She is not okay.
This week, singer Chloe Bailey of the duo, Chloe x Halle, tearfully spoke on Instagram about the backlash she has been facing for doing the Buss It Challenge. For those who do not know, the Buss It Challenge originated from the song “Buss It” by Erica Banks. Like a lot of songs today, it went viral on TikTok as everyone and their momma was doing a little dance to it. Media outlets describe the “challenge” as such:
The challenge involves participants recording two videos: one where they are in regular clothes (usually sweatpants) and another where they are dressed up. Participants start by dancing along to a sample of Nelly’s “Hot In Herre” in regular clothes. After the song says, “I think my butt gettin' big,” participants drop down low, which signals a transition to a different cut of them dolled up and twerking to Erica Banks’ “Buss It.”
Complex writes that this challenge was created by a woman named Erika Davila on the platform. She posted her video on the first of this year with the caption: “Please tag me. And if this has been done I’m sorry, I just fux wit the song.” Complex goes on to say that Davila “urge[d] followers to create videos of their own, writing, ‘Someone plz do this transition but all prettied up omg plzzzz.’” Davila later made another video with the transition she was begging people to add, and thus the rest was history (but apparently only through the efforts of black women) as this challenge took over TikTok.
Fast forward to the 21st or so of January and Chloe launches her own Instagram page, posting a video of herself doing the Buss It Challenge. While many praised Chloe for “breaking the internet” and complimented her body, things took a predictable turn for the worse fast.
Chloe doing the Buss It Challenge
Many decried that she was sexualizing herself as she later also posted a video to her Instagram of herself saging her room in her underwear and a T-shirt.
Chloe saging her room was apparently too hot for some people to handle, so they decided to attack her for it. Likewise, a little while after linking the YouTube upload of this video, it became age restricted, indicating that either the uploader and/or YouTube thought the content was too sexual.
As I’m sure everyone knows, women, especially black women, can’t do shit without onlookers hypersexualizing what we’re doing, even if what we are doing is meant to be sexy like the Buss It Challenge. You can look at the comment sections where these videos of Chloe are posted and now of course see support after she broke down on Instagram over the initial backlash, but thousands of people were both thirsting and chastising Chloe beforehand. Teen Vogue wrote a very poignant article on how black women like Chloe are particularly trapped in the confines of sexism and anti-black racism, never being allowed to be their authentic selves without being boxed in by society.
So, since I was already going to write on Chloe and Halle, namely doing a personality reading which will explain the cards I used below, I decided to see how Chloe is currently feeling. I pulled these cards on the 2nd and 3rd of February.
How is Chloe currently feeling? (Chloe x the Backlash)
Child: Divine (reverse) Shadow Attribute: An inability to defend oneself against negative forces. Advocate (reverse) Shadow Attribute: Embracing negative causes or committing to causes for personal gains. Addict (reverse) Shadow Attribute: Compromises integrity and honesty. Allows an addictive pattern to have authority over your inner spirit. Detective (reverse) Shadow Attribute: Voyeurism. Falsifying information. Student (reverse) Shadow Attribute: Arrogance in the destructive pursuit of knowledge. Unwillingness to translate knowledge into action. Trickster (reverse; bottom of the deck) Shadow Attribute: Manipulating others through duplicity.
So, yeah…these may not have been the best cards to use but I wanted to get some mileage out of them. In either case, upon deeper reflection these cards actually give an interesting insight into Chloe’s psyche.
In her video where she is crying over the backlash, Chloe stated that she finally felt comfortable in her own skin, so she was probably reading her comment sections and looking at the overall response she was getting from doing the Bust It Challenge because who wouldn’t? This explains the Detective and Student cards. However, when the response started to turn negative, she likely couldn’t stop reading people’s comments. She possibly went down a rabbit hole of hate, shaming, and sexism that she couldn’t get out of until she finally broke emotionally (Addict card).
