Source: Freeform/Eric McCandless / ABC Family Worldwide
For Grownish stars Chloe and Halle Bailey, the theme song they sing for the show in which they star is very much pertinent to their lives: “Watch out world I’m grown now.”
The 22 and 20-year-old sisters came into the spotlight when they were children, doing covers of popular songs as young girls with big voices on YouTube. Since then, they’ve released two studio albums, toured with their mentor Beyoncé, become fan-favorite stars of the popular Freeform sitcom, and, as everyone has noticed, grown up. They are no longer little girls. They sing about getting d-pics from ratchet dudes, moving on from the trifling ones, and they dress in some of the most stunning, sexy attire when performing with help from star stylist Zerina Akers. A lot of people love it, but there are those who are still shocked to see them in their element now. They have to get used to it, though.
“Of course, since we started out young, people are definitely like, ‘Oh wow, you guys really grew up before my eyes,'” Halle says during a Zoom call to promote the return of Season 3 of Grownish. “But I’ll be 21 in March and Chloe is 22 right now and it’s just a beautiful journey we get to go on as women.”
We talked to the duo about their journey, including their recent Grammy nominations for their sophomore album Ungodly Hour, embracing and showing off their bodies as young adults, and how as sisters working side-by-side since they were kids they manage to keep the peace and good vibes. Check out what they had to say.
MadameNoire: Congratulations on your gold plaques! I saw you guys celebrating on social media. You are also recent Grammy nominees. How does it feel to have these types of wins? You’ve come a long way from doing YouTube videos as kids.
Halle Bailey: Yes! Well, we just feel so grateful, so honored to be able to do what we love and make a living from it and receive accolades for it. We are just so blessed and pinch ourselves every single day. Music is truly our love and the fact that I get to do this with my sister, my best friend, is just truly an honor. I’m just so grateful, especially in the times we’re in right now. There’s so much to be grateful for. I just pinch myself.
Chloe Bailey: I definitely agree, 1,000 percent. Every time I wake up I’m filled with such gratitude and every accomplishment that happens, we’re kind of surprised by it because where our heads and mind space tend to go is really the music and each other and performing and being at our best. We were at a photo shoot and our label came and surprised us with the gold plaques. We were utterly surprised. We were so happy and just grateful and I can’t wait to create even more moments like that with Halle. I’m just really happy right now.
We missed you on Grownish! We’re glad the third season is returning. Tell us what we can expect from Jazz and Sky. It seems Jazz is stuck on Doug and Sky is stuck on being shady. So let’s talk about it [laughs].
Chloe: [laughs] Jazz, Jazz, Jazz. That’s all I’m going to say because where it left off, Jazz was asking Doug to wait for her for six months so she could focus on her track, which I applaud her for. I really, really do and I’m really proud of her. Now, I don’t know what Doug’s gonna do. We’re just gonna have to see because I don’t know that guys can really go six months without being with their girl. But I would do it! If I found the one? I would. But we just gotta see what happens in the season. So stay tuned.
And what about Sky?
Halle: Sky is definitely, there’s more of her being shady, like it or not. So there’s that. Then there’s her being motivated, being herself in a good place with track. She came back from her injury. She’s back to her full strength. And she is more motivated than ever. She just wants to make sure that her and Jazz do what is needed. So if that is leaning toward Jazz and saying. ‘Girl we gotta come correct,’ trying to wake people up, that’s what she’s trying to do. As well as give love in the way she knows she can. She’s a softy inside like I am but on the outside, she can kind of put up a front.
Chloe, I don’t know if you mind me asking, but there were rumors and stories about who you dating your co-star [Diggy Simmons]. If that is true, you don’t have to tell me your business. But if that’s true, how do you guys keep it cute and professional working together after the fact?
Oh wow. Well, the whole cast is so amazing. We’re all really, really close. It’s easy because we have fun and we’re working at the same time. You forget we’re working. I’m just happy we can all do this together and comfortably and in a loving space.
Source: Christopher Polk/E! Entertainment / Getty
Were you ever nervous in terms of changing your sound? We know you from the YouTube videos. You guys were young then and now you’re grown. You guys are wearing what you want, singing about what you want. And not that you guys weren’t before, but you’re doing it while embracing being grown a– women. So were you ever nervous about how other people might take that?
Halle: No! Genuinely, I don’t. Because I find that our journey that we are on, we’re going to do what our hearts desire and just continue to try to spread God’s love in whatever way we can. So if we’re growing into who we are as women and we want to post ourselves and look beautiful doing it, that is just fine. I’m so proud of my sister for being this amazing inspiration to me to make me want to come into my full skin and show the world that I’m proud of who I am. I think that that is so special and important to all of us.
The streets want to know what’s the tea on getting these body-ody-odies y’all got!? Now that you’re showing ’em, we need the advice. What’s the workout? What are you eating? Talk [laughs].
Chloe: Well, I’m gonna keep it 1,000. There’s no secret because one, I really love to eat. And I have a love-hate relationship with food. So if I’m not constantly doing cardio, I will blow up. My weight fluctuates up and down. It makes me happy when people compliment my body a lot, but honestly, it’s a struggle sometimes keeping up with it. So I’m grateful to God for my genes. And I’m grateful to God for giving me a healthy body so I can work out safely and burn the weight off because I love food. And I stress eat! We’re vegan but the thing is, with being vegan, just because it’s vegan doesn’t mean it’s healthy. You just gotta do you and what works for you. And Halle was born with a nice little body so she doesn’t really have to do much. She always has nice abs. Every time! I’m like, “Girl!”
[laughs] Don’t you hate that!?
No, I don’t hate it because when I look at her abs it makes me wanna get abs, so it’s motivation.
And lastly, how is it that you guys are able to be so close that you can perform together, you can work together on TV and make music together? For a lot of people, working with family, you can bump heads. But you guys seem to be genuinely loving, happy sisters when sometimes people can feel like, “I wanna go over here and do my own thing.” Can you speak on that? How do you guys maintain such a positive relationship?
Halle: You know what, I think what works for us is that we respect one another and each other’s boundaries and each other’s feelings. I am the little sister, so I feel like I’ve always clung to Chloe as my safety net, as my angel through this life. But as we’re getting older, I have to understand and respect that we’re both growing into our own and that’s a beautiful thing. She will always be here for me. And I’m just so grateful to have somebody like her throughout this lifetime. And I think when we were younger the reason we were so close is because we got homeschooled from a very young age. So we were each other’s best friends growing up. Getting to really connect with somebody and work with somebody and bond with somebody that you trust is a whole other level of just safety. For that, I’m just forever grateful.
Chloe: Yeah, I would have to piggyback off of what Halle says. When we got homeschooled, our bond got really tight and then our harmonies started kicking in. I think it’s something so beautiful when siblings sing together because there’s some sort of synergy or magical energy in the air. It’s two people who come from the same backgrounds, grew up the same way, start singing together, you’re almost sharing the same experiences vocally and melodically with each other. I always feel magic when I get to sing with my sister. I love it because we’re both strong vocalists on our own, but when it comes together it really takes it to another level. If I tried to sing the same notes with someone else, it would not sound the same. There’s just something there when you sing with someone you’re already really close to.
The midseason debut of Season 3 premieres on THURSDAY, JAN. 21, at 8:00 p.m. EST/PST on Freeform.
