Chloe Qisha is your 21st Century Pop Girl: "I'm a perfectionist"

Chloe Qisha is ready for it.

What 'it' could be is up for discussion, but her path to superstardom in the somewhat near future is already being well laid. When her second EP, Modern Romance, drops this May 1 it will be her second release in less than a year, following last year's Chloe Qisha, a body of work that felt stunningly self-assured and fully-formed for an artist who, by her own admission, had only started to attend writing sessions in the last 5 years. 

'I'm a perfectionist,' Chloe tells us at her PR's offices as London slowly but surely slips from winter into spring. 'I am very considerate, of what songs we release and at what point in the campaign they appear. There's no right and wrong answer, to be honest, because I write all the songs, but I am really big on the ebb and flow. There has to be momentum.'

And there is plenty of momentum in Modern Romance - which feels like early career Lily Allen has been mixed into a blender with the hyper-specific lyrical focus of Phoebe Bridgers, with the melancholic yet euphoric sensabiloty of ABBA. 

But what becomes completely clear through our conversation is that this is one pop star in complete control of her identity...and her destiny. With a tight team around her, Chloe is ready to welcome her ever-growing legion of fans into her world again.

We feel like a lot of people are going to be jumping on this train soon enough.

Hi Chloe! You've just announced your second EP, Modern Romance - how are you feeling?

I'm a bit overwhelmed...but feeling great! I'm super excited for this particular body of work. The songs are a nice extension [from Chloe Qisha, her first EP] but also not too similar. It's a nice next step.

This is following hot on the heels of your debut EP, too. Less than a year. Pop the corns and feed the children!

Of course! I have the material for it. I think momentum is key as a developing artist, especially if you're not surfing some kind of viral moment. I'm hopefully keeping that momentum up, in some shape or form. Last year was a really good year for writing. I was very inspired. There were songs, so many amazing songs, that I was so proud of. So my thought was; why not just roll straight into it?

What was it that got you so inspired last year?

I think, again, it was just a build-up of momentum. I've got such an amazing, beautiful, five star team around me. Not just for the music, but on te visual side too. Seeing how this world is being formed has really inspired me and my collaborator Rob [Milton, the EP's producer]. Once the world [around you as an artist] is more concrete, I think the songs come so much easier. There wasn't any particular trigger, we were just riding this incredible wave.

Modern Romance really does sound like the culmination of that cresting wave you mentioned. Did you write the two projects in tandem, or were they informed by each other?

That's a great question! I think the former; we had this bank of songs, and we would [split them up] between the two. We were quite intentional with the songs we used in [Chloe Qisha], especially the first single. That was my first ever proper release into the world, and we wanted it to be such an intimate, authentic expression of myself. 

With Modern Romance, the singles especially came later. I wrote 21st Century Cool Girl this year. Like, two or three months ago.

Am I right in thinking you only started writing sessions in the last few years?

I've been developing for a hot minute! I've managed to keep pretty quiet about it. But I would say I started to write, in sessions, in the last four years. I did it alongside uni. I studied a few degrees, just to see what I wanted to do. Then two years ago, I met Rob, and that's when I started to...assume my full form.

One of my favourite lines in the EP is the verse in Modern Romance, where you reference 'doing the big shop.' How hard is it to balance these hyper-specific lyrics with making these, for want of a better word, massive pop bangers? 

Rob actually helps with that a lot. There's a balance to the authenticity, I agree, and he always helps me veer it away [from too close to either edge]. He knows when to tap me on the shoulder and say 'we need more of you in here.' But I do think [this balancing act] is getting easier now. A lot of the songs have these very silly elements to them, some very obscure references, but that's just part of my identity. I thought 'Chloe Qisha' at the beginning was more of a persona, but now I think we're quite similar.

That was actually going to be my next question - how much distance is there between Chloe Qisha the person and Chloe Qisha the pop star

With writing, I think there is much less of a difference now. In terms of performance, I'm still quite new to it, so that's still more of a persona. There's a slight distance, but only because if I was Chloe Qisha on stage for every day of the year, I'd crash and burn. She's a lot! She's kind of the person I want to be, or I like to think I am when I'm on a night out.

We haven't discussed 21st Century Cool Girl yet, by the way - what a pop song that is! Probably the biggest one you've made yet?

It is so interesting you say that, because one of the first conversations I had [about the EP release] was which song was going to be the first single, and it was honestly a toss-up between 21st Century Cool Girl and Sex, Drugs & Existential Dread [the current single]. We were set on a January release, because everyone's coming off Christmas, and I think that was the best song to start with. It might be my favourite from the EP, honestly.

I see a lot of parallels between it and Rosamund Pike's famous 'cool girl' monologue in Gone Girl - was that a specific reference?

That's a great reference. I wish it had been my reference, but it wasn't! So many people have asked me [the inspiration for the song] and honestly, it was the most unromantic thing. Rob and I were just jamming in the studio, I actually don't even remember who came up with the title. One of us said something funny - and it was decided this should be a funny song. We went with it, and that's where the Dawson's Creek and the 'hyperbole' came from. We wrote it really fast, it was done in a day or two. At the time it was like, oh, it's done? Cool! Tick!

I don't know if this is intentional, but your songs function as a very prescient look into dating in London in 2025. Which is hell!

Is it hell? I hear it's hell! I feel it's the trenches. I'm the most boring person in the world, but my best friends are going through it [and I hear all their stories]. They just have the craziest stories. If you don't laugh, you'll cry type of stuff. Every time we debrief, I have it in the back of my mind. I think adding dating apps into the mix is a whole other thing. It makes for a good story, that's for sure.

Both of these EPs have been released independently - if a label does come on board, I'm assuming it'll be entirely on your terms or not at all?

Oh. For sure. I honestly came into music backwards - I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I went from posting covers to taking meetings with people without actually learning the skill of writing. I essentially had to go back and learn how to actually write a song, which obviously took a long time. I'm definitely cautious [about becoming a major label act], I look at the small team we made the two EPs with and I think it's world class. 

Now I'm just kind of like...I have my core team, I have my people. I know what we can achieve with this. It's very much giving 21st century cool girl. If you want this, you have to jump on the train. Not the other way around.

Finally, Chloe Qisha...what to you is the best pop song ever written?

Teenage Dream. Oh my god. That is a masterclass in terms of pop. Every single line of that song is a hook. That's the goal for any song I wrote, honestly. Put your hands on me? In my skin tight jeans? I'll be your teenage dream? Come on! 

Sex, Drugs & Existential Dread by Chloe Qisha is out now. Her second EP, Modern Romance, drops May 1. 

Photos: Lillie Elger