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One of the first things Chloe Bailey wanted her virtual audience to know during University Union’s STEMS event was that her younger sister, Halle, got her driver’s license Friday. Later, during a Q&A, Halle revealed that she achieved it after two previous attempts.

“This was a big day for me,” she said.

The sister R&B duo Chloe x Halle is currently preparing for the People’s Choice Awards on Sunday, but they took around an hour to chat with Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF students Friday night via Zoom. The duo performed tracks from their Grammy-nominated album “The Kids Are Alright” and recently-released album “Ungodly Hour.”

Chloe x Halle’s performance is the first of UU’s STEMS concert events, whose name comes from a term for recordings made from combining multiple tracks. The event was in place of UU’s annual Bandersnatch series, which was canceled this year because of COVID-19.

The Zoom chat buzzed with notifications hyping up the sisters before they even began performing. Both Halle and Chloe introduced themselves in a brief introduction, and the sisters immediately went to harmonizing for their 2018 single “Happy Without Me.” Throughout the song, Chloe and Halle bobbed their heads, smiling as they sang along.

Chloe controlled the duo’s instrumentals, which she played from a MacBook laptop and blasted through a Bluetooth speaker.

The sisters performed several songs, including tracks from “Ungodly Hour.” Before one of the album’s songs, “Tipsy,” Halle said the song was a “a bit scary.”

“We talk about, if this guy breaks our hearts, we will kill them,” she said. “But, you know, we would never do that in real life.”

For their last song, the duo decided to let the audience choose what song they would perform. The Zoom chat was split, with a mix of votes spamming for their 2020 song “Busy Boy,” while others went to their Billboard Hot 100 single, “Do It.” The latter won.

Halle pulled out a wooden guitar and pressed it onto her green pant leg to perform an acoustic version of their biggest hit to date. While her sister sang, Halle ad-libbed for her before both of their voices blended together as they sang the song’s chorus.

“That’s just how we do it,” Chloe said right after the song.

After their performance, SU sophomore Megan Simon joined the Zoom to start a Q&A with Chloe and Halle. Simon gushed at first, calling herself a fan, before going into a set list of questions.

The sisters talked about their family and how their 15-year-old brother, Branson, would make the final decision when the two were split on making choices with their music. They also talked about their star signs — Aries and Cancer — and chatted about how they work well together despite their different personalities.

A later question asked the sisters what it’s like to navigate the music industry as 20-and 22-year-olds. Halle mentioned that she missed her prom to go to Coachella and couldn’t attend college. They later talked about what it’s like to work with Beyoncé’s label, Parkwood Entertainment, describing themselves as huge Beyoncé fans growing up.

One of Simon’s final questions led to the sisters discussing how they created their album “Ungodly Hour” and why they released it during COVID-19.

The album was released in June, and the sisters pushed the album back a week in support of the Black Lives Matters movement. Chloe said the two were glad they released it, even if it was during a pandemic.

“Every time someone says that our album helped get them through the pandemic, it just really makes me emotional,” Chloe said. “I feel that truly we’re doing our jobs.”

Published on November 14, 2020 at 12:02 am

Contact Christopher: cscargla@syr.edu | @chrisscargs