Chloe Star Owns Her Sexual Empowerment in “Straight Girls”
Intimacy should be the safest place for you to ask for what you want. Following Chloe Star’s empowering debut release “Element,” her second single, “Straight Girls,” is a high energy anthem packed with infectious trap-inspired beats and electro-pop vocals. Star explores her sexuality and unpacks how she always finds herself dating straight women.
Star was once in a place where she was figuring out her sexuality and how to present as her most authentic self, both personally and artistically.
“I've been in situations where I once was the quote unquote, straight girl, and I was in those shoes,” Star says. “I've then been in situations where I've actually gotten hurt by people that have basically said that they're straight, but not due to fears of being open about their sexuality. I've been on both sides and especially during the period of trying to figure out who I was just on the human level.”
“Straight Girls” helped Star express bottled up feelings. The accompanying visualizer sets a romantic and intimate scene of Star and the woman she’s with lying together in a rose petal immersed bathtub and bed – romance was definitely in the air.
“I don't get that vulnerable and I haven't ever actually gotten that vulnerable in a visual aspect,” Star says. “Once I get into that mindset, I'm able to just release the anxiety and realize creative work is feeling anxious and vulnerable and recognizing and acknowledging all these feelings that happened from those real experiences. I’m turning that into art now. There were a lot of motions going on and questioning myself like, ‘Can I actually even do this, get away with physically being filmed in a bed with a woman?’”
Star is an indigenous singer, songwriter, visual artist and tribal advocate. Growing up she split her time between Los Angeles and her family’s reservation in San Bernardino. With a childhood that was chaotic and often unstable, she found solace in journaling and writing poetry. She taught herself to play piano and guitar and soon started transforming her prose into lyrics. After spending the past few years finding and cultivating her sound, Chloe is now ready to make her introduction to the world. “Element” and “Straight Girls” will be included on her forthcoming EP due out later this year.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Thank you for sitting down and talking to Unpublished Magazine. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more, and for any readers who aren't familiar, what inspires your artistic persona and style?
[CHLOE]: I would say a lot of different factors. I'm definitely inspired by Andy Warhol, and he just inspires me as a creative person. I would say musically, definitely Post Malone, Amy Winehouse and Janis Jopline, and it’s not just the music that’s the inspiration, it’s their entire creative outlook on everything, from their fashion to their visual art, music and writing.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Your latest release “Straight Girls” touches a lot on navigating your sexuality and being empowered in your identity. What message, emotions or story do you hope to convey to your listeners through this work?
[CHLOE]: The inspiration was a few different things. I was once in a place where I was figuring out my sexuality and figuring out what I wanted in life and I was trying to figure out my true authentic self and not trying to just live in this box of what society has created for me. I've been in situations where I once was the quote unquote, straight girl, and I was in those shoes. I've then been in situations where I've actually gotten hurt by people that have basically said that they're straight, but not due to fears of being open about their sexuality. I've been on both sides and especially during the period of trying to figure out who I was just on the human level. I wrote about an experience that I had once where I was in a situation where this girl was basically flirting with me and she was straight. I started to like her and then realized that I couldn't because of the situation, and I eventually got hurt in those situations. I'm sure people can relate. There's also this factor in the community where I feel like people are thinking that the song is about me turning girls straight, but it's not, it's literally just a personal situation that happened. Literally line by line, it's all just me talking about the experience that I had.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I can only imagine how much “Straight Girls” has helped you express feelings and let off some energy. How did that impact your creative process?
[CHLOE]: It definitely helped me. I do that with every song as music allows me to express my feelings and to put my pain, my struggle or even my happiness into some form of art. I'm the person that sometimes bottles things in and doesn't know how to actually talk about it or express it in person. Writing it all out and in a song form, it's easier for me to be able to share like, this is what happened and this is how I'm feeling. It definitely took weight off my shoulders.
[UNPUBLISHED]: “Straight Girls” also has an accompanying music video and it’s super sensual and romantic. What was the inspiration behind the video and how was your experience filming that?
[CHLOE]: The music video was so much fun and it was a lot of fun shooting. The girl in the video, her name is Dru Flecha, and she’s a super rad girl. She's extremely talented and it was so fun. I love seeing women empowerment videos come to life. I had never done anything like that, so it was a first. The inspiration was this girl who is quote unquote straight and lying to her boyfriend and lying to me that she’s going out to dinner with her mom and saying that while she’s on the phone with her mom. She's all over the place with her lies and then decides to be with me, and it all leads me to getting my heart broken by someone who doesn’t fully identify with the LGBTQ+ community. I had a blast shooting that video and it was a two day shoot. The visuals are super sick. I worked with some really cool people. Definitely one for the books.
[UNPUBLISHED]: “Straight Girls” is only your second single following your debut “Element.” Did you take any creative risks or experiment more, either lyrically or sonically, with “Straight Girls” since your debut release?
