Tony Scott: 0:13

Welcome to The Jay Franze Show, a behind-the-curtain look at the entertainment industry, with insights you can't pay for and stories you've never heard. Now here's your host, Jay Franze.

Jay Franze: 0:42

Well, hello, hello, hello and welcome to the show. I am Jay Franze and this is your backstage pass to the entertainment industry. This week, we get to talk with a country music recording artist. We get to talk with Chloe Styler. We'll talk to her about what it was like to play at the Bluebird the recording process of her latest project and we'll discuss her ongoing battle with her nerves. Now, Chloe, she is an absolutely amazing recording artist and I can't wait to talk with her tonight. So if you would like to join in, comment or fire off any questions, please head over to jfrenze. com. Now let's get started. Chloe, my friend, how are you? I'm good. How are you? I am fantastic. I could not be better.

Chloe Styler: 1:31

I am so glad we get this opportunity to talk tonight. Me too, I'm very excited to have a chat.

Jay Franze: 1:36

Nice, we'll call it a chat that makes it sound casual. I like that, all right. Well, let's just jump in. What was it like playing at the Bluebird?

Chloe Styler: 1:45

It was amazing, that was so fun. So I did that last year on a trip to Nashville in September and I just got to tick something off my bucket list, you know. So how often does that happen so early on in your career, and I'm just so grateful for that opportunity. I got to play brand new songs as well and, yeah, I just absolutely loved it, so something that I hold very dear to my heart.

Jay Franze: 2:09

Well, the Bluebird's one of those iconic places and it's known for, you know, no talking, you know just sitting there and giving respect to the writer. So it's a different type of venue. I mean, when you go and you play there, it's an experience like no other. You know, it's a very, very quiet audience.

Chloe Styler: 2:25

Very quiet audience and I love that. Like that was fantastic. As a writer and an artist, I felt really, really, really, really respected and like that's the kind of audience I love playing to. As the writer, obviously, as an artist, you're like I want people to be able to sing the songs back to me. But um, I, yeah, I just I really loved that, um aspect of it was it what you expected when you arrived to the venue?

Chloe Styler: 2:52

I had been there to watch A Friend a few months prior, so I had been in the building but I had never played. So it was like a different kind of feeling, obviously. But thankfully I did already have that experience of being in there, so I wasn't so nervous about oh my goodness, I've never even walked in there before and now I'm playing it. So I kind of like knew what I was walking into and what to sort of expect from the environment, but then like nothing could prepare me for actually playing, Like I just had to do it. You know, I just had to live that experience and go in nervous and do it and have fun, which I'm really glad I can say I did. I didn't let the nerves take over and I had a lot of fun.

Jay Franze: 3:35

Well, that's cool. That's the biggest thing, right? You want to be in the moment so you can remember what happened, and you want to experience it when you're there. Absolutely, but what? Most people don't realize is when you're arriving at that venue. It's in a strip mall and the lines outside in the parking lot.

Chloe Styler: 3:48

Yeah.

Jay Franze: 3:48

It's not your typical venue and it's not in the tourist section of Nashville. It's out in Green Hills. It's definitely in an area that you wouldn't expect, but when?

Chloe Styler: 3:57

you get there.

Jay Franze: 3:58

it's amazing and you never know who's going to show up and what songs they've written. It's just a great place. It really is.

Chloe Styler: 4:04

Yeah, it's really cool. I was very fortunate I was in Nashville only like last week and I was there for a month and my family came and visited from Australia. The bluebird was actually shut for renovations but I drove them out there and we just kind of looked peeps through the window and they got a photo out the front and they weren't expecting it to be where it was and it was a bit of a shock.

Chloe Styler: 4:24

but I was like, yeah, welcome to the green yeah, but I mean, I think that's half the charm of it, like that's where it started and everything's grown around it and the history there is just amazing.

Jay Franze: 4:40

So what songs did you play?

Chloe Styler: 4:43

I performed Read a Room, which is my latest single. I performed another song called Little Lady, which is coming out later this year, and for the life of me I don't know what the third song is that I performed.

Jay Franze: 4:55

So you weren't that in the moment?

Chloe Styler: 4:57

No, I was clearly so nervous I'd forgotten what the third song is. It must have been one that I've already released, probably to be honest, I'll come back to you.

Jay Franze: 5:07

Not sure. We'll put a bookmark there. Yeah, what I want to know you mentioned, and I mentioned that you're from Australia, so the Gold Coast.

Chloe Styler: 5:22

I'd like to know what the difference in the music scene is between that area of Australia and Nashville. Okay, so there's a big difference. In regards to where I live on the Gold Coast, there's not a lot of country music. We are expanding and I've been releasing music for seven years so I've seen kind of that expansion as I've been in the growth uh, and it's very exciting to have that growth happening in southeast Queensland and seeing all like the friends I went to university with, like actually listening to country music now, yeah, like you exactly, and but it is like a melting pot for all different genres on the Gold Coast and it's.

