Halle set to drop debut solo EP “before the end of this year”
Halle has announced that her debut solo EP will “definitely” be released “before the end of the year”.
The news comes a month after the actor-singer dropped her debut solo single ‘Angel’ on August 4. The ethereal operatic pop ballad was her first release since she and her sister Chloe announced they were pursuing solo careers in 2021, taking a break from their Grammy-nominated group Chloe x Halle.
Since then, she has starred in two high-profile Hollywood roles in two, The Little Mermaid – which has now grossed over $465 million (£372,218,550) – and the upcoming The Color Purple remake.
In a chat with Cosmopolitan earlier this week, when asked if anything she learned on movie sets will also be useful in her music career, she replied: “Absolutely, because I worked my whole childhood [and] there are things I didn’t get to experience.
Halle for Cosmo
and haters… Catch it! pic.twitter.com/WcL7hG7hMu
— jai
(@glazedhails) September 5, 2023
“Ariel was my college experience,” she continued. “She was the one to say, ‘Look, look what you have in you. You can.’ Nettie was the same type of lesson, almost in a spiritual way. These characters are speaking to me and teaching me. It’s cool to learn things about life through their eyes. And all musical inspiration really just comes from life experiences.”
Now in a relationship with YouTuber-turned-rapper DDG, the Atlantan reflected: “Love has been a really big one for me too, because that’s something I’m experiencing for the first time, and it’s, like, ‘Whoa’ in your brain. It’s just fireworks, a spark for creativity.”
This prompted the interviewer to ask whether Halle would be getting “personal” on her EP: “I don’t really talk about my personal stuff… This has been a really beautiful transformative time for me… It’s like, what the heck did I just experience and go through? A whirlwind of amazingness. You never know what you’re capable of until you’re put through it. I was very creatively inspired, and then from there, I fell in love.”
She confirmed that “sound-wise, [the record has] a little modern R&B-ish, with all the jazz elements and hints of pop” that she loves.
When ‘Angel’ was released, Halle said in a statement that the song “is so very special and near and dear to [her] heart” as it was her “climb[ing] out of those feelings, a mantra and promise to [herself] that the work I’m doing here on earth matters and that I matter.”
When Chloe X Halle was together, the duo were signed to Beyoncé‘s Parkwood Entertainment label in 2013. They went on to release two albums – 2016’s ‘The Kids Are Alright’ and their second album ‘Ungodly Hour’. The latter was critically acclaimed and nominated for Best R&B Album at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
Now they’ve broken up, Chloe has released some viral hits such as ‘Have Mercy’ and ‘Treat Me’ and dropped her debut solo album ‘In Pieces’ last year. “The biggest difference is that I had to learn how to believe in myself on my own,” the 23-year-old said when asked about her first time releasing a body of work without her sister.
“Every time we’re working together, she’s the voice of reason, and she [was] the confidence for us both. She goes, ‘Keep going. Keep riding it, Halle. You’re doing great. You’re doing great.’ You know?”
Elsewhere, The Color Purple and Halle’s portrayal of Nettie in the iconic film – produced by Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and Quincy Jones – will be released in cinemas this Christmas.
The post Halle set to drop debut solo EP “before the end of this year” appeared first on NME.
