I had a chance to sit down with Cloe Wilder before the show began and ask her a few questions. Cloe’s articulate and professional nature impressed me, and despite her young age of only 16, she clearly has an already successful career laid out in front of her. A clearly dedicated and passionate artist, Wilder is a fantastic representation of femininity in the music industry and proved to be a perfect choice to perform at this concert highlighting excellent female artists to celebrate International Women’s Day.
You’re performing tonight at an International Women’s Day concert coordinated by Women That Rock. What does it mean to you to be a successful female in the industry?
Oh my gosh, everything! The female artists that I’ve been surrounded with and all of the female creatives that I’m so lucky to get to be around, I mean, it’s been my favorite thing ever. They’re so talented and just, getting to meet people like that, through things like this is really important to me, especially being a young female artist. It’s a couple things that the industry can hold over my head. But yeah, I mean, just the whole title itself is very important to me.
I want to talk about that. You mentioned you’re a young female artist. You are very young for an artist. What is that like? How did you know that music was the career for you?
I think my love for music was so strong that I didn’t really know what else to do. And yeah, I mean the way that I entered the industry was super lucky. I got to go to my first writing camp when I was 12, and then I started meeting people from there. I just couldn’t think of… there was not another thing that I wanted to do. Obviously you don’t have to make that decision so young. I was like 12 when I was like, hey, this is my career path, but I feel really lucky that I did because now I know where everything is headed. And I kind of love that.
Do you have any specific role models that you had, especially growing up and knowing that you wanted to be in the music industry?
Yeah! When it comes to artists, Lana Del Rey was like the first one that I really looked up to in that way that like, I admired everything about her. It wasn’t just the music. It was like, her as an artist, like the whole brand. And I was just mind blown by the fact that these beautiful songs and these beautiful visuals, and like everything about her was just there for us. And so yeah, I very much admired her. That was like a major emotional connection. I feel like musically she kind of raised me, because my sister is eleven years older than me and she introduced me to Lana when I was six or seven. And my sister was like, you know, seventeen, eighteen, and so it kind of was just very natural. But yeah, she was kind of my first big one and I still really hold on to her.
Do you have any dream collaborations that you would want to do?
Probably Lana Del Rey. Or you know, I love Phoebe Bridgers too. I’ve been like, very into the female folk-alt world. But yeah, those are a couple of them.
I’m going back to this, you’re so young, you’re so accomplished as a young artist. You released your first album in 2021 and you dropped a new single last month. Can you tease anything about what’s come for 2022?
Yeah, we’ve got a bunch of singles coming up, just like consistently dropping singles which I’m super excited about. And then I have a full length project coming later in the year. I’m very excited.
Can you talk a little bit about your creative process? Is it always the same? Does it change?
It honestly, it is very similar now. I fall into this very comfortable writing space with myself and I think it took me the whole pandemic to kind of get there. I was spending a lot of time alone obviously, and I was just writing. It was like no other, there was no excuse not to write and that’s when I wrote my EP too. And yeah, I just met some great writers. I’ve been doing all of my recent music with Sam Nicolosi, who I just absolutely love writing music with. And yeah, I think I’ve got, like, a style of writing now. I just kind of sit down, and I mumble and sing and I know how I would word things. And I try not to get too into a concept, usually because I mean, it’s therapeutic in its own way and it’ll come out when you’re writing. But yeah, so I’m very into sitting down and singing and it just feels like I’m singing with a friend at this point with Sam because we’ve been writing all of my recent work together. It’s been weirdly easy recently and I love it.
Do you have any career goals right now?
I would love to start playing more live shows. This is the first of a few I’ve played, but this is my first New York show, which I’m very excited about. But yeah, I’m very interested in touring and doing all of that. It’s so cool to meet other artists. I just wanna get deeper into it, you know, just like, really be in that world. But I would love to tour.
We chatted a little while longer before Cloe had to get going – pizza first, then the stage. In the next room, performers Scarlet Fiorella and Ok Cowgirl took to the stage to kick off the show. After a few minutes of band members setting up, a drummer and guitarist began to play as an enthusiastic Cloe bounced onto the stage, greeted by cheers from the audience. It was evident to me within the first 10 seconds of her set that Wilder understands the importance of performance quality.
The crowd sang along to her indie pop tracks including her latest release, “We’re Not Special” as well as a few tracks off of her 2021 album, Teenage Lullabies, such as “1,000 Degrees” and “I Wanna Be Alone With You,” the latter of which was performed with an alternative rock sound that had the crowd dancing along as Wilder brought her set to a strong finish.
I look at Cloe Wilder and see a young professional that flawlessly executes her vision, being both business savvy and artistically well-rounded. Announcing this performance as her first New York show and her favorite thing she’s ever done (a sentiment she mentioned to me before the show during our conversation), I’m certain this is just the beginning for Wilder.
Overall, the show was absolutely incredible with a lineup of performers fearlessly embracing femininity as an asset to their art backed by Women That Rock, an organization doing just the same by coordinating this talented group of women for a night of music in Brooklyn.