[...] And I don't post what I post for validation from anybody, or even male attention. It's just me. And a lot of people who know, who's on my private Instagram, they see that's how I find my confidence because it has taken me a lot to appreciate myself and my body. There's been so many times when I felt I wasn't pretty enough, where I have a lot of issues with my weight, so it's a pivotal time for me. I'm just now learning at like 22, almost 23, that it's okay to be all that you are and to stand in that power.
Although she has been in the starlight since she was very young, she has only been in the limelight recently, so this backlash was likely too difficult to handle emotionally, especially since she is a Cancer Sun, Virgo rising. Chloe is likely always her first and harshest critic. Therefore, to suddenly have millions of people also become her critics, it was overwhelming (Child: Divine; Advocate).
Chloe is a Cancer Sun, Libra Moon, and Virgo rising. Her birth time is unknown, however, so I set her Ascendant to 15°.
She thought she was just sharing a part of herself to the world, but what she thinks people saw was a trickster, someone who was perhaps what most people tend to think of female stars: innocent at first but then turns into a no respecting slut/whore as they get older in order to sell records.
I continued to pull more cards, four sets in total. Here is what I got from my astrology cards.
Jupiter in Aquarius: Innovation (reverse) Mercury in Sagittarius: Discovery Mercury in Gemini: Excitement (reverse) Mercury in Capricorn: Organization Mercury in Aquarius: Originality Mercury in Pisces: Inspiration Venus in Sagittarius: Filtration (bottom of the deck)
Chloe is very much in her head right now. She is learning what it means to be a black woman in the public eye. And she does not like it. She does not like how black womanhood is defined and how people strip us of our agency. How we cannot be seen as autonomous individuals with various sides to ourselves but only as sexual spectacles that others can indulge in and also criticize and condemn at the same time. She wants to speak out against this—and she has to an extent.
In her mind, she has accomplished so much in her career already and at such a young age (22) too. She did not get to the top to be violently pulled down by people who would rather see her as this caricature that she is not. She is multifaceted and doing a TikTok challenge shouldn’t cloud people’s perception of her.
But because of this event, her eyes have been opened up. She now understands her place in the world and how her ideas do not always neatly translate to the masses in the way that she envisions. Now she realizes that from inception to presentation, she does not always have control over what happens to her creations once she puts them out there for the world.
Personally, I think she will be okay (later cards say otherwise) but for right now she’s trying to ground herself and disconnect from all of this negative attention. She may have to cleanse her energy and recenter. Maybe mediating or working on some music may help her out.
With Venus in Sagittarius at the bottom of the deck, I think her sister Halle is sending her love and good energy from overseas.
29: Feast – Slow down and celebrate yourself 18: Tree – Let them go 12: Expectations – Don’t seek anyone’s approval 34: Voyage – You already have all of the answers 13: Lioness – You’ve earned all your stripes 33: Nostalgia – Focus on the here and now
Although I asked the same question, “How is Chloe currently feeling?”, it seems as though this is more advice than anything. In either case, these cards always tend to be rather self-explanatory. Chloe needs to take a giant step back. She is too much in her head and feelings, both of which are understandable. However, she needs to realize that she needs to let this negative energy go, something we saw echoed in the first pile. She has indeed earned all of her stripes. Therefore, she doesn’t need to seek anyone’s approval. She is who she is, and she did what she did. So what?
She cannot change the past. She did the challenge and some people got upset because now she’s “too sexy” all of a sudden. But even as she pointed on in that live, she has shown her body in sexual ways while performing on stage. So, what is the issue now? She needs to keep that type of energy. An energy that says “So what? I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again.” Chloe needs to learn how to seek her own approval and stop letting other people’s expectations of her shake her identity so much.
But right now, she is looking for answers on what she could have done differently. While doing this reading and even now typing it all out an additional day later, Kelela’s “Rewind” keeps playing in my head–particularly the chorus–and I haven’t listened to that song in a hot minute—I’m sure of it! So, to me this represents that Chloe feels like she can’t rewind the clock, but she wishes she could. She wishes she could have gotten guidance on what she should post and what she shouldn’t to avoid blowbacks like this.