Chloe Styler: 5:58

It's a really cool place to to live and be within the music industry because there's so many different things you can draw inspiration from. I literally live right near the beach, so it's it's a very different environment to Nashville, which is landlocked, you know. But then you go to Tennessee and you walk down Broadway and you hear country music everywhere you go, even in the McDonald's, like everywhere you go there is country music and I love that because I write country music. But I could see how that might not be sustainable on the Gold Coast. So I do think that we need a little bit more country music around on our radios, in our grocery stores, on TV. I think that would be nice, but yeah, it's cool to see the difference.

Jay Franze: 7:04

And having spent a month in Nashville and then now coming home and seeing the difference, it's a lot more stark now that I've spent a little bit more time in Tennessee than previous trips playing music. They're playing music on every floor of the building, so you're talking like four levels with a different band on every level, and you know one building after another after another. If you've never been in Nashville, I mean that's the place to go and hang out and check out music, for sure.

Chloe Styler: 7:26

Yeah, it's overwhelming.

Jay Franze: 7:28

But being in Queensland, I mean, how do you even get interested in country music in the first place?

Chloe Styler: 7:35

My parents actually. So they love country music and they kind of just raised me on their music, which was Australian artists like Lee Kernighan and Troy Cassidaly, rick Springfield yes, of course, obviously, but also like the Chicks and Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles. So then, like, not just country music is where I started hearing music when I was little. It was like Dido and Jewel and all those kinds of artists as well. So when I started making my own music, I drew upon all these different acts and genres, which was really cool, but my heart always has been with country music, because I love it and I love the storytelling aspect of it and just the way it makes you feel when you listen to a good country song. But yeah, I have my mom and dad to thank for that.

Jay Franze: 8:26

Well, there you go. Thank you to them for sure. Yeah, I laugh and I make a joke about Rick Springfield. But I liked Rick Springfield, I grew up on his music.

Chloe Styler: 8:34

Yeah.

Jay Franze: 8:39

Anyway. So you start playing country music, but, like you mentioned, you're not just playing country music, you're playing it with more of a pop and even a rock influence. What has led you to do that?

Chloe Styler: 8:46

I am a country artist, but if one song needs a little bit more pop elements or a little bit more jazz or rock or whatever it may be, I'm going to lean into that a little bit more with my producer and I'm really lucky that I've found a producer that also believes that. Obviously, we stay true to being a country artist, but, yeah, if there's a little bit of pop, something that we can put into a song, we will, yeah, a little flair just give it a little something, and, um, also that just creates individuality as well. In such an oversaturated market there's so many people releasing music and you've got to try and be yourself as much as you can, and I think that's kind of a way of doing it on my behalf, anyway, yeah, it's got some, some vibes to it.

Jay Franze: 9:31

I don't know if you're familiar with jonathan brooke, but it's got like a jonathan brooke vibe to it in some ways and stuff okay. So I mean just the, the drum beat and the feel of some of the songs is like that to me. So, thank you, you mentioned, um, your producer, so who produced it?

Chloe Styler: 9:47

uh, luke wooten is my producer these days. He produced my latest track, reader room, and the a couple more that are coming out later this year, and while I was just recently in town, we recorded an EP. So I'm very excited, yes, to be working with him. He's incredible and has such great credits and is just so caring and wants the best for the songs and for me.

Jay Franze: 10:11

Well, of course, and that's the way it should be.

Chloe Styler: 10:14

Yeah, it's so wonderful. I actually met him when I was 15. So it's really nice to have this full circle moment now where I'm an adult and I'm doing music and we can finally work together in this capacity and have that rapport. It's really fun.

Jay Franze: 10:32

Well, let's dive into that a little deeper. You said you put together an ep. I'd like to know more about his style and where you recorded it. So let's start with the studio. What studio was it?

Chloe Styler: 10:44

we recorded at station west recording studios in nashville. It's in berry hill, there's like two buildings and it's on west iris drive. If that means anything to anybody, it's great. It's just like right near. If that means anything to anybody, it's great. It's just like right near a really great Vietnamese place called Vuoi's. So for lunch we'd go and get Vuoi's and just like have the best time. But we tracked live with a band on a Tuesday night and then the next couple of days I did vocals and I actually like left the country three days after that. So we really we were very time constrained.

Jay Franze: 11:15

Efficient with your time.

Chloe Styler: 11:17

Very efficient with our time. But yeah, so he has a background of working with acts like Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley and then a Shailene acts like the McClymonds and Travis Collins and Lee Kernighan, so I had heard of his music like for a long time and I knew that he'd be a great fit, because we have a very similar. I mean, I love the McClymonds and he did work with them in Australia, so yeah, I just I knew that we'd be good, and so far, so good. I actually just found out today that Read A Room, the first track we did together, has debuted at number 38 on the Australian radio charts.

Jay Franze: 11:57

Nice.

Chloe Styler: 11:58

Yeah, so I think maybe we did a good thing.

