Chloe Got Real About Life In The Spotlight: "I'm Still Battling Anxiety"
She also revealed the deep meaning behind "Have Mercy."
Chloe Bailey made a big splash in 2021 with her debut solo single, “Have Mercy.” After releasing the song on Sept. 10, the star performed the track for the first time at the 2021 VMAs, where she took fans’ breaths away with her jaw-dropping vocals and choreography. Her performance was one of the most talked about moments of the night, and fans loved it so much they even called her “the next Beyoncé.” Chloe — who’s also part of the singing duo Chloe x Halle, with her sister, Halle Bailey — is crushing it as a solo artist. While she’s grateful for all her success, Chloe Bailey's quotes about anxiety and social media hate reveal there are times when the fame can be too much.
In a Nov. 4 interview with Refinery29, Chloe opened up about her mental health. “Some of the challenges that I’m navigating that no one really sees is that I’m still battling anxiety and I think I have imposter syndrome, because no matter what I do, I feel like it’s never good enough,” she said. “I’m always trying to beat myself and outdo myself. If I can’t or if there’s like the slightest struggle, I tend to beat myself up.”
Chloe and Halle have been in the spotlight since their cover of Beyoncé’s “Best Thing I Never Had” went viral on YouTube in 2011. The sisters were just 13 years old at that time, so for the past 10 years, fans have grown up with them as they skyrocketed to fame.
After sharing a joint Instagram account with her sister for years, Chloe opened up her own Instagram in January 2021. One of her earliest posts was a video of her doing the #BussItChallenge. The clip showed her twerking in full glam, and while a lot of fans loved it, there were some who criticized her for being “too sexy.”
Chloe said it was “overwhelming” to receive a mixed response, and the experience eventually inspired her to come up with “Have Mercy,” a song about her feeling comfortable in her own skin, despite what haters say.
“It was about me responding to everyone and almost really owning who I am and accepting myself and my body,” Chloe said about the song, adding she’s still trying to learn how to love herself more every day. “The person that I am on the song is where I'm trying to get mentally. The journey of learning to love my body has its highs and lows. Some days I look in the mirror and love what I see and some days, not so much. I’m still learning to love it equally each day. But right now I haven’t mastered it.”
At the end of the day, Chloe said she won’t change herself to please anyone. “I'm just being who I am, unapologetically and completely, and if people think that's doing too much, well then, I guess I am. I would be doing a disservice to myself if I tried to be less than who I am and dim my light.”
Chloe is an absolute star and fans can’t wait to see what she has in store for them next.
