“I think music was the only thing I ever really, actually wanted to do, out of all the things that a kid could want to do when they grow up,” says Chloe Moriondo, who uses they/them pronouns, in a recent phone interview.
Chloe Moriondo performs at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 30, at Mahall’s in Lakewood.
Moriondo’s music doesn’t fit comfortably into a genre and has as many stripped-down acoustic ballads as it does pop-punk anthems. The songs possess Halsey’s angst and sonic diversity and Lorde’s ability to speak to the woes of a generation.
The Detroit native got their start plucking away on the ukulele and guitar in YouTube videos filmed in their childhood bedroom. Now, Moriondo has performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Late Late Show with James Corden under their belt.
“I don’t know how these things keep happening to me,” says Moriondo. “I never thought I’d be able to tell my parents that I was actually gonna be on TV.”
Moriondo also recently played on the same ticket as one of their favorite bands, All Time Low, at the band’s annual emo-kid music fest, Sad Summer Festival.
“It felt like a dream,” says Moriondo of their first ever festival performance. “I still am not sure that it was real.”
It was a full-circle moment. “Favorite Band,” a fan-favorite track on Moriondo’s sophomore album, Blood Bunny, pays tribute to All Time Low and many more of Moriondo’s favorite bands, like Paramore and Pierce the Veil.
The upbeat track tells the story of Moriondo losing interest in someone they are romantically involved with because their music taste isn’t up to par.
“Favorite Band,” like most of Blood Bunny, was composed in a remote writing session. Moriondo’s friend and fellow singer-songwriter, Charli Adams, played a chorus and melody that she had saved just for Moriondo, and the pair quickly finished the song afterward.
“We just kept coming up with different, fun rhymes and stuff to name-drop favorite bands and songs that we really liked,” says Moriondo. “I think a lot of my songs just fall together really, really naturally.”
Moriondo’s tongue-in-cheek track about hating and loving someone at the same time, “Bodybag,” was written in a very similar way.
Moriondo and co-writers Steph Jones and David Pramik started with the line “I don’t know where exactly you expect my head to go,” and the ideas spiraled from there. “Bodybag” joined “I Eat Boys” on the edgier end of the album’s spectrum. Moriondo has a gift for navigating dramatic metaphors and painting eerie imagery, and the album’s co-writers don’t miss a beat when it comes to running with darker themes.
As Moriondo’s views on YouTube grew, so did their professional network. Working alongside other professionals in the music industry has allowed Moriondo to elevate the music that they already loved making on their own.
“I definitely have been getting a lot more comfortable with making music with other people,” says Moriondo. “I think it’s a very special thing that should be encouraged more, with artists.”
Moriondo is itching to get on the road and play for loyal fans, and the jaunt that brings them to Cleveland will be Moriondo’s first headlining tour with a full band. They can’t wait to play their favorite track on Blood Bunny, “Take Your Time,” because it’s the “biggest and most fun.”
“I’m really, really excited for people to hear the album live, and to be able to see people’s faces and hear people singing the songs back to me,” says Moriondo.
Moriondo’s career is taking off faster than they ever dreamed, and they’re just trying to take it all in.
“I honestly just want to make as much music as I can with as many friends and cool people as I can. I want to be able to travel as much as I can, as safely as I can, as soon as I can,” says Moriondo. “I want to be able to play all of the songs that I’ve been coming up with recently too, in person. I just want to be able to do this for the rest of my life.”
Moriondo—who’ll turn 19 the day before the Mahall’s show—is prepared to give everything they have to this career, but they also want to prioritize their mental health and enjoying their youth.
“I have this great team that appreciates and respects the fact that I’m just a kid right now,” says Moriondo. “I still am a teenager who hasn’t experienced all of the teenager things yet. And I appreciate being able to live that life, outside of just doing music.”