[CHLOE]: I definitely took a lot of risks. There were a lot of risks in that song. The video itself is extremely sexual, and I’m in a hot tub with a girl. I’m in bed with a girl. I would say that's a pretty big risk for me, at least because that's something that I don't usually put out there, so it was really fun to experiment with that as well. Especially just the song itself, “Element” was such a fun party song that you listen to with your friends before going out and being in your element. Then we have “Straight Girls,” and I'm just talking about the situation that happened in my life where I've once upon a time convinced myself that I only wanted to date straight girls because of XYZ and I'm just being this crazy, out-of-the-box person. They're two complete opposites, but super happy that I was able to dive into that and allow myself to take those risks and be okay with it and continue walking in my truth.
[UNPUBLISHED]: The video sounds like it was a super vulnerable and healing process since you’re not used to showing that side of yourself visually. How did that feel putting such an intimate body of work out into the world?
[CHLOE]: There was definitely a lot of anxiety in the beginning. I don't get that vulnerable and I haven't ever actually gotten that vulnerable in a visual aspect, and I work through the anxiety by just telling myself like, this is a story that I want to put out there and this is a real experience that happened. Once I get into that mindset, I'm able to just release the anxiety and realize creative work is feeling anxious and vulnerable and recognizing and acknowledging all these feelings that happened from those real experiences. I’m turning that into art now. There were a lot of motions going on and questioning myself like, ‘Can I actually even do this, get away with physically being filmed in a bed with a woman?’ I was also thinking, ‘Wow, a lot of people are gonna see this video that don't fully know me. I have a lot of family that doesn’t even know that I'm lesbian.’ This is gonna be a really big one to put out there because everyone's going to now know. I can't continue to live in these fears of judgment, and I have to start walking in my truth. Take it and you do what you want to do with it.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Both releases “Straight Girls” and “Element” are sneak peek glimpses into your upcoming debut EP release that is set to be released later this year. I would love to hear anything you would like to tell Unpublished about the EP.
[CHLOE]: The next few records that I will be putting out are going to be more pop-punk, which I'm very excited about. The next song that I'm putting out is my number one favorite song. I have been listening to it nonstop and I bump around and play it to all my friends and everyone has been giving great feedback. There’s a lot of heartbreak that goes on in the next few songs, so I’m also excited for that because it’s allowing that healing process for me to be on a more grounded and human level. Definitely more pop-punk vibes and it’s very upbeat, very upbeat, like let’s bop around the house and let's listen to this in the car. I guess I can give away two names of two songs that I'm really stoked about which are “Peace When You're Away” and “Fool.”
[UNPUBLISHED]: What can listeners expect from you in this new era of music of yours?
[CHLOE]: Listeners can expect pop-punk. They can expect heartbreak. They can expect growth. They can expect finding myself. They can expect me just not really giving a fuck about what people think and moving how I move and being my true authentic self, and just telling a story. I'm only doing this really because it makes me feel whole and it makes me want to proceed in life, but also it's in hopes that I can connect with people and people can relate and know that people aren't alone. We all go through shit and we all learn from our struggles and we make mistakes. We're all human at the end of the day.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What do you need in your space when you feel creative inspiration hitting you?
[CHLOE]: I usually burn Palo Santo. I do a prayer to the music gods and hope that they guide me and direct me through the session that I'm in. I guess those are my two main rituals that I have when I write. I do have a journal. I have tons of journals. I have journals from when I was like 11 years old. I carry a stick of Palo Santo with me everywhere, and I pray and meditate. I usually do a five minute meditation.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What is something that not a lot of people know about you? Just off the bat I really love all your tattoos. Do you have a specific favorite one that you gravitate towards or stands out to you the most?
[CHLOE]: It’s my street cone. My street cone is because my best friend passed away six years ago and that was one of the hardest things ever to go through. Her and I used to steal street cones and we used to paint them and we would either keep them or paint them and put them back where we found them. I got that in honor of her and that is my favorite, so I guess that's one thing no one knows about me, that I used to steal street cones and paint them. I actually weirdly used to steal a lot of construction stuff and then paint it. I do my best to put it back if they are still doing construction.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like that you would like to share with Unpublished?
[CHLOE]: I'm honestly feeling really calm. I'm feeling really pumped and excited. I'm excited for the future. I have a lot of personal goals for the rest of this year that I'm really working really hard to get towards. I'm excited about all the music. By the end of this year, my goal is to be on a tour and to be performing and to have my EP out. To be collaborating with other artists and just sharing a story and relating with other people. I do my best to achieve my goal. I want to connect with people from all over the world, and I want to hear other people's stories. I want to relate to other people through music and so that's really the goal and that's what I'm excited about and I just can't wait to put out the rest of the music. It's like I've been holding on to this for a minute now and I'm ready to release it all.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Is there anything that I didn't ask that you'd like to add to the interview?
[CHLOE]: Just stay tuned for the next single. Follow me on Instagram and TikTok, those are my two main platforms right now at frenchtoastkiller. Also follow me on Youtube, I’ve been doing some YouTube shorts and stay tuned for more visual art and more music. I'm just really excited and can't wait.
