Chloe Collins

Vinyls are neatly on display, classic Hollywood posters are hung up and I can see a piano and guitar propped up through a cracked door; knowing Chloe, this makes perfect sense. Chloe is someone I have been lucky enough to call a dear friend and I was looking forward to be able to spend an evening with her and I'm excited to say, I learned so much talking to her.

Growing up in Manhattan, as a child, Collins was acting, modeling, songwriting from the time she was eight, and recording music in New York City studios by the time she was ten; quite an early and multifaceted start for a young artist. Chloe pensively looked off and then back at me and started reminiscing about her first song, titled "It's Not as Far as You Think". In her words, the song was a pretty existential way for an eight-year old to talk about how her dreams weren't and as far as she thought; the most precious and really amazing first song to notch into her musical belt. 

As a songwriter myself and an avid fan of Chloe Collins as both a friend and musical admirer, I needed to ask what locked Chloe into her dreams of being the kind of artist she is; to my excitement and surprise her instant answer was none other than the Hannah Montana Movie. Now, if you look at old photos of Chloe and listen to her country music, this makes total sense and I was so elated to learn this tidbit and now you get to know it too. Seeing the scene of the movie, she said, with Miley up on stage with her guitar singing her songs, she knew that she wanted to be able to do exactly that. Hannah Montana lit the flame and another spark was spurred when she was in Elementary school and was called to sing a last minute solo. To everyones shock, she was full of talent and she first heard the sweet song of a crowd cheering and fell in love with it.

The pull of country music and its storytelling drew the songwriter to Nashville and after years of traveling back and forth from New York, begging, and several Powerpoints, Chloe convinced her parents to move down to Nashville so she could nose dive into her career. Upon arrival in an almost cosmic way, Collins had her song "Forget Your Name" featured in ABCs hit TV show, 'Nashville'. Since, Chloe has locked in numerous other TV and film placements and has built herself a loyal and loving fanbase.

A lot of Chloe's fanbase she built with TikTok and I was so curious of the trajectory of her TikTok career.  "Well, I did it as an accident" Collin's said. Her Dad actually suggested it to her and she somewhat hesitantly jumped on and gave it a go and little did she know what would come from it. Not only does Chloe post her music, she posts a fantastic amount of videos about her love for criminal minds that are equally as irresistible as her music is.

Chloe's best advice as an avid TikTok user, post that video you have been wanting to post, post your niche interests, and keep going because people will be interested.

The way that TikTok changed Collins' life, she said that getting her music into film and TV has done the same.  She got her first placement when she was 13 on the Vineyard on ABC Family. She remembers being at summer camp and just bursting with excitement and making brownies to celebrate. Since that placement, she has had songs on Nashville, and her most recent one was Love is Blind (Season 3 Episode 4 to be specific so go check it out). 

A budding artists career is filled with so many milestones and ever-moving goal posts and Chloe is always chasing these goal posts; "I tend to not celebrate my wins maybe as much as I should" Chloe remarked. This idea of the inability to celebrate wins and success is something that is so real and honest in any career that Chloe is no stranger to but she pushes through that feeling with a battering ram made of ambition.

When listening to Chloe's songs so far, you may notice that they all follow a similar tone (see Do It For the Plot and That's On You) and I NEEDED to know why (I love it but I am always so intrigued). She said she loves the punchiness and the head turner quality of these songs. Whenever I have gone to see her play, the audience is full of dropped jaws and two unphased proud and smiling individuals in the audience who happen to be her parents.

But despite her feeling this gravitational pull to these lyrical head turners, Collins' revealed that she has been sitting on some more introspective songs that she wants to release into the world soon. One of them, titled "Twenty Nothing", delving into the struggle of existing as a twenty something year old.

Creative people are creative people so I always have to ask what else people may be up to in their creative sphere and Chloe did not miss. Chloe is writing a novel! Like, okay! I poked and pestered a bit and it is a thriller. That's all I got but the prospect of a Chloe Collins book excites me and it should excite you too (unsure if we will ever get to read it, maybe under an alias? We shall see). On top of writing novels and music day and night, Chloe loves stick figures, she just can't quit stick figures, she can't stop drawing them. 

I love to ask the question of what path someone might have traveled down in a parallel universe or something of the sort. I always find it fascinating to see what people say, especially people with this idea of what they've wanted to do from such a young age so naturally I asked Chloe.  

Acting would be a close second for her, especially since she had done it before; or maybe being a travel writer. "But then" she giggled and remarked that she indeed has a plan C in the back of her mind which is pretty much "what if I just moved to Paris and worked at a bakery?'"

So basically, if Chloe Collins couldn't sing pr play guitar to save her life, I could find her at a bakery in Paris.

I wanted to close the interview talking about personal pride, I've noticed that really wonderful, worthy, deserving, and talented people don't take the time to acknowledge the fact that they are in fact doing enough and more. So, I asked Chloe about some of her proudest moments. She said that playing the iconic Listening Room Cafe in Nashville was a really big bucket-list moment where she felt like she was really moving. Her sync landings are always a source of excitement (12 placements give or take?!). 

Truly an incredible accomplishment and there is most definitely more to come.