Ryan Coogler's latest film, Sinners, has been one of the biggest success stories of the year. After a modest opening, word-of-mouth turned it into a hit, becoming a big deal at the box office and receiving near-unanimous acclaim. A big part of the acclaim Sinners received was for its musical moments, and its reverence for the blues is a feature of the film. On a recent TikTok livestream, Chloe Bailey discussed the film and she likened it to what she's gone through in the music industry.
"Can I be honest? After Sinners, I cried," Bailey opened. "It just reminds you so much of the industry, right? And it's like, you can have a gift like he [Sammie] did with his guitar [...] in order to be successful, the vampires were telling him to sell out so that he could live forever and his music could live forever."
"And it's exactly like things that I see and go through every day, and that's why I broke down crying," she continued. "Because it was showing the people who decided not to go to the other side, they were in there fighting for their lives, going through it, while the people who did give in were outside celebrating and getting things quicker."
"No matter how hard you work, how good of a person you are, no matter how talented you are, sometimes that's not enough to get you places that you need to be."
Chloe Bailey New Album
Of course, there were a variety of reactions to Chloe Bailey's comments. Many of them supported her, as the ruthlessness of the entertainment industry is well-documented. "They want you to humiliate yourself before they put you in the spotlight. She’s spot on. I’m glad she’s choosing to just be," said one user. "If talent was enough it would be more talented ppl who are famous," said another.
Others compared Bailey's words to what Nicki Minaj has previously discussed. "So once again, Nicki Minaj is right," said one user. "She’s saying it in the sweetest way possible but Nicki been saying this," wrote another.
Hopefully, Chloe Bailey feels comfortable with discussing her experiences in the music industry one day. As several commenters wrote, it seemed like she took the diplomatic approach, but she certainly has stories to tell.