And I can’t rewind, baby
The chorus of “Rewind”
I’ll search anywhere for you
And I can’t rewind, baby
Don’t blink when I’m watching you
And I can’t rewind
However, she already knows that unfortunately it doesn’t matter if she has an agent or someone to coach her on how she should navigate social media because these things just happen. They just do because we live in an imperialist white supremacist capitalist (hetero)patriarchy to quote Miss bell hooks. Therefore, Chloe will always be scrutinized for her body because she is Othered by blackness and womanness. If she acts sexy, that is seen as deviant. If she acts “innocent,” that is questionable because “innocence” is preserved for white woman and girlhood and no one else. Likewise, people may start to call her “prude” because she is in her 20s and choosing not to flaunt her body. Sexism is this double-edged sword for women because regardless of what we do or do not, we are always punished under patriarchy. And that’s the whole point. And Chloe is getting her first Negro Wakeup Call, if you would, right now, unfortunately.
Sidenote: All the mermaid imagery in these cards feel like Halle to me, who is overseas in the UK filming Disney’s live action The Little Mermaid. The Voyage card in particular stood out to me because I view the woman looking worriedly at the map to be Chloe, wondering where her place in the world is. And the mermaid in the background feels like Halle, and she is telling Chloe that the ocean is her oyster, so she should continue to put herself out there and have some fun. I feel like because of this mermaid symbolism that these sisters are very close spiritually, and even though they are currently apart, their hearts are connected.
Finally, we reach the spirit guide cards.
41: Bravado – Warrior Guides 31: Physical Body – Gaia 51: Leadership – Holy Spirit 6: Gifts – Joy Guides 19: Survival – Healer Guides 49: Compromise – Master Teacher 35: Shame – Divine Healers (bottom of the deck)
So, I feel like these cards can be read as both how Chloe is feeling and advice for her. Like all of the previous spreads, Chloe is really feeling the heat of the backlash she is facing. But interestingly, this spread shows that she may want to fight back against it. There is a sense here that she may want to stand up for herself, which she did in her own way by even addressing the situation. The little guidebook that comes with these cards has the quote, “You can’t control me!” And indeed, this is likely how Chloe feels deep down. However, I am also getting the sense that Chloe is realizing what it truly means to be in the limelight, and this time alone. She is hyperaware of her body right now, and she is feeling ashamed of it, unfortunately. This is very sad because as she said, it took her such a long time to love herself and her body. She feels like the person in the Survival card, alone on a boat in shark invested waters.
But interestingly this card speaks of not acknowledging one’s pain and not trusting oneself. Since this card has watery imagery, I feel like Halle is once again sending her sister love, telling her that she’s not truly alone because she’s out there and has her back. With the Gifts card, Chloe needs to open her heart again and see how even though she does have dedicated haters, she also has a lot of people in her corner as well. She may need to realize that all of these people hating on her are not really hating her necessarily, but rather they are attacking an idea they do not like. It is not about her, but what they think she represents. Once Chloe understands that this is where this energy is coming from, she can better let go on this negativity and move on with her life. But this is easier said than done, and she will likely need some sort of professional help, especially considering the cards I got for the following question.
Will Chloe be able to overcome this situation? (Chloe x Recovery?)
The next question I asked was, “Will [Chloe] ultimately bounce back from this incident and be okay emotionally?” For that I got “Unlikely” and “No” but curiously “Yes” was at the bottom of the deck. At the top of the deck was “No!”
To me this signifies that Chloe will not be able to move pass this easily, not at all. For a long while this will affect her. However, down the line I believe she will be able to overcome it. But currently and moving forward, no.
