Chloe Slater has never shied away from weighty topics – from class war to mansplaining – but new single ‘Harriet’ proves she can get up close and personal, too. In perhaps her most candid single yet, Slater captures the messy drama of a first heartbreak.
“I wrote the song when I was 18 and at uni. It’s actually my friend’s story; I wrote it for her during a heartbreak. Everything is so raw in your first heartbreak, because no one knows what they’re doing at that age, so it’s about that kind of messy, nostalgic feeling.”
Accompanying the track is a playful video that sees Slater recreate a frame-by-frame montage of scenes from hit TV drama Normal People. The idea stemmed from her unavoidable comparisons to the show’s star, Daisy Edgar-Jones, whose resemblance to Slater is so uncanny that she half-jokingly credits it for her online success.
“I’m pretty sure half the reason my videos have done so well online is because so many people are commenting that I look like her, so I think I owe a lot to her. My manager joked one day that we should make a video where I pretend to be Marianne. When we sent it to the director, Bonnie [MacRae], she sent back this amazing visual and I was like, ‘Yeah, perfect.’ I wanted it to be exactly the same as the show, or as close as it could be.”
Casting the perfect Connell proved more difficult. Director Bonnie MacRae auditioned several Mescal clones – including the winner of last year’s viral Paul Mescal lookalike competition, Jack Wall O’Reilly.
“[O’Reilly] did audition, but he actually didn’t get the role,” laughs Slater. It was an open call for Mescal Doppelgängers that led to the casting of Gus Steele.
“Gus was just really good. He’d never done any acting before, which was nice for me because I don’t act either, so it felt like we were in it together. And he really does look like Paul Mescal.”
With ‘Harriet’ out in the world and her Normal People homage complete, Slater has been throwing herself into a packed festival season. Her first major summer on the international circuit has been an adventure.
“Glastonbury was an incredible experience, but that’s a given. I also did Summer Well Festival in Romania the other week. I actually find crowds outside of the UK a lot easier to please, especially if it’s a crowd full of people that don’t know who you are. In other European countries, it feels like they really want you to do well, whereas in the UK, it’s more likely people will stand at the back with their arms folded saying, ‘Come on, prove yourself to us.’ But it’s fun, because you can see by the end of the set that you’ve won people over, and that’s a good feeling.”
Not one to fear a tough crowd, Slater knows how to own the stage. “I really give it my all. I try to pull some kind of stunt. Sometimes I’ll just start rolling around on the floor. At Live At Leeds I remember doing a cartwheel; that was so much fun.”
Over the past year, Slater has become TikTok’s unlikely breakout star, more likely to make videos about shitty landlords than shitty boyfriends. But her quick-witted charm and admirable honesty has built her an avid IRL fanbase, too.
“There are usually a few people at the front [of my festival sets] that know all the words. Some people have been making signs, which is so cute. There were even people with signs in other countries, which is crazy to me. I’m feeling really lucky and grateful. Honestly, if there’s even one person singing, it means the world to me.
“It feels weird saying I have fans, but I love them. I met this one really sweet fan in real life. In one of my first videos, I don’t know if it was the lighting, but everyone was commenting that I had a monobrow! The fan came up to me and looked right in my face and was like, ‘You don’t have a monobrow.’ I thought that was weirdly sweet. I mean, I don’t mind having a monobrow – I think that’s cool – but it was a chronically online moment to see.”
Navigating music promotion via social media has been both a blessing and a curse for Slater. She admits that, in the early stages, she felt pressure to make alterations to her music that appeased the ever-changing TikTok algorithm, such as intentionally including algorithm-friendly buzzwords in her first viral hit ‘24 Hours’. Now, though, her talent speaks for itself; with a loyal fanbase behind her, Slater knows that if it’s good, it will work. She describes how her creative process has changed order; before songs began as an idea for an idea for a short-form clip, the music now comes first, and the algorithm second.
Attracting a mass audience does not come without its dangers, though, as anyone with a social media presence will know all too well.
“I guess we live in a time where everyone has access to everyone, which isn’t very normal,” Slater muses. “[Hate comments] definitely have got to me. Obviously, I’m super lucky and I’m living the dream, so I can’t be too upset about it, but there was a time when my videos were doing well and I was getting hundreds of hate comments a day, which is kind of insane. Your brain doesn’t really know the difference between fact and fiction, so if you keep reading ‘You suck, you should quit music,’ your brain starts to believe it. The first few times you see it, it’s funny, but on the 200th time, you start to think, ‘Maybe I do suck.’ So I definitely struggled with that for a while, but at the end of the day, I’ve got a cool career out of it.”
October will see Slater heading out on her second headline UK tour of the year.
“I’m excited to see my fans again. I also just love the routine of a tour; you get in the van, you drive to the venue, you do the sound check and you play at the same time every night. Festivals are a bit crazy and all over the place – I’m tired all the time – so it’s nice to feel like I can settle into a routine. Playing my own shows to my own fan base will be so rewarding after playing to lots of people who don’t know who I am.”
To round off a summer of career milestones, Slater supported Kings Of Leon for a second time, at Come Together Festival in Newcastle upon Tyne.
“Kings Of Leon were my first ever big support; I played with them in Cologne right at the start of my career. It was really scary; we didn’t know what we were doing! It feels like a full circle moment now to be able to go and do it properly. They’re a really cool band, and I grew up listening to them, so they’re definitely a big inspiration.”
Festival season may be nearing its end, but the dream doesn’t end there; Slater has her sights set on more big supporting spots in future.
“It’s my ambition to support Wolf Alice. That would be amazing. Sombr is also great; he’s really having a moment right now, and his music is so good. To me he feels like the new Hozier.”
Elsewhere in her future plans, Slater promises she’s working hard on something in the studio – but whether or not a debut album is in the works remains unknown.
“I’ve got all my secrets. I’m media trained,” she laughs.
See Chloe Slater live on the ‘Choose A Life’ tour:
Portsmouth, Night Currents Festival (October 4)
Brighton, Patterns (5)
Bristol, The Fleece (6)
Manchester, Gorilla (8)
Sheffield, Sidney & Matilda (9)
Glasgow, Tenement Trail (11)
Birmingham, O2 Institute 2 (12)
Nottingham, The Bodega (13)
London, The Garage (14)
Dublin, Academy 2 (16)
