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Skylyne Spotlight: Chloe Jai

Chasing the Unknown with Chloe Jai: Stepping into the music indie scene, finding artistic vision, and running towards your Dream

Skylyne Spotlight: Chloe Jai

Chloe Jai standing on a bridge at night, looking toward the camera with city lights blurred in the background.

Chloe Jai's newest single, "Unknown," speaks on the freedom and fear of navigating growing up. I found Jai from a TikTok clip she posted of her running across a bridge to her latest song. It was dark and moody, yet it had a fantastical element that surprised me. As the camera follows her across the bridge, an echo sings "come and find me" over a 2000's inspired beat. It felt as if I was watching her go through a tunnel of uncertainty and I felt weirdly comforted. It's as if I knew the essence of the song within the 15 second clip:


It's the quintessential journey of being a girl in her twenties.


Orlando, Florida-born and current Brooklyn baddie, Chloe Jai grew up singing throughout her childhood and into college, where she studied acting. As her mother would attest to, Jai has been singing since she was a baby, even singing herself to sleep with her own melodies when she was young enough to talk. However, her love of music creation stems from her senior college project, where she was tasked to produce an entire song from scratch. Her love for production grew as she continued to create her own music and found a group of producer confidants to share her latest work with. In just the last year and a half of releasing music, Jai has explored her sound through five singles and has caught the hearts (and ears) of over 1,000 monthly listeners with her siren-like R&B electronic music. I got a chance to chat with Chloe, where we spoke about music, mental health, and community. 


For Chloe, writing a song looks different every time.


Chloe Jai: I often come in with ideas of what I want to sing about. But what often happens when I work with my producer, Leander, is that we will build out themes together. We will go through songs that we are currently liking together. He's into the oldies, and I like more of the modern stuff, so we work well together. He started in electronic music, and I'm more into vocal production, so it's like the best of both worlds. For "Unknown", we drew inspiration from "Headphones On" by Addison Rae. He started making the beat, and I just started humming along to it to find the melody, and then found the lyrics last. 



Lyrically, "Unknown" describes the internal battle of success in chasing after your dreams. The song leans into the nuance of not knowing where your life is headed. The visuals for the track also encapsulate this feeling, with the moody New York skyline being tinted by this artificial neon green light. To me, the green light carried a double meaning. On the one hand, green is the color of achievement. However, because it was so artificial, it almost felt sterile, like dreams feel so far away. Chloe continues this conversation by explaining what the song meant to her and her experience in New York.


Chloe Jai: This was an homage to my younger self. I've always wanted to live in New York City, and this was like an "I did that!" moment. There's a part of "Unknown" where the tempo slows down, and for me, it's definitely a reminder to slow down. My mom always said that I should "smell the roses," and it's true; I'm not great at it, but this song is definitely a moment of gratitude. It was one of the hardest things I had to do, but I'm immensely grateful for it. I've met so many people through TikTok. It's nice that my network is continuing to grow. Artists in New York are here to lift each other. We're all after the same goal either way. I wish there were more accessible ways to connect different songwriters. 


What I found most interesting about Jai's sound was its influences from different genres. Jai mentioned in our interview that Ariana Grande is her favorite vocalist, but I was surprised at how she found her love for EDM and how visuals play a part in her sound.


Chloe Jai: I love anything ethereal, I love dreamy synths and drums, and I want to make it a world. I love Alina Baraz. Her songs take people on a journey, and I hope I can do the same with my music. Electronically, my inspiration comes from going to raves. I know it's so cliché, but at a Dom Dolla set, I saw him use a really powerful female vocalist and thought, “oh my god, I'd love to sing a song like this. This is sick!” If R&B and house music had a baby, I hope that it's me. 


Chloe Jai: I was on Pinterest earlier today. I saw a picture of this white room with a projector showing something almost like The Truman Show with that staircase and clouds. In a perfect world, that's what my tiny desk concert space would look like. I see myself there, with a microphone, a MIDI keyboard, maybe a guitarist next to me. 


Chloe Jai kneeling on a carpeted floor while recording vocals into a microphone and working on music production software on a laptop.

I loved this visual. A stripped space that still carries so much possibility, whether through the use of a projector or Jai and her musical accompaniment, it demonstrates her artistry in the purist sense: her voice and the sounds she can tinker with through her electronics on a blank slate. 


On her social page, Jai shares parts of the process of creating her song and even describes how this creation and improvisation is spiritual. 


Chloe Jai: I cannot read music. But my ear is so in tune, and I don't know where things come from half of the time. Chappell Roan once said in an interview that songs are gifts from the universe, and I really agree with that. I will come in with no ideas, and then two hours go by, and a song is done. It feels like a gift.   


For the second half of our conversation, I wanted to hear her experience as a woman in the industry, specifically as a producer in a male-dominated field. Jai shared her frustrations with the misogyny she has experienced.


Chloe Jai: I've met with other producers in the past, and it's always like, "Oh. You did this?" It's so frustrating that women can't work on a computer or in a DAW. It's one of the things that motivates me to learn it and get my way around it. I'm so grateful to have a community around me that supports me and helps me learn how to produce. That's really rare to find in the industry. 


Chloe Jai sitting by a window on a ferry, wearing a denim jacket as sunlight falls across her face with the water visible behind her.

Her independent exploration doesn’t stop with her sonic expression but is embedded into her branding. Jai is fueled by a mix of sass and a feminine touch, evident in her iconic red hair and camo combo that she says is inspired by Bratz dolls. Her consistent image as a self starter and creative have brought her support from all her social media platforms; however, she finds one community to be the strongest.


Chloe Jai: I've made it a challenge for myself over the past two months to post every day on TikTok, and it works. Being annoying on TikTok actually works! I just hit 1,000 monthly listeners, which is crazy, and I have random people DMing me telling me "I believe in you, girl," and that's so cool. I like to think of it as little nuggets from the universe telling me to keep going. They don't have to DM all this, but they do, and that's enough for me. I've never cared about being famous, although I would love to make a living doing something I love. But I am just so grateful that people are connecting to the things that I'm making. I'll never get over that. 


With the success of her latest hit "Unknown," we continued our conversation, talking about virality, what it means for Jai, and how she goes about her biggest struggles in the industry. In our conversation, she comments on the comparison game of checking streaming data, working while releasing music, and end goals.


Chloe Jai: I know it's not great for me, but because of "Unknown" getting the attention that it is, it's hard not to check numbers like a crazy person. It's something that I'm definitely working on. My end goal is to have a little corner of the internet. The more I post and release, the more I hope to reach 100k listeners, and that's enough for me. I want my little fan base that understands my music. To create more opportunities for myself, I'm literally starting my first corporate job on Monday, and I'm terrified. But the more stability I have, the more money and resources that I can compile into my music, and that's really what it's all about. It's always a balance of work and life. Money has always been a struggle in my life, and learning to balance earning money with creating art is something I'm working to get better at. It's a matter of regrouping myself. Thinking about my 16-year-old self and seeing that I did the thing I said I was going to do, even if it looks a little different, I'm so grateful I was still able to do it. 


Currently in a transition phase, Chloe left me with a message for all the readers, fans, and listeners of her music. 


Chloe Jai: Give some more love to my song “Dream”, it's incredibly production heavy and really takes listeners on a journey. New music is also coming! It will really hone in on a R&B and trip pop mix and I’m so excited to share it with you all. Keep connected on Instagram for shows coming soon!


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