Next, I asked, “Is there a reason that all of this happened besides misogynoir (anti-black misogyny)?” Basically, I was asking if there was some “divine reason” this happened to Chloe or was this just misogynoir at work as usual. For that I got “No!” but “Yes” was at the bottom of the deck again. At the top of the deck was “No” and under “Yes” was “Yes!”
So, to me this reads as that Chloe wasn’t singled out for any particular reason. It was just misogynoir at work, but it didn’t help that she was a public figure. In other words, this blew up because she and her sister have been blowing up as celebrities is all. None of this was set in motion by beings or mechanisms beyond our control or comprehension.
So, with Chloe out of the way I of course asked what Halle thinks about all of this.
How does Halle feel about this? (Halle x the Backlash)
I used all of the same cards, so starting with the archetype cards I got:
Child: Orphan Light Attribute: Independence based on learning to go it alone. Conquering fear of surviving. Damsel (reverse) Shadow Attribute: Waiting for a knight to provide for you. Seduction by romantic illusion. Artist (reverse) Shadow Attribute: Using talent as an excuse to mistreat others. Posing as the Starving Artist to elicit pity. Companion (reverse) Shadow Attribute: Betrayal by misusing confidences. Loss of personal identity. Messiah Light Attribute: Serving humanity with humility. Saboteur (bottom of the deck) Light Attribute: Highlights your fear of self-empowerment and the changes it would bring to your life.
I feel like before moving forward that I should mention that Halle is an Aries Sun, Gemini rising. I think I remember fans were making fun of one of the sisters because one of them basically said that they were willing to throw hands if need be while the other was meeker about it. I think it actually Chloe ironically but I’m not sure. In either case, Halle sort of feels like the two have barley been away from each other and something bad has already happened. I initially thought that Halle maybe blames herself in some way for this all occurring but now I am thinking that perhaps Halle is realizing what it means to be independent. That things like this will occur and there’s not much she could have done to prevent it anyway. They aren’t little kids anymore and they cannot always be by each other’s sides when things get tough like this.
Halle is an Aries Sun, Capricorn Moon, and Gemini rising. Like her sister, however, her exact birth time is unknown.
Nevertheless, Halle wishes she could physically be there for her sister. I wonder if they are psychically linked. This is a real phenomenon (my mom seems to have this gift) where another person can literally feel whatever another person is feeling as they are going through their emotions in real time. Apparently, this can be one sided and I wonder if that is the case for these sisters or if it is mutual. Regardless, I feel like Halle can literally feel what Chloe feels and this may be interfering with her work a bit as we get the Artist card in reverse. But even if they are not psychically linked, this would have happened anyway; it is only normal. The Rescuer card was card behind Saboteur at the bottom of the deck, further solidifying that Halle wishes she could just come back home and be by her sister’s side.
Next, we move on to astrology!
Moon in Libra: Companionship (reverse) Jupiter in Gemini: Bluff (reverse) Venus in Scorpio: Secrets (reverse) Jupiter in Taurus: Status (reverse) Saturn in Cancer: Charity (reverse) Saturn in Gemini: Concentration (reverse) Jupiter in Aries: Enterprise (reverse)
When I pulled cards for Chloe, I checked the deck and about half of it was reversed and this clearly didn’t change when I pulled for Halle. Anyway, Halle may actually not know how to feel currently. She is on set filming The Little Mermaid, so she has to concentrate on her work, but she is of course worried about how her sister is doing. Disney is a giant conglomerate and I’m sure working with them is a huge deal within the entertainment industry. Halle also has the added weight of being Ariel, which white Disney fans and non-fans alike have told us is white. So, Halle unfortunately has the potential to face another backlash from this coming for her as well. Therefore, while she is thinking about her sister and this job, she has to keep a good face, she has to “bluff” as the Jupiter in Gemini card says. She is not doing well—why would she be?—but she has to pretend that she is so she can do a good job on set.