Jay Franze: 12:02

There's some sort of chemistry there. For sure I like Berry Hill, that area, even before it's blown up and it's become the new music row. But even before it was the new music row people were migrating over there and it just had more of a vibe to it, a little bit more relaxed than some of the the studios on music row. So did you, did you like that environment? Did you have any say in what studio you were going to record in?

Chloe Styler: 12:26

station west is luke's recording studio, so it was a matter of just going where he was and I was really happy there. I really love Berryhill. I wish I could afford to stay in Berryhill. It's the prices are insane, but if I could, I would. I would spend all my time there because it's just it's very similar, minus the recording studios and the music side of things, but just the community of Berryhill is very similar to where I live, so I just feel quite at home there and the studio was great.

Jay Franze: 12:55

I had yeah, I had no complaints so let's take a deeper dive into the process. So when you're in the studio with Luke, what is his production style like?

Chloe Styler: 13:07

yeah, with the session musicians. He organized all of that and he he handpicked each one that he thought would be a great fit and he nailed it this time I'm so excited about these songs that we've just done. And then, when it was just time for vocals, he was like hands on with the coaching and the BVs and the arrangement, but he would have like the littlest like change or something, and then we'd workshop it and then we'd we would always change it and do what he said, because I trust him. But, um, yeah, it was like, but it was. It always felt very collaborative and respectful.

Jay Franze: 13:44

So, yeah, so do you write the songs and then bring them in? Is that how?

Chloe Styler: 13:49

your relationship is yeah, I had written so many songs since I last saw him.

Chloe Styler: 13:56

We first recorded in September last year and we did three tracks and then I came home for eight months or something and I wrote a lot of songs and I was going through a lot of emotions, yeah, so then when I got to Nashville in May, I sat down with Luke and I.

Chloe Styler: 14:14

I sat down there for like two hours and just played him all these new songs and sent them to him, and then he just sat with them for about three weeks and then sent me his shortlist and we don't know how we managed it, but had the exact same four songs and it was like just that, that weird connection, like yeah, these are the ones that are going to be, and they were the same. And then three days later we were in the studio. So they were all written by me, which I'm really proud of, because I do do a lot of co-writing, and I did have co-written tracks on the list that I sent him. But I think the vulnerability of these new songs really shines through in the songs that I've written by myself that's's going to make you feel good.

Jay Franze: 14:56

I mean the fact that somebody of his stature selects the same songs that you selected, and they're the ones that you wrote by yourself.

Chloe Styler: 15:04

Yeah, that was really cool, Very, very cool.

Jay Franze: 15:08

That is pretty sweet. So you go in the studio and he selects these musicians, handpicks the people that he thinks is right for your style of music and for your songs. So do you remember who he selected? Do you remember any of their names?

Chloe Styler: 15:21

Yeah, so I had Tim Galloway on acoustic guitars, nathan Keatley on electric guitars, jacob Lowry on bass, mike Rojas on keyboards. See how I'm like trying to look in my brain. Mike Rojas on keyboards. See how I'm like trying to look in my brain.

Jay Franze: 15:38

Mike Rojas is awesome Tommy Harden. Oh yeah, he was on the show. He's awesome. I love Tommy. I've worked with him several times.

Chloe Styler: 15:45

Yeah, he's awesome. He was so cool, so that was all of them.

Jay Franze: 15:53

Yeah, tommy's amazing. He was on the show. He's played with everybody under the sun. I mean he's played with shania twain. I mean he's, I mean he's just an amazing, amazing, not only drummer but producer. I mean he's just awesome, all around awesome and a nice guy. Too much talent in any one person.

Chloe Styler: 16:07

So yeah, they were all just so kind and welcoming and I just felt so respected in that room, like I could speak up and give my two cents, and half the time my two cents wasn't even worth two cents. It needed to go back in the wallet, like no one wanted it, like as in. It didn't need to be said, chloe, but I said it anyway. But I really felt respected and like they were listening. But everyone just worked together so well and I'm so excited about these songs.

Jay Franze: 16:37

Well, I mean, I know those guys are all great guys, but every studio musician in Nashville seems to be just a great group of guys. So, you go in the studio with these guys, was this your first time experiencing the band going in and playing all at one time?

Chloe Styler: 16:52

It was my second. So my first time was in September with Luke and a similar group of guys actually, but just a couple of different players. So it was nice to see like Nathan and Mike and Tommy again and kind of just keep expanding on what we had been working on and, honestly, there is nothing like what they do in Nashville in Australia. Like I have never experienced that. We did four songs in three hours and that's just to me. Like I did two EPs in 2020 and we tracked 10 songs with the band in five days.

Jay Franze: 17:28

Yeah, here you do that in five hours.

Chloe Styler: 17:31

Literally like crazy. So cool.

Jay Franze: 17:33

It's just mind-blowing to see them do their thing so when you experienced that for the first time, what was going through your mind?

