Over the last couple of years fans of the duo Chloe x Halle have been patiently waiting for the debuts of each member’s solo endeavors. Halle is set to portray the world’s most famous mermaid in May. And her sister Chloe’s been building anticipation for her debut album. Released under the tutelage of the biggest pop star in the world – Beyoncé – In Pieces is as discombobulated as its creator’s goals. The album experiments with song structure, Chloe’s vocal range and what R&B can be, but ultimately fails because of generic songwriting and lack of specificity in storytelling.
The forgettable opener “Someone’s Calling” is quickly followed by “Pray It Away” a boring piano driven ballad that sounds like Chloe is entering her Summer Walker era of copying and pasting text messages and passing it off as songwriting – “Can’t talk to my friends ’cause they hate you too / And if the option’s violence, don’t make me choose it God knows my heart, I’m wildin’, wildin’.” Chloe’s emotional belting can’t save the dull production.
Luckily, the high energy instant bop “Body Do” is far from boring. The upbeat dance track finds Chloe flirty, fun and carefree with a potential lover. It’s a mystery why she and the label tried to push failed single – “Have Mercy” after failed single -”Treat Me” – instead of pushing this. Where those other tracks sound like Empire deep cuts, “Body Do” sounds like a Chloe original.
For what could be the best song on the album, the mid-tempo groove “Feel Me Cry” is Chloe at her grandest – pushing R&B to its limit while carving out her own identity in the space. She keeps up the momentum with “Make it Look Easy” and “Looze U.” Chloe oozes sincere emotions into both tracks with vulnerable lyrics about self-esteem and heartbreak.
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Thematically, In Pieces is in line with much of Chloe’s past work with her sister. The album is filled with content about how she’s not who people think she is, but unfortunately she never reveals enough about herself to change the narrative. Without the support of her sister, she can no longer rely on vague references to past lovers. Publicly, there were rumors she dated former “Grown-ish” co- star Diggy Simmons, and it would have been nice to hear how or why the relationship came to end, but we get none of that here just shout out after shout to “fuck n****s.”
Whether it’s a major label release or independent one most artists show up as themselves on their debut projects. In Pieces misses the mark sounding too much like a rebrand for Chloe instead of earnest songwriting. As Chloe heads down the good girl gone bad road, a role she’s been emphatic is the real her, it remains to be seen if she can shed her previous image, or if the music is interesting enough to warrant people caring. As of now, it doesn’t matter what she tells us she is, on record, she sounds out of her depth, still working to prove she’s creative enough to stand on her own.
