Chloe Bailey is saying “Boy, bye” to this rumor.
The “Have Mercy” singer set the record straight after learning that some fans believed she was mean until they finally met her.
“They’ll be like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re so nice! You’re so much nicer than I thought you would be,'” Chloe told E! News’ Francesca Amiker on the 2025 NAACP Image Awards red carpet Feb. 22. “But I’m such a softy. I’m like a nerd.”
Nonetheless, Chloe—whose song “Boy Bye” was bested by Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” in the Outstanding Music Video/Visual Album category—knows that she’s more than her public image.
“I’m just grateful that I get to do what I love,” she reflected. “I am learning that my value and my talent are not determined by any numbers or others’ opinions. I am actually standing in my power and knowing that I am quite smart and talented.” (For more about the stars at the NAACP Image Awards, tune into E! News tonight, Feb. 24 at 11 p.m.)
As for why she believes fans may have had this preconceived notion about her? The Chloe x Halle singer admitted to E! that it might be due to her stage presence.
In fact, she previously revealed that her onstage persona is the “opposite” of who she is in real life.
“When I go out onstage, it’s like my dose of medicine,” she explained to Cosmopolitan in April 2023. “I guess somewhere deep inside, my innermost self is being unlocked and I’m not confined by my worries, fears, or anxieties.”
After all, music has been a creative and therapeutic outlet for Chloe, 26, who first began her music career with her younger sister Halle Bailey, 24.
“I make music for people who are great at acting like everything’s okay when it’s not and they’re afraid to tell somebody,” she said. “I’m used to people-pleasing, putting my feelings on the back burner, and being the bigger person. Now I’m learning to just be. It’s been freeing.”
