Chlöe Bailey put her critics in their place after some social media users criticized her recent cover of Minnie Riperton’s classic “Lovin’ You.”
The “Have Mercy” singer posted a video of herself singing the iconic song on Instagram on Monday. While many people celebrated Bailey’s impressive high notes, the singer received comments from some detractors who said her cover had too much “sex appeal.”
Bailey flipped the criticism into a compliment about her voice.
“I like how you can’t criticize my singing or who I am as an artist, so people find something else to find,” she tweeted on Monday. “That’s a compliment.”
Bailey often speaks out about the importance of embracing her sexuality and dealing with scrutiny from people online.
She discussed the double standards women face for embracing their sexuality during an interview with In The Know published earlier this month.
“When I hear the word ‘sexy,’ when I want to be sexy, when I want to feel sexy, I don’t really think of that as a bad thing. I don’t think of it as being promiscuous,” she said. “That’s just being confident. A man can sit up there with his shirt off, ripped, and, like, flex his pecs and all that shit. That’s sexy. But he doesn’t get ridiculed for doing that.”
She later added, “We can love ourselves as much as we want to love someone else. In most relationships, you express love through sex. Why can’t you do that with yourself and love yourself? Why can’t you be sexy for yourself?”
Bailey, who released her debut solo single, “Have Mercy,” in September, is currently finalizing her debut solo album. She has made music as a duo with her sister, Halle Bailey, for years.