Chloe and Halle Bailey skyrocketed into the limelight in their early teenage years after their YouTube cover of Beyonce’s “Pretty Hurts” went viral. Landing them in the hands of the reigning pop vocalist herself, who immediately signed the duo to her management company, Parkwood Entertainment, Bey included them on the legendary Lemonade visual album, and named them the opening act for her Formation tour. Since then, Chloe x Halle have solidified themselves as musical powerhouses, finding success with their 2018 debut album The Kids Are Alright, a soul-searching tracklist of positively energized songs and empowered messaging. Now, as the sister duo enter their twenties and experience the highs and lows of adulthood, they’ve just released their sophomore album Ungodly Hour, an emotional manifestation of their maturation into womanhood.

“Since The Kids Are Alright, we have definitely grown a lot more,” Halle tells V. “I mean, that album was all about finding ourselves and all about reminding ourselves that no matter what happens, we’re going to be okay at the end of the day, no matter what life tries to throw us in or put us in.” After braving the spotlight at an incredibly young age and discovering their identities through their debut album, Chloe x Halle are now unmasking their emotions in their latest release, marking the most authentic look into the duo’s psyches. 

“With Ungodly Hour, we truly wanted to show all of the layers of us and show the raw side of us that people have not seen,” she continues. “You know, a lot of people have always just seen this smiling, angelic, and positive image of us saying, just keep going, and you’ll be fine, and that was very much what The Kids Are Alright was about. Ungodly Hour dives deep into our insecurities, into our flaws, into all the things that you don’t see behind the scenes.”

A sense of emotional strength underscores the entire album, almost all of which was entirely written and produced by Chloe x Halle. Tracks including “Baby Girl” speak directly to the sisters’ experience with discovering newfound independence atop an equally liberating beat, while the confident-sounding “Forgive Me” showcases vocal mastery and provides insight into the trials and errors of romance. On the Mike Will Made-It-produced “Catch Up,” Swae Lee harmonizes with the duo to amplify the narrative of game-playing lovers, and on “Do It,” a collaborative track with Scott Storch, Chloe x Halle document the exciting rush of a night out on the town. 

“There’s a lot of different messages that we’ve been trying to convey through this new album, one of them being love and life if love doesn’t work out,” Halle tells V. “On top of that, [the album is about] what you go through in different relationships, the ups and downs, and the finding yourself through it all, as well as being okay with your insecurities and accepting them and all the things that you don’t like about yourself, but realizing that they are what make you perfectly imperfect. They are what make you beautiful.”

Chloe x Halle postponed Ungodly Hour’s initial release date in order to show solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement, taking to IGTV to address their devastation and angry sentiment towards racism and police brutality in America. Artfully expressing their feelings through song, the levitating interlude “Overwhelmed” certainly speaks to the sense of powerlessness dominating this year, while the honest track “Lonely” magnifies the importance of coming to terms with self-isolation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In one start-to-finish listen, Chloe x Halle precisely convey their coming of age in a new era of pop-infused R&B cadence on Ungodly Hour.