She cannot say what she is truly feeling nor can she really hop on social media and tell everyone to fuck off and leave her sister alone. I was watching a video earlier and they said that Halle is actually contractually forbidden from doing things like this while Chloe gets a pass for some reason. I don’t know if it is because Halle is younger or what, but I do get this energy that Halle wants to speak out too but can’t or is rather wavering with it. She now has to think about her own status as well. What will happen to her if she is outspoken?
I think the Saturn in Taurus card can also represent her questioning if fame is worth all of this hassle. Or she can be realizing that even with money and stardom, you are not protected from people reacting the way that they do to you, even if you aren’t doing anything “bad.” At the end of the day, you only have your family to rely on but sometimes not even then because you cannot always be physically there with them.
38: Grey – Endings are inevitable 1: Princess – You can be your own knight 10: Red – Forgive 16: Bitch-fire – Stand up for yourself 9: Phoenix – How’s that for happily ever after? 22: Library – Take control of you own narrative 2: Evil Queen – You desire sugar, not salt (bottom of the deck)
Once again, these cards stay direct lol. Halle wants Chloe to stand up for herself and tell the public off. She wants Chloe to continue to assert herself and be her most authentic self when she is online. At the same time, however, Halle wants Chloe to forgive herself and move on. She thinks Chloe is a lot stronger than this current situation and she knows that this backlash will die down eventually. Therefore, Chloe should say her piece and keep it pushing because these haters are not worth her time or tears. Chloe is control of her own narrative, not these people.
Side note: While reading on Halle, their song “Do It” kept playing in my head, perhaps signifying that either Halle wants Chloe to stand up for herself or Halle wants to say something on the situation but is holding back.
Ooh, ooh
The chorus of “Do It”
That’s just what I do, do, do
And that’s just how we do it, do it, do it
Yeah, that’s just how we do it, do it, do it
You liking what I do
Do you?
Know how to keep it cool, ooh, ooh
And that’s just how we do it
Yeah, that’s just how we do it
And you could do it too, ooh, ooh, ooh
31: Deprivation – Prosperity Guides 8: Discontent – Muses 1: Unconditional Love – Divine Mother 48: New Life – Divine Mother 52: Business – Venus 42: Intuition – Inner Child 40: Appreciation – Divine Helpers 15: Victory – Divine Helpers (bottom of the deck)
Once again, Halle is sending Chloe love, and with the Intuition card, perhaps psychically. (Although, they seem to go on Instagram live often and I’m sure they text and call one another.) Interestingly, however, money and her career are on Halle’s mind in these cards as well. Again, I think it’s because she cannot focus on set because she is fretting about Chloe. But with the Deprivation and Discontent card, Halle may not be feeling the limelight right now as well. She may be a little disillusioned with it. However, with both the New Life and Business cards, this will not last forever and she has a lot of good fortune coming her way. Especially with Victory at the bottom of the deck, Chloe and Halle as a duo and as individuals acts will come out of this situation financially okay (emotionally, well, we saw how Chloe is feeling, so…). Halle just needs to trust her intuition and be appreciative of the people and things that helped enable her to get to the top.
So, this is what I have for Chloe Bailey. I guess I’m going to do a little three-part series on these sisters with Halle next and then a group reading last. It’s also my brother’s birthday, so please wish him a happy birthday! 😊
If you like my work, think about supporting me on Ko-Fi! I also sold out and made an Amazon Wishlist.
References
Clemons, Raven. (2021, Feb. 4). Chloe Bailey Speaks Out After Internet Backlash. Retrieved from https://www.popdust.com/chloe-bailey-2650295597.html
Gonzales, Erica. (2021, Feb. 1). Chloe Bailey Responds to Critics with a Message of Unwavering Self-Love. Retrieved from https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a35383006/chloe-bailey-video-response/
McKinney, Jessica. (2021, Jan. 12). What Is the Buss It Challenge? 2021’s First Big Viral Trend, Explained. Retrieved from https://www.complex.com/music/2021/01/buss-it-challenge-explained/
Astro Lola 