It was almost inevitable that Chloe George would end up as a musical artist of some sort. Born into a family with music in their DNA, a music teacher mother and a drummer father not to mention older brothers heavily into musical theatre, Chloe was immersed in music from the day she was born, but it may have been Ella Fitzgerald who convinced her that music was so much more than a sum of its parts. Ella’s ability to convey every emotion with her voice, that ability to use a voice as not only a musical instrument but as something that draws in the listener to a world of communion, a world where music can heal and inspire as well as make you tap your toe or shed a tear was the thing that moved Chloe towards her chosen life path.
Initially, after graduating from NYU’s Clive Davis Institute, she became a sought-after songwriter, frequently co-writing with artists like Dua Lipa, Anne-Marie and The Chainsmokers. Writing for other artists has certainly enabled Chloe to grow as a songwriter; it’s obvious she is deeply connected to melody and lyrics but has been able to develop her pop sensibility through working with and connecting to other artists’ needs and their style both in delivery and the song writing process. Now, as she continues to emerge as an artist in her own right in front of the microphone, there’s a real sense that she has connected to something in herself.
It feels like a really deep connection has been achieved which has enabled her to find a rich vein of music and inspiration in that middle ground between writhing for someone else, with the limitations that must surely have, and writing for yourself, with the free rein she can now give her undoubted ability. Writing alone seems to have pushed her far deeper within herself and that was obvious in her first original single ‘Peachi’ which managed to merge pop with something approaching the fluidity of R&B in its piano led, understated and yet at the same time intense delivery.
Chloe has already achieved that target of so many artists, the viral debut release, with her reworking of Kanye’s ‘Ghost Town’. Her TikTok hit ‘Ghost Town (voice memo)’ was streamed over 45 million times and made her a household name to any TT aficionados and gave her the perfect springboard to launch herself as a solo artist. After critical acclaim for ‘Peachi’ and the widespread notoriety of ‘Ghost Town (voice memo)’, this Bay Area born, LA based singer is now set to release her eagerly awaited follow up on Friday with a nostalgic, indie pop balled called ‘The Door’.
The song is inspired by own experiences of past love and that feeling of longing that can wash over you just when you least expect it and be triggered by something equally unexpected. It’s no surprise that the song manages to marry the artist’s stunning vocals with powerful lyricism, distorted guitars, thunderous power chord riffs and swirling synths. If ever it felt like an artist was determined to build strongly on already good foundation stones, this is it. Once again, she emulates her hero Ella by the way her vocals draw us into her world.
Chloe says of the single:
“I wrote ‘The Door’ in June with my friend Jason. The morning before our session, I was on a walk near my apartment. You know when you smell something and it takes you back to a completely different time? I got a whiff of something that took me back to a past relationship, and I got super nostalgic. I wrote down the first couple of lines of the song, and we built it from there.”
‘The Door’ continues a trend from this artist of creating heartfelt, honest and rhythmic pop songs that seem to defy genre to an extent but all have undeniable instant quality that years of collaboration, creation and writing has brought to her releases. Building to a big climax, the song never loses its honesty and remains hugely relatable throughout. This is an artist whose music you’ve probably loved without knowing it, but now is the chance to get on board with a singer who ‘Paper’, the well-known music publication, once dubbed “your new pop BFF”. I’m not sure she’ll be your best friend, but she’s someone who will effortlessly draw you into her circle of magic if you give her the chance.
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