CNN caught up with R&B duo Chloe x Halle at the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas, where the Atlanta natives opened up about their passion for women’s rights, the power of music and their relationship with their mentor, Beyoncé.
Describing music as a “universal language,” Chloe Bailey, 18, said that regardless of the color of a person’s skin or their gender, “everyone understands feelings and emotion.”
“Everybody has their different opinions, but once you hear a song, you can agree on something,” Halle, 16, said before the sisters’ performance at the YouTube House @ Coppertank at the festival Friday.
The singers and songwriters dropped their latest mix tape, “The Two of Us,” last week and their latest EP, “Sugar Symphony,” in April 2016.
The R&B stars participated in the women’s march in Los Angeles in January the day following President Donald Trump’s inauguration, joining hundreds of thousands of women around the world who marched to protest the new administration’s policies and speak out on women’s rights.
“WHAT AN INCREDIBLE DAY WITH INCREDIBLE ENERGY. WOMEN RULE THIS PLANET. DON’T LET ANYONE TELL YOU DIFFERENT,” they tweeted on January 21.
“Our bodies. our choice. super proud of the effort so many women are making today by marching. let’s get in formation ladies,” they added.
Chloe said that in the current political climate, she noticed that more young people are speaking out and becoming politically active.
“I think that also comes with the age of social media and Internet. People are raising their voices through their really cool channels or their pages to really share what they believe in,” Chloe said. “I believe it’s more than just doing a hashtag. You should go out there and do the women’s march and the march for equality.”
Chloe x Halle performed the anthem “This is For My Girls” at the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll last April and were introduced by then-first lady Michelle Obama, who spoke about her “Let Girls Learn” initiative, which advocates for women’s education.
“We want to inspire young girls to keep going in whatever they want to do and to challenge themselves and to not be afraid of certain jobs … just because maybe something might have lots of males doing it,” Halle said.
Chloe x Halle rose to the national spotlight in 2013 when their soulful cover of Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts” went viral, and in 2015, Beyoncé signed the sisters to her label, Parkwood Entertainment.
In July, they opened for Beyoncé on the European leg of her “Formation World Tour,” and their most popular songs include their single “Drop,” “Fall” and “Red Lights.”
“That was a really awesome learning experience for us because every single night we would watch her on stage and she would give it 1,000%,” Chloe said, adding that Beyoncé is also “a phenomenal businesswoman and she makes us want to be educated in that avenue as well.”
Describing what it’s like to have “Queen Bey” as their mentor, Halle said she and her sister benefited from the superstar’s own wisdom gleaned from growing up in the music industry.
“It really is so beautiful because you look to her and you see confidence, you see this radiance, you see this light and you look at her and say ‘that’s what I aspire to be,'” Halle said.
“We are blessed to be able to talk to her and hear her wisdom and hear everything that she’s gone through, because what we’re now going through, she’s been through already,” she added.
