Bailey said she wants to “add some of Lena into my daily life” and drew inspiration from iconic Blaxploitation characters like Pam Grier’s Foxy Brown, and her mentor Beyoncé’s Foxxy Cleopatra. She told HelloBeautiful she’s leaning into her dualities as a confident, eccentric woman who loves “science, technology, and engineering,” and offered pushback to critics who say her sexiness is “contrived.”
“But the fact of the matter is, that women, we are multifaceted. We have so many layers. Yes, I’m so quirky and weird and corny, but then there’s moments where I feel absolutely sexy and confident. Those moments are when I’m on the stage or when I’m with someone that I love. Not everyone’s going to get to see that side of me because that’s for my personal life, but both sides can equally exist,” she said.

“And what I’m really loving right now, I’m really loving Megan Thee Stallion, how she shares her love for the Japanese culture … and being a sexy black girl who loves anime. I love – with even Doja. She’s sexy with curves and stuff, but she equally rocks her kitten heels … It’s like, yes, we can be sexy on stage, but we also have those cute little quirks that make us who we are. Who says, we just have to be one thing? None of us are just one thing. So when people try to get those viral tweets by saying, ‘Chloe’s sex appeal is contrived because she’s this sweet, nerdy girl,’ why can’t I be both? And it just kind of makes me giggle to myself because I’m like, you have no idea because you don’t know who I am as a person.“

A-Town Down

Kendrick Lamar’s last verse in his colossal hit, Not Like Us, reminded the world, “Atlanta was the mecca, building railroads and trains.” Lamar used his lyrical ability to weave in historical elements about how Black slave labor was used to generate wealth and industrial power, specifically during the 19th century in Atlanta. Fight Night picks up the torch from Lamar’s verse to show the city’s modern trajectory as a mecca of Black entrepreneurs, political power, and entertainment. Hart, who stars in the lead role of Chicken Man, envisions transforming Atlanta into a Black Vegas — and uses street savviness to see it through.

Bailey, an A-Town native, told HelloBeautiful that she undoubtedly resonated with the city’s placement as a central character in the series. “Being able to go back in time, per se, in my hometown where I was born and raised, and seeing how so much life and culture came from there,” Bailey said. “And because I’m from there, I’ve always known that, but I think people who don’t live in Atlanta or aren’t too familiar, they don’t realize how much of our black culture comes out of there. So it was really cool being able to tell a story that’s based off of something that really happened.”

Bailey recently honored another hometown hero, Usher, at the 2024 BET Awards, where the music icon received the Lifetime Achievement Award, celebrating over three decades in entertainment. The tribute included mostly women (Tinashe, Coco Jones, Marsha Ambrosius, Latto, Teyana Taylor, and Victoria Monét took the stage), and for days following the award show, hot takes circulated on social media critiquing the performances. Society’s venom for Black women and misogynoir became the focal topic of conversation, instead of the night’s honoree.

“I am just incredibly grateful that I got to be a part of honoring a living legend right now and knowing that he’s from Atlanta, my hometown, I just hope that I did it justice during his tribute. And there was so much love and care that went into it, and I’m so proud of everyone who was a part of it because they really gave it their all for him, truly,” Bailey said. “And you can never please everybody. Some people will love it, some people won’t. But knowing that he shared that he loved it, that’s all that matters to me.”

Chloe Bailey Hair Tales

While the origins of Atlanta’s transformation played a large part in the series, the Fight Night cast also physically transformed to shape their characters. Bailey said she enjoyed going back in time over 50 years to make Lena come to life, adding that her stylist Mona, covered her famous locs with “two to three” wig caps to accommodate her layered wig.

“She would cut the edge of the wig cap sometimes because my head would be getting squeezed too tight, and she just always made sure that it didn’t look like a costume wig,” she said. “And it never distracted you from seeing Lena because sometimes that happens if you don’t have someone who truly cares for how you look on screen in your hair, you could end up looking a mess. But I just loved how much she paid attention and put so much love into my hair, and it really made me feel like Lena, for sure.”

Bailey and her sister Halle are instrumental in shifting visibility around Black women who wear their hair in locs. Throughout their careers, their hair expression became bolder, experimenting with different styles like wigs, extensions, and colors, all while unraveling preconceived notions around the protective style. Hair is a large part of a Black woman’s journey, and there is cause to celebrate the intimateness of expression through hair.

“I remember there’d be so many women a couple years ago, they’d come up to us like, ‘Oh my gosh, y’all make me want to loc my hair so bad, but I won’t be able to wear wigs or do as many fun hairstyles,” Bailey said. “And it’s like, you can do both. You can do whatever you’d like with your hair. So I’m happy that we’re kind of breaking that mold, and when I go online and I see beautiful women with locs with these wigs or wrapping their hair, it makes me happy to know that sis and I had a part to play in knocking away that misconception.”

Revelations

2024 has been a year of monumental change for Bailey and her family. Late last year, Halle and her partner DGG welcomed the newest member of their tribe, Halo. Bailey said she’s “proud” of how her sister has embraced motherhood and revels in spending auntie time with her nephew, but she also said she’s in no rush to start a family.

“Sometimes we get pressured by society. I just turned 26 and sometimes they’re like, ‘You have to settle down and have kids and do that.’ But I’m like, I can have a little bit more time because I have the best nephew in the world, and it’s like I get best of both worlds,” she said.

While she hasn’t experienced motherhood, Bailey burst with pride when she talked about the labor she put into her new album, Trouble in Paradise. Bailey said the project was recorded and mastered in St. Lucia and she found solace, acceptance, and creativity in the Eastern Caribbean country.

“I can walk around with no makeup, I can walk around loving my body, I can go to the ocean, truly just pray to God and thank him for the blessings that I have. And it reminds me that life isn’t all about what my career is. It’s not about outer validation, but the inner peace,” she said. “I just really wanted people to feel the peace and the love that this place has brought me, where it was able to open up my creative mind and my creative spirit to literally write my troubles away in paradise. And the album feels like what a summer fling feels like, the back and forth of it, the highs, the lows, the love.”

Bailey, who recently celebrated a birthday, told HelloBeautiful that she wants to continue claiming her totality – basking in the light.

“So this year I want to be more at peace and more disciplined with my emotions,” Bailey said. “That’s my goal for this year, and it’s already been off to a great start where I’m learning so much about myself, where I’m learning the power of not revealing everything all the time, keeping some things to myself. Not everybody deserves access to your thoughts, your dreams, your aspirations, your inner thoughts, or even your emotions.”

Fight Night airs on Peacock September 5, 2024