Chloe Styler: 17:42

well, back in september I was so overwhelmed, like I was standing there, like what is happening? And if I wanted to speak up about something which there were a couple of things that I did speak up about in september I I realized it was now or never and if, if you really want this change, like speak up, it's not going to happen. Otherwise, like we were doing, like we were sharing a session with somebody before me and we did three tracks in like an hour 45. So I had to get my thoughts out and it was overwhelming because you know I don't want to step on anybody's toes or anything like that, but again, I felt so respected and like I could um, but my mind was just running a million miles an hour and I had never, ever experienced anything like that. But in a great way, like it was, it was so eye-opening and amazing to watch it speaks to their talent.

Jay Franze: 18:30

I mean, it goes so fast. You have to be amazingly talented. Because what I don't think a lot of people understand is they've never heard your music before they walk in a room and they're handed a piece of paper with numbers on it and then they go in the other room and three and a half minutes later there's a song you might give them some guidance of you know, this is what I want it to feel like, or this is what I had in mind, or even this might be the tempo I'm looking for, but then they just go out in the room and they play it.

Jay Franze: 18:57

They just play it One time through and they're like what do you think of that? And you might have, like you said, an opportunity to make one or two suggestions or thoughts and next thing you know, it's over.

Chloe Styler: 19:08

Yeah.

Jay Franze: 19:09

Absolutely insane.

Chloe Styler: 19:09

Next thing you know, we're moving on to the next one Crazy.

Chloe Styler: 19:15

So that you know we're moving on to the next one. Crazy, so that's pretty sweet. So when's this new ep going to be? Oh, I don't actually know, um, but I am just going to be telling everybody until then that I'm excited about it. I have some music coming out until the end of this year. I have singles consistently coming out and luke, and I have been talking about what to do with the ep and I anticipate it will likely be in the first half of next year, so then I can hopefully tour it and do fun things with it, um, in the second half of the year.

Jay Franze: 19:40

So yeah, I'd keep an eye out for the first half of next year okay we'll do that, so let's rewind a little bit and go back to your earlier stuff that you tracked what songs were included in that batch so that was read Room, which came out in May.

Chloe Styler: 19:57

There was another song called Call it, which comes out in July, and another song called Little Lady, which comes out in October.

Jay Franze: 20:03

So when you listen to them now, do you still get that same excitement when you first listen to them?

Chloe Styler: 20:08

I do. I actually because I'm in the process now of organizing Call it and getting it ready for release in July end of July, which is not that far away, that's like five weeks away. I'm getting very nervous because it's a very personal song and I really didn't think about the repercussions of how personal it is when I was in the studio. I was just like I'm going to record this song and I'm going to put it out and the person or people or I'm trying not to like give away but like the situation that it's about, can just like deal with it. And now I'm like no, I have to deal with that in five weeks time and I'm a little bit nervous about that, but it'll be fine. And then the other one, little lady, that's coming out in October.

Chloe Styler: 20:52

I'm really excited about that one it it's potentially prior to these four that I've just tracked with Luke Little Lady is the favorite song I've ever written. I'm really proud of it. I love the lyrics. If you can say that about your own song, I'm not sure if that's boastful, but I'm just very proud of the lyrics and the way that it kind of just fell out of me so naturally when I wrote it. And it's not about anybody. It's about me, which is nice. I usually write about a boy. That's hurt my feelings or blah, blah blah, but this one is about me and my personal growth as a human and, yeah, I'm really excited to get it out.

Jay Franze: 21:28

I think it's okay to like a song that you've done, to feel that way, Thanks. I mean, I've written several songs at this point and there's some that I like better than others.

Chloe Styler: 21:39

Yeah, and you can tell pretty quickly as well if it's going to be a good song or not. If you like it or not, I do always owe it to the song to finish it. So I always finish a song, but I can know within the first verse if it's going to be worth doing anything with. But little lady, I was like, oh, and I've been playing it live since I wrote it in july last year what's the reception then?

Chloe Styler: 22:02

a really a really nice one, a very warm and um complimentary reception. People always come up to me afterwards and say that song, little lady, that's, that's a good one, that's one of your better ones. I'm like thanks. I feel bad for the other ones that aren't as good.

Jay Franze: 22:17

But so let's take a step back. You mentioned something there I want to follow up on, and that was you said you're going through the process of releasing these songs and getting ready for releasing these songs. So, what is the process that you go through?

Chloe Styler: 22:33

So I'm self-managed and I'm independent. I do have a distributor based in Nashville, mgm Distribution, and I do have publicists in Australia and in the US. But I make all the decisions and then I delegate tasks to those lovely people that are on my team. So the process is just deciding. I really, really, really really need to upload, call it to my distributor this afternoon. I've just like been pushing that off.

Chloe Styler: 23:04

I can't. Don't know if you can tell, but I'm sick and I got home from Nashville like three days ago and I've been very unwell for a few days. So I've just kind of been using that as an excuse to not do anything. But this has given me an excuse to do something. So I'm very grateful for our chat because now this afternoon I can go and kick myself into gear a little bit and sign off on the music video and, yeah, take a few things off on the on the to-do list, because otherwise I just fall really far behind.

