks like ‘Tipsy’ and ‘Busy Boy’ see the sisters being playfully menacing in a way that perfectly captures the strange place they’re at in their development: that point between adolescence and young adulthood where you can vote, have sex and drink (just about) but you haven’t quite got the life-experiences or emotional maturity to always make the right decisions just yet. Though this can make things turbulent, it can also be a lot of fun.
You can hear Beyoncé’s influence everywhere; all over retro-tinged soul-pop hit ‘Don’t Make it Harder on Me’ and in the empowering sentiments of the ethereal, beat-filled bop ‘Baby Girl’. Though Queen B’s presence is felt, you never feel that the sisters are creating anything other than exactly what they want. Ungodly Hour suggests that working under their idol has done everything for the duo, allowing them to flourish naturally over time, with the space to fine-tune their creative sensibilities as a pairing and to strengthen their vocals individually. And yes, though Ungodly Hour’s production is incredible, its music exciting and dynamic, it’s the perfect pairing of two otherworldly voices that make Chloe x Halle a match made in heaven.