Soon after she meets Ronald and Ernie Isley one sweltering afternoon in downtown L.A., Chloe Bailey tells them a quick, impossibly cute story: As kids, she and her sister Halle used to perform the Isleys’ “Who’s That Lady,” serving as backup singers while their baby brother took the lead. The Isley Brothers’ mix of muscular funk and buttery soul was the bedrock for much of the music Chloe and Halle grew up on, and the brothers have the staggering sample credits to support that claim — a list that Ernie is happy to run down at any time. (It includes Chloe x Halle’s mentor Beyoncé, whose group Destiny’s Child sampled the Isleys on their debut album.)
Chloe x Halle have honed their own spellbinding R&B with a blend of jazz, indie rock, trap, synth-pop, and soul, which they write and produce themselves. (Lately, they’ve been branching out: Chloe, 24, has been plotting her solo debut, as Halle, 22, prepares to make her mark in Hollywood with leading roles in the upcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid and the musical film adaptation of The Color Purple.) But like the Isleys, whose new album, Make Me Say It Again, Girl, came out Sept. 30, Chloe x Halle started off as a sibling act. Today, the ladies are eager to pick the brains of Ronald, 81, and Ernie, 70, the two remaining members from the classic Isley Brothers lineup. The legends, it turns out, are more than happy to pass on what they’ve learned.