Chloe Styler: 23:31

So the process is entirely made up and created by me, but I have to kind of stick to my deadlines, otherwise I get overwhelmed. I like called my publicist the other day and we've pushed a release date back for little lady because it was meant to be mid-September, but it just was not going to happen. I just can't. I'm only one girl, I can only do so much. And I think I'm learning as well to give myself grace with those things, because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if the song comes out two weeks later.

Jay Franze: 24:03

I don't think so. You'd rather have something you're proud of at the time than something that's rushed Exactly, and as a listener, I would appreciate that too. I'd rather wait a week or two, or even a month or two, to get something that I'll play over and over and over again and that I'll want to, you know, take in. So I think, you're doing the right thing.

Chloe Styler: 24:23

Thank you.

Jay Franze: 24:23

But as an independent artist, how are you getting involved in these award shows and you know being nominated and stuff for these awards?

Chloe Styler: 24:33

um, so very fortunately, in queensland and the gold coast, you can nominate yourself. So I do each year and I, um yeah. So I nominated myself last year for release of the year for my EP side A and, lo and behold, I ended up getting an actual nomination for it and I was one of, I think, six finalists and I went to the award show for the Gold Coast Music Awards and I was also asked to perform, which was a really nice moment. Uh, because I've been going to those awards since 2019, when I was first nominated and to be recognized among my peers. I was born on the Gold Coast, I've grown up here, I've lived here my whole life, I've seen amazing acts come through the Gold Coast and to have that recognition was really nice. I didn't win, don't mind, you know, like I think. I think everything happens for a reason, and the reason for me last year was I got the opportunity to perform one of my own songs in front of like 1200 industry personnel on the Gold Coast.

Jay Franze: 25:38

So, yeah, amazing, so fun did you get any feedback from doing that?

Chloe Styler: 25:43

yeah, I did. I had so many, so many nice comments afterwards from industry. I mean your brain can be like, well, why didn't I get a manager out of that or something. But again, I just think everything happens how it's meant to and I had some really nice feedback saying that they loved the song, that it was a great, solid performance and, um, tight band etc. And those things mean so much to me and it's like just like the little push that keeps you going when you might be in like a little self-doubt moment or not sure what you're doing moment, which happens a lot with me. But yeah, I just I hold on to those those comments and experiences when I'm going through that self-comparison or doubt.

Jay Franze: 26:25

Do you still feel that way sometimes, that imposter syndrome?

Chloe Styler: 26:29

Oh my goodness. Yeah, I'm always feeling self-doubt. I don't know if that will ever go away, I think, especially as self-managed and independent because I am making all my own decisions. It can be very overwhelming, but it's not crippling. I don't let it affect me entirely, but I think that just comes with growth and with growing up as well. I am very fortunate that my family is super supportive, so if I'm ever unsure about something, I just go to mom and dad's place and I have dinner with them and then I just word vomit for an hour and just let all my emotions out and they go either like we can't really help you with this, but have you thought of xyz? Or actually we can help you with this. And then I, whatever they say, I already feel better because I've gotten it off my chest. But yeah, the self doubt it can creep in in any form, whether it be music or life in general.

Chloe Styler: 27:24

I released a song earlier this year called 25 and and it's about how, like you know, when you're in your twenties, everybody's achieving things at different ages, and getting married and having babies and buying houses. And then I'm here like I'm going to spend all my money and go to Nashville and then spend more of my money on releasing music that might not get the return that I'm hoping on and just hope for the best. You know, like no boyfriend, no husband, dog I do have a dog, but like no child, like I'm just really throwing caution to the wind with this dream, honestly, and that when I was writing 25 was like really really prominent in my front of my brain. But as I've grown up a little bit again, I think it's just something that you just learn to compartmentalize and also trust the process there you go yeah, my parents got married so young.

Chloe Styler: 28:20

My mom was 19 and when I remember, when I reached 19, I was like, well, I could come home with a ring on my finger now and you couldn't say anything. Obviously, I didn't do that and like eight years later, I'm still not married. But I definitely had that like in the back of my head when I was growing up, being like, oh, that's a normal age to get married. No, no, my parents get married at 20 as well. It's like, no, yeah.

Jay Franze: 28:43

Good, did you get married?

Chloe Styler: 28:43

It's like no, yeah, good on mom and dad, though Still married 40 years later, which is so cool. But I might just hold off a little longer. I tell my kids.

Jay Franze: 28:55

They're not allowed to date until they're 30.

Chloe Styler: 28:58

But that's all right.

Jay Franze: 28:58

So when you were nominated at the award show, do you remember any of the people that you were nominated and had?

Chloe Styler: 29:07

to go up against. Oh, not off the top of my head. The thing is it wasn't like a country-only category, so there were all different genres. I think I was the only country act. The artist that won is called St Lane and he, I think, is like a pop. I'm going to say the wrong genre, so I'm not going to say anything at all, but he's really cool and he performed as well and I really loved his vibe and he won release of the year, so yeah very nice.

