Hot Press meets Beyonce's protégés: Ingrid and Chloe x Halle

"This is all a very happy accident," says the rapper Ingrid (pictured above), who’s been signed to Beyonce’s management company.

"I’ve known Beyonce from growing up in Houston. Her mother and my deceased mother were best friends. Inadvertently, when my Mom passed her mother became like another mother to me, so it was family ties. I’ve had a front row seat in seeing how much work Beyonce has put into everything and it is so inspiring to work with people who are willing to help you grow and be your own competition."

Beyoncé’s other proteges are sisters Halle and Chloe Bailey, who trade under the name Chloe x Halle and have amassed a few million YouTube views for the phenomenal video for ‘Drop.’ The teenage duo ooze enthusiasm and charisma as they chat in the Sony offices before supporting Queen Bey at Croker. “I knew I could have shared my talent in some way, but to be opening for Beyonce with my sister and signed to her management company is way beyond any expectations and I’m so grateful,” Halle says. “It’s been such an incredible journey.”

Her sister Chloe adds, “We constantly pinch ourselves and ask if this is real. Our first gig was when were 5 and 7 and did a school talent show. We’d always sing and perform at home, but had never did it onstage. We won first place and here we are now. It’s grown into something wonderful.”

Chloe x Halle

The sisters bring two very different musical sensibilities to the table. “I’ve always been inspired by jazz,” Hailey says. “There was a library across the street and I fell in love with Billi Holiday’s voice. From there on it really sparked something inside me and growing with that sound helped my creativity.

For Chloe, she listens to as much new music as she can. “I always loved Beyonce and Destiny’s Child but I got older, I’m drawn to Tune-Yards, Billy Ocean, FKA Twigs, Blood Orange, Jack Garrett and Imogen Heap,” she says. “I love the banging beats and cool different sounds.”

Before the sisters took to the Croke Park stage, they played at Glasgow’s Hampden Park, where Beyonce had a two-minutes silence for the victims of the Dallas shootings. “Music is an incredible way to communicate,” Chloe says. “All these recent stories are heart-breaking, but music has the power to heal.”

Ingrid has personal experience of being a black woman dealing with the American police. “I personally believe police have escalated a lot of the tensions there,” she says. “It’s not a black or white thing, it’s a human race thing. When you remove the uniforms and skin colour we all have the same blood pumping through us but there are clear differences to how we all handled and treated. The goal is to be treated equally. It is so simple.

“Racism is taught generationally so it won’t go away in a hurry. People are born into it. Living in Texas, which is a red state and very conservative, I’ve seen those tensions. When that combines with mental health issues and loads of other things it is very concerning. I have a song that talks about police brutality which I wrote two or three years ago. I’ve been saving it for my album and I’ve rewritten it several times.

“My brother is a doctor and probably has been pulled over several times. He is one of the best men that I know. He doesn’t drink or smoke whereas I drink and smoke every day. In the past decade, he’s been pulled over and said he matched the description of a suspect. They stopped me in Brooklyn saying I matched a robbery suspect. I was in my pyjamas going to the bodega for a Sprite or something. It’s almost like they’ve a license to kill now.”

Chloe x Halle's single 'Drop' and Ingrid's track 'Flex' are out now