CHLOE STAR KICKS OFF MONTHLY MUSIC RELEASE WITH NEW SINGLE

With a sound that blends alternative rock, pop and punk, Chloe Star has built a reputation for brutally honest songwriting. Drawing on her heritage and her own experiences with love, identity and healing, she creates music that feels deeply personal and resonates with a growing audience around the world. Following the release of her new single ‚Games‘ on July 31st, we spoke with Chloe about what the song means to her, her creative process and what’s next.

„I wrote Games in New York and I worked with this amazing producer named Alan Markley. We recorded the song with a full band live“ she recalled, describing the experience as awesome. She went on to call the track playful, goofy and „very badass“, explaining that it’s about telling someone, or a whole group of people, that she’s down for the chaos, good at games and unafraid of bad decisions. „So, watch me make a bad decision and come along with me“ she said. Star named the song as one of her musical favorites, saying „I love this song“. Compared with earlier releases like her 2023 debut single ‚Element‘, her sound has clearly evolved over the past years, allowing her to create music that feels more authentic to who she is now. She says the track reflects exactly where she is creatively today: „I think I'm constantly evolving and growing when it comes to the creative process or just like artistically…I a hundred percent identify with that song and where it's at with where I'm at now“.

While her new single reflects where Star is creatively today, her perspective has been shaped by her teenage years and the experiences that came with them. Growing up between different cultures and environments has had a lasting influence on both her identity and her songwriting. She speaks openly about being Persian and Native American and about growing up between Los Angeles and her family’s reservation in San Bernardino, which exposed her to two very different worlds from a young age. Those roots also shaped her music. „My mom's side of the family, we're Native American. And I was raised with the idea that music is sacred, music is healing“ Star explains. „We have many traditional songs and music is like medicine…You use music for storytelling and with those ideas, I feel like, I use music to storytell and use it as medicine and as a healing tool“. She says she’s grateful to have been raised with that mindset and that she still uses music to calm herself and regulate her nervous system to this day. Those early lessons in music and healing also carried into the way she turned to writing and journaling as a teenager. Long before she began releasing music, poetry and journaling helped her make sense of her emotions and experiences in her teenage years. „I started writing, like journaling, when I was younger and that was the way that I could process emotions. I didn't really know what to do with them. I didn't know where to put them“ she says. „I didn't know how to tell someone I feel sad, so I was journaling a lot and then I realized that I can turn those journal topics into songs and lyrics and I still do that today. Writing is very healing“. She adds that even when she’s not intentionally writing a song, just playing guitar and mumbling along, it still feels like a healing process for her.

As her passion for music grew, Star began teaching herself instruments that would eventually become central to her songwriting. She has learned to play piano and guitar while independently developing her own sound. When speaking about the advantages and challenges of doing so, Star jokingly said „Sometimes understanding a YouTube video can be very difficult“. She says patience is often her biggest challenge when she gets frustrated learning something before she admits that even to this day, she still watches YouTube videos and finds herself asking „How do I play this?“. But she adds that there is always a point when it eventually clicks. When performing live, Star sings with a full band, though she mentioned that the past couple of shows she has been playing guitar on stage as well, which she described as really fun. Over the past three years, the alternative pop singer has steadily built her career by growing an audience on social media. Many listeners are drawn to her because of her honest songwriting, as she often writes directly from her own life. When asked whether she ever feels nervous about sharing personal topics, Star said „Yes and no. I think I've shared a lot and I've been very open“ adding „My hope is that people can relate and feel less alone and know that someone else has gone through something similar“. She says releasing music about personal experiences does not feel as nerve-wracking anymore because she hopes it will help someone who has been through the same thing. Her lyrics often explore heartbreak, mental health struggles, her upbringing and her queer identity. She says she always makes sure that she is ready to speak about a topic before releasing a song and sharing that experience with listeners.

That openness is a defining part of Star’s music but for her it’s not just about telling her own story. She hopes her songs resonate with listeners and because she draws inspiration directly from her own experiences, fans can connect with her lyrics in a way that makes the songs feel more like diary entries rather than fictional narratives. When asked what she hopes people feel when they listen to her music or see her live, she said „I hope that they feel understood. I hope that they feel seen, heard, less alone. I hope that they feel like they can be their most authentic self. If they're not already, or even just a little bit more“. For anyone discovering her music for the first time, that raises another question: where should they begin? „I feel like ‚TNT‘ or ‚Emergency Contact‘ are like the two get-to-know-me songs. Once you listen to the songs, you're like, oh, I know who this girl is now“ she said. Both songs are rooted in past relationships, but they come from very different emotional places. While her 2025 song ‚TNT‘ is about feeling completely free and unapologetically yourself, her 2026 song ‚Emergency Contact‘ explores the end of a one-sided relationship.

While her discography already reveals a lot about her personal life, we were also curious about the person behind the music. Behind the scenes, Star describes herself as a nerd and a dork. She says she loves watching NASA and nature documentaries and spending time in bed with her dogs, three of them, whom she says she’s obsessed with and loves very much. She also enjoys painting, playing video games and being creative in different ways. „I can be a little dorky at times when I'm not making music, when I'm just home“ she says. Family is another big part of her life. Star explains „Family is very, very big in my life. I'm very close to my mom and my sister. And they are like two pillars in my life“. She says her mum loves to travel and often joins her on tour, helping out with merchandise. „That's been like a huge plus for a lot of my shows. Not all of them, but a lot of my shows. She's definitely come and been my merch lady and has sold my merch. And I love when she comes. Like it's the best thing ever“ she says. Looking back on the journey that brought her here, Star says that if she could speak to her younger self, she would tell her: „Everything's going to be okay. Put your seatbelt on because you're about to go on the craziest ride ever. And, you know, don't stop. Like, just keep going and stay alive“.

Star is already looking ahead to the next chapter, with plenty planned for the rest of the year. She says she’ll be dropping a new song at the end of every month through December, beginning with ‚Games‘ on July 31st. She also hopes to return to touring soon, revealing that she is working on an East Coast tour for later this year and hoping to return to the UK and Europe as well. „I'm really excited about all of that. Just this music. I want to get it out, put it all out“ she says. With a new single arriving at the end of every month for the rest of the year, Star is stepping into a busy and exciting new chapter. If ‚Games‘ is any indication of what’s to come, listeners can expect a run of songs that remain deeply personal and unmistakably Chloe Star.

Nadine Goetz