Jay Franze: 29:33

Was there anybody at the award show that you looked up to at the early stages?

Chloe Styler: 29:38

um, yeah, well, there's an act on the gold coast called casey barnes and he is country and he has been here like as long as I've remember. He's been doing music and it's really inspiring to see his growth. So this year he played stagecoach and he was like the only Australian actor to play stagecoach, which is a really amazing feat for him and for the Australian country music industry, because it just goes to show that country music is growing and there's opportunities for us internationally and that distance between the Australian and American or more global country market feels like it's getting smaller.

Jay Franze: 30:23

No, I think it is. I think, obviously, with the internet and everything else that's going on, it brings things a lot closer, makes the world seem a lot smaller than it really is. Yeah, I think that helps everybody and it's a benefit. I mean, here we are talking clearly around the globe tonight. Yeah, technology is good in some ways. Speaking of technology, it's pretty cool. I see you've got keyboards and guitars behind you. I see you're holding an SM7B there. You obviously have some technology with you.

Chloe Styler: 30:53

I'm not very good at it.

Jay Franze: 30:55

That's where I'm headed here.

Chloe Styler: 30:57

Oh good, okay, ask, go away.

Jay Franze: 30:59

Ask away, not go away. Now you sound like my wife Go away. What technology do you like at the moment? What do you feel like you could not live without?

Chloe Styler: 31:12

oh, so cliche, but my phone. Like I can't live without my phone, because when I write a song it's not just for social media, but when I write a song it's that's where I record it into, into, like my voice memos app and then when I'm writing said song, I'm typing into the notes app. My hook book, which is where I put ideas down, is my notes app. Anything music related is my phone and this my lovely short SM7B. I can't live without my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, I can't live without, which is my interface, and also my laptop. So those are, those are the things at the moment that I'm just relying on heavily, obviously always my phone and google maps, because I have terrible sense of direction and I always need to put google maps on, even around the gold coast, where I've lived my whole life. What?

Chloe Styler: 32:03

pretty big but the goal code no, yeah, Just like way less people. I don't understand. Yeah.

Jay Franze: 32:11

So I think I saw when you held up your phone. It's a blue bubble, I see.

Chloe Styler: 32:16

Oh yeah, yeah, iPhone 13 Pro Max. She's kind of old but she does the job.

Jay Franze: 32:22

13 is not that old You're only what two behind. I think two behind is the right way to be.

Chloe Styler: 32:28

It's the sweet spot yeah, I don't need a new one yet no.

Jay Franze: 32:32

Same operating system, same thing. So you talked about your laptop. Is it also a mac?

Chloe Styler: 32:37

it is? Yeah, it's a 14 inch macbook pro retina display. I think I got it like what year are we 2024? I think I got it like what year are we in 2024. I think I got it like 2021. It's broken. Like I actually have warranty on it and I need to take it Like as soon as it gets to like 13%, the screen just turns pink and goes weird. I'm like what is happening? But I never have the time to like hand my computer in for a week, so I just deal with it and I'll just get a new one one day mine is probably as old as yours and I don't have issues like that.

Jay Franze: 33:10

My issue is the battery doesn't stay charged for more than an hour at this point. Oh, that's so annoying brutal yeah, technology it's good when it's good, bad when it's not okay, so you mentioned the scarlet, the 2i2, so do you use that not only for things like this, but are you using it for any sort of recording? Do you do any demos or anything?

Chloe Styler: 33:32

not really demos, just like higher quality work tapes. So if I write a song and I I'd like somebody's opinion on it, or I want to send it to a producer, I, instead of sending them what's on my phone, I will just just do it through GarageBand. I'm very basic.

Chloe Styler: 33:48

So you use GarageBand yeah yeah, yeah, garageband, garage, yeah, Garage, but yeah. So I mean sometimes when I'm co-writing with somebody we do a lot of Zoom co-writing in Achelea, because we are all so spread out and I write with a friend called Jason Resch in Victoria, quite a bit in Melbourne, and he will send me the track and then like without vocal, and I will, yeah. So it's just like those little things like that, like doing my part of a demo. I don't make the demos, I'm not that good, but the vocal I will add to and like yeah, better work, tapes, radio liners, things like that um, I know you're still fairly young.

Jay Franze: 34:32

You're still in the early stages of your career. Have you had any challenges that you've had to face so far?

Chloe Styler: 34:38

uh, I think the one main challenge that I continue to overcome is nerves. I used to let the nerves get way better of me than I ever should have, but I had a gig in 2022. I performed at our stadium in Queensland for a football game. I was the pregame entertainment with my band and that was, you know, just an incredible opportunity. And I had like eight days notice. I was very nervous and I thought to myself this cannot be what like breaks me. This cannot be the the biggest opportunity of my life that I flop like. I can't do that because I was so nervous. Every time I thought about it I felt like I was going to throw up how many people were in the stadium?

Chloe Styler: 35:24

They did the tally and it was like 18,000 people, so it's like a lot of people.

