Meet Chloe Slater, the Gen Z guitar hero who wants her music to unite the world

When Chloe Slater was growing up by the sea as a teenager, the music of bands like Wolf Alice and Arctic Monkeys would fill the tiny confines of her bedroom and, in turn, inspire the direction of her future.

Slater, still a whippersnapper in her early twenties, delivers songs that are filled with arena-primed riffs that call to mind those two aforementioned bands. But they are defined by her own discoveries too, whether that’s exploring the dark side of TikTok on the caustic ‘Tiny Screens’, or the importance of following your own path on the defiant ‘Fig Tree’.

“I’ll choose a life that is mine,” comes Slater’s repeated chant on that latter tune. In following that mantra herself, she’s forged a path to becoming one of the most exciting young voices in new music.

You can read our whole Q&A with Chloe Slater below.

We’re speaking weeks before you release Love Me Please. What’s the overarching message of your latest EP?

The title is taken from the lyrics of my song ‘Tiny Screens’ and I think all of the songs, whether they’re about me or the situations of others, explore the universal idea that everybody in the world just wants to exist and feel loved. I think it’s my plea for that because a lot of people on the internet don’t agree with my opinions. I don’t think my opinions are that controversial. I think they’re really just that everyone deserves to exist the way that they want to and it’s pretty straightforward, right?

You’re originally from Bournemouth but now live in Manchester. How does that fit into your story so far?

I moved to Manchester when I was 18 for uni and I did a music degree which I dropped out of. But from the age of 16, I felt like I was ready to move out from home. All I wanted to do was move out and be independent and live my own life in a place where things were happening. Even if I didn’t do my degree, I got to meet loads of other musicians and I met my best friends and my band members. I love being independent.

‘Tiny Screens’ is an interesting song because it’s mildly critical of TikTok, but that’s obviously a platform where you’ve developed a fanbase. How did you manage to navigate that conflict between the two?

It has helped me grow, but I think the song hones in on the idea of people that blow up on TikTok for a week and everyone loves them. And then a week later, everyone’s trying to tear them down from the top. I don’t know if you’re aware of the TikTok creator Beavo, but he was one of the inspirations for this song. I think the internet is a really fickle place for things like that and how the public’s opinion of you is solely based on the internet which is scary. But it’s also partially about me and how I’ve done well on TikTok, but also my fear of becoming irrelevant or the same sort of thing happening to me.

It’s a very striking song too, there’s a lot of industrial rock guitar in there at the start.

Well when I was writing that, I was listening to a lot of Bloc Party and I feel like that’s especially inspired a lot of the drums on the EP, because I really like that almost indie disco kind of feel. I love Arctic Monkeys too and I sort of started leaning into the heavier guitars of the indie sleaze era.

Has that era of music always informed you?

For sure. I often say what I would be give to have been an age where I could have fully experienced it. I was alive, but I was 5! The dream of being part of that, like, Alexa Chung and Alex Turner era.

There’s ‘Fig Tree’ too which explores the importance of following your own path. Why did you choose to focus on that idea?

It’s following your own path, but it’s also about how society can try and stop you from doing that, I guess, especially as a woman. We’re taught to live by so many patriarchal beauty standards and to never show any signs of ageing, but I think it’s more important for women to focus on the path they actually want to take in life, which is hard.

You mentioned earlier about clashing with people on the internet. How important is it for you to fight for what you believe in?

I’ve got a new song that explores that idea, because certainly on politics I’d get a lot of older people saying oh wait till you’re older and you’ve got a mortgage and then you’ll change your mind and you’ll become more right wing.

The song’s about never wanting to do that and hoping that I can sort of vote with the interests of other people rather than just my own. I’ve experienced people assuming that my opinions aren’t well informed because I’m a woman or because I’m young or because I haven’t experienced certain things in life.

But I don’t think you necessarily have to experience everything to be able to empathise or sympathise with it.

And finally, what’s a Chloe Slater live show looking like?

It’s very loud and there’s a lot of me jumping around and being a bit hectic, and then inbetween songs, there’s awkward rambling over the microphone.

It’s good vibes, you know, I like having a chat with people in the crowd and I think my shows are a fun but also cozy place to be.