Ungodly Hour serves as Chloe x Halle's third studio album, following 2017's The Two of Us and 2018's The Kids Are Alright. As far as the sound and direction Chloe says that, “We’re growing as young women. We’re finding ourselves through experiences — whether it’s through love, through heartbreak, getting over any insecurities we may have — we just wanted to put that into the music,” said Chloe Bailey, who turns 22 next month.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3QdgPlaNABpQsdavkh3O65?si=vw5saJ1yTOaGUCJRk-2rAg (Click Here To Listen To Full Album)
At the time that I’m writing this Ungodly Hour currently sits at a score of 80 on https://www.metacritic.com/music/ungodly-hour/chloe-x-halle (Metacritic) which although that seems to mirror the consensus I think that the score should be more in the mid to higher 80’s if not in the 90’s. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/12/chloe-x-halle-ungodly-hour-review (The Guardian) gave it 4 out of 5 stars while https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/chloe-x-halle-ungodly-hour-1014042/ (Rolling Stone) gives it 3.5, I’m leaning more towards a 4.5 as this album sonically could almost be considered “perfect”, in terms of what it needed to be and all the delicacies, perceptions, and execution that as https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/06/10/chloe-x-halles-sophomore-album-ungodly-hour-beyonce-approved/5334621002/ (Beyonce herself says was “Flawless”) in it’s execution. Ungodly Hour was exactly the album that Chloe X Halle needed to make. https://ew.com/music/music-reviews/chloe-x-halle-ungodly-hour-album-review/ (Entertainment Weekly) seems to think that this album won’t produce a single that will crack into the Hot 100, I happen to disagree.
The album features the single “Do It,” which had a viral moment on TikTok because of the song’s popular dance and reached No. 9 on Billboard’s R&B songs chart, marking the first time a Chloe x Halle track has appeared on any Billboard chart.
The Bailey’s have been known to self produce a lot of their music and they managed to still stick to that formula converting the garage of their new home in Los Angeles into a home studio while still incorporating a few high powered creators to the mix.
Unlike their last album this one features some popular producers and songwriters like Sounwave, Disclosure, Scott Storch, Victoria Monet, Boi-1da and Mike WiLL Made-It.
The girls still remained in creative control of the overall sound and direction and it shows. This doesn’t sound like 2 girls just singing a song that someone placed with them, everything is seamless.
Both sisters co-wrote all the songs on the album.
Chloe Bailey produced 3 songs alone on the project and has a total of 10 production credits.
She also recorded the duo’s vocals for 12 tracks.
Halle Bailey worked as an assistant engineer on all the songs, and co-produced two of them.
The Intro of the album is the strategically placed intro of the opening track, one of my instant favorites “Forgive Me” which out of all the records on the project was the perfect choice to set the tone of the album, and show incredible growth just in terms of how the record came together.
The Intro transitions into the main record after the phrase “Don't ever ask for permission, ask for forgiveness” leading into a verse from Chloe recalling an experience with a guy who wasn’t quite who she thought he was, a verse that she freestyled.
If i’m looking for a metaphor this song kinda rips the bandaid off of this antiquated perception of who a Disney princess is expected to be with Halle starring as Ariel in the live action Little Mermaid, while still remaining on brand and exactly the type of young star that companies like Disney want to be in business with. Flawless.
The Chloe produced “Baby Girl” is a record that I find myself going back to often. The layers, melodies and transitions of this song gives it good vibes and replay value.... Support this podcast