Jay Franze: 35:30

So you felt nervous, for sure.

Chloe Styler: 35:32

Oh, yeah, yeah. And I let my brain go everywhere. But leading up to the gig I thought how am I going to handle this? How am I going to actually not throw up on stage? And I learned that I can reframe my mind because nerves and excitement are very, very similar, like bodily feeling and reaction, and I genuinely, for like eight days, every time I felt nervous, I audibly said I'm excited. I would over compensate and actually say out loud, no matter where I was, who I was with, what I was doing, because the nerves would creep in at any time, like it didn't have to be when I was alone, it was any time. And then I'd be like I'm excited and no way, I'm not even joking, I'm not nervous, I'm actually just excited. And I wasn't even nervous on that stage. I was just running on adrenaline and excitement. It was so cool. So I continue to work on that.

Chloe Styler: 36:27

Obviously that was like a very short-lived experience because that was just the one gig and I really honed in on that for eight days. And when a bigger gig comes up and I've had a few like support acts over the last few months and those feelings creep back in and I just remind myself like another way I look at it is like I had a 15 minute support slot earlier this year. 15 minutes, like that's three songs, four, if I'm lucky, right. And I said to myself Chloe, this is 15 minutes of your whole life, your whole life. Like you, you will be fine. You will be fine whatever happens.

Jay Franze: 37:04

It's four songs, 15 minutes of your whole life, the best four songs you have, that you've played over and over and over again over and over, like I know I wrote them like the back of my hand, you know.

Chloe Styler: 37:15

So, um, yeah, that's definitely something that has been a challenge since I've started performing. I'm just so self-critical and I also, you know, you get caught up in your own head and care what people think and you just gotta you just gotta do your own thing and just have fun, because the whole point of it is to have fun on stage so for you, four songs that you've written and that you've played over and over again.

Jay Franze: 37:39

No, you're. You knocked it out of the park, I'm sure.

Chloe Styler: 37:43

I had a really great gig that that specific one, I I feel like I did knock it out of the park.

Jay Franze: 37:48

So what was the best memory from that night?

Chloe Styler: 37:52

That night I supported a man called Shannon Knoll and he was the very first winner of Australian Idol when I was six and yeah, so I have known of him my whole life. As long as I have memories, I've known of Shannon Knoll and then I had an opportunity to support him for 15 minutes and my favorite memory is just the fact that I got to do it. Like that was so full circle when I was six. I could not, I didn't even. You know, I loved music, I loved singing around the house and my singing lessons, but there was probably no part of me that was like I'm gonna support shannon all one day, like even when I was 15, like I probably didn't even think I was gonna support shannon all one day, so I just lived that.

Jay Franze: 38:33

That was really cool did you get to meet him?

Chloe Styler: 38:35

yeah, yeah, and his family. He was just such a nice guy and did he live so down to?

Chloe Styler: 38:40

earth. Yeah, yeah, he was amazing and such a great show, just yeah, just such a cool, such a cool night and cool experience and something that I'm so glad I wasn't nervous about and I wasn't nervous for, because I really got to live it and I got to hold those memories up here forever and not be out of my depths and in my own head about it, you know so like we talked earlier, did you have that moment when you're performing that you're able to take it in?

Chloe Styler: 39:09

Yeah, yeah, I did. I always play Dreams by Fleetwood Mac in any set, any set, even the 15-minute ones. I chuck it in there because I know that I'm still emerging and most people in that crowd aren't going to know my own music, so I have to get their attention somehow and that's with Dreams I flee with Mac and I got to soak it in when I I did a chorus and everybody sang it back to me and I love that because one day, hopefully, it will be my own song that everybody's singing back to me. But until then I will happily try and do Stevie Nick's justice and um and sing dreams and and just kind of put everyone in a good mood, because the job of the support act is to warm up the stage and warm up the crowd and make them excited for the main act. So I always make sure I do my best to do that and dreams kind of helps, I think no, absolutely, and you're right.

Jay Franze: 40:03

Your job is to support the, the headliner. The benefit of doing it, the perk to you for doing it, is being exposed to a new audience and in most cases, a very large audience. And I know you say you play that song so that they have something they can relate to. But how do you take that moment and now connect with that audience?

Chloe Styler: 40:24

so dreams has a lot of uh what's the word um meaning to me? In my life my parents played my woman mom mainly played a lot of fleet, a lot of Fleetwood Mac growing up and I've seen them live three times in all different forms. I saw them in their original form with Lindsay Buckingham and everybody, and then I've seen them with Neil Finn as the guitarist and I I once went with just my mum. So Fleetwood Mac is my favourite band and a really lovely moment I get to share with my mum and going to their concerts and listening to their music together just means so much to me. So when my mum's in the crowd, it also means a lot more to me that I can play Dreams and she can probably be like, well, all that tuition money that we spent on can play dreams and she can probably be like, well, all that tuition money that we spent on Chloe for music and stuff actually might be paying off now, um, and she gets to hear one of her favorite songs. So, yeah, that's how I relate to to dreams.

Chloe Styler: 41:22

I don't just, you know, because I have done the cover gig circuit here. I've played the pubs, I've played the clubs, I've done that. So I try and not make it feel like a cover. I try and make it feel like my own version of another song and and connect with the audience and connect with the song while I'm singing it, because there is a fine line of just doing, just doing a cover and people not really connecting to it, but I, I try.

Jay Franze: 41:48

Well, again a handful of things there. I want to make sure we touch on one real quick. You mentioned your mother being in the audience. Does it make you? More nervous to perform in front of your family it actually does I not necessarily nervous.

Chloe Styler: 42:02

I just feel I get a little bit more in my own head about it because they've seen me play so many times, but when I'm alone. So, for example, like I performed in Tasmania earlier this year and I flew down by myself and I didn't know anybody and I was just doing a gig. I was supporting Nick Kershaw and Go West from the UK and it was my first gig with them and I just like did my thing and I felt very comfortable and very in control. And then a couple of weeks later I performed the same gig to my parents and I felt like out of control and weird about it and I didn't know why.

Chloe Styler: 42:38

But I think it was just because my parents have seen my growth since I was 20 and started performing live and now I feel really comfortable on stage that I almost I overdo it when they're there and I'm like what are you doing? Just right, just do what you do. Normally, you don't have to overdo it. It's your parents. But they, you know they don't mind what I do, but I can tell that they they would be really proud and all I ever want to do is make them proud as well. So it does add that layer of of pressure, I suppose, on myself of making sure I do a good job and, and yeah, doing them proud.

Jay Franze: 43:12

I have no doubt they're proud of you.

Chloe Styler: 43:14

Yeah.

Jay Franze: 43:15

I always say that for me, it's easier to perform in front of people that I don't know than it is people that I do know.

Chloe Styler: 43:22

Absolutely. I concur Absolutely.

Jay Franze: 43:26

So the other things you mentioned was school. Did you go to school for music?

Chloe Styler: 43:35

No things you mentioned was school. Did you go to school for music? No, so for I mean, I graduated high school at 17 and then I went straight to college, um, and I studied at the University of Queensland and I, yeah, go UQ and I did a Bachelor of Business Management, majoring in Marketing, and then a Bachelor of Journalism. So I actually started out doing six months of a music degree but I just really felt like I didn't need to study it. It started turning it into a chore, which I didn't want. I wanted to keep the passion for it and you know my business and my journalism degrees come in handy more than I realize.

Chloe Styler: 44:07

I might not be actually in a career with those but with the marketing it applies to anything and I can market myself if I really put my mind to it and I can write a press release if I need to.

Jay Franze: 44:21

There you go. I mean, you have a great team of people that do that for you.

Chloe Styler: 44:25

Yeah, I'll just I'll let Anna do it.

Jay Franze: 44:28

So yeah, no, I mean, you're fresh out of school, do you do you feel like school benefited you enough to go through it? Would you do it again?

Chloe Styler: 44:43

I love the education system, I love learning, I love being in a school environment in a school environment, but not yet. Never say never, never say never. And I do think that I would love to be a teacher. I actually got halfway through a master's degree of primary education, but I have put that on pause and will evidently be withdrawing because I just don't have the time to do everything. But maybe one day, when I'm 50 and I'm hanging up my boots and I want to do something else, I would go back to college and become a teacher. I have so much respect for teachers and I love, love that career. I can only do do so much. I'm just one girl, you know.

Jay Franze: 45:34

statement all right, my friend. Well, we do this thing here we call unsung heroes, where we take a moment to shine the light on somebody that has supported you along the way or somebody that may have just been there for you. Do you have anybody you'd like to shine a little light on?

Chloe Styler: 45:50

I could go so many directions with this. There's so many ways I could take this. I'm like who do I an unsung hero? I would. I'm going to go sentimental here and I'm going to say my great aunt, who passed away when I was 12, because she was a opera singer and she really, really nurtured music in my mum. So she was my mum's aunt and my mum did play the organ growing up and I think that relationship with music and with my aunt from my mum's side really showed her the importance of music when her dad ended up having kids and then my sister and I got put into singing lessons and stuff like that and I had that connection with my auntie up until she passed and I think it'd be pretty cool if she could see what I was doing now.

Jay Franze: 46:44

Let's think that she can.

Chloe Styler: 46:46

Yeah, I think she can, Absolutely.

Jay Franze: 46:48

A big thanks to Chloe for taking the time to share her stories with us, and thank you for taking the time to share her stories with us and thank you for taking the time to hang with me here, as always. I really do appreciate it. If you know anyone that would enjoy hearing Chloe's story, please be sure to pass this episode along. You can do that and find the links to everything mentioned over at jfranze. com/episode80. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you next week.

Tony Scott: 47:15

Thanks for listening to The Jay Franze Show. Make sure you visit us at jayfranze. com. Follow, connect and say hello.