The Halloween costumes have been pretty good so far this year. The stars are reaching into their genre bag, with Megan Thee Stallion’s Teen Titans costume earning the approval of DC Studios CEO James Gunn, and Halle Bailey channeling her namesake in her 007-inspired costume.
Halle posted photos of her simple but inspired costume on Twitter, showing off the iconic orange bikini and white knife belt of infamous Bond girl Jinx, from Die Another Die, as portrayed by Halle Berry (who Bailey sometimes gets mistaken for). The costume hails from Jinx’s second appearance in the film and one of its most recognizable scenes, when the NSA agent emerges from the ocean in the striking swimsuit — an homage to a prior Bond girl, Honey Ryder (portrayed by Ursula Andress) from the first 007 film, Dr. No.
Actress/singer Halle Bailey and rapper/YouTuber DDG have broken up after two years together, according to a post on the rapper’s Instagram page.
“Dear friends and supporters,” he wrote. “After much reflection and heartfelt conversations, Halle and I have decided to go our separate ways.”
“This decision was not easy, but we believe it’s the best path forward for both of us,” he continued. “I cherish the time we’ve spent together and the love we’ve shared. Despite the changes in our relationship, our love for each other remains deep and true. We are still best friends and adore each other. As we focus on our individual journeys and our roles as co-parents, we cherish the bond we’ve built and the beautiful moments we’ve shared. As we navigate this transition, we ask for your understanding and support.”
DDG and Halle were first linked in January 2022, while DDG confirmed the relationship in June that year. In August 2023, rumors surfaced online that Halle was pregnant with the couple’s first child, and in January this year, those rumors were confirmed as they announced the birth of their son, Halo, who has since become a viral meme after making a face that works well for a variety of situations.
Before photographer and Exquisite Eye Studios founder Breyona Holt captured the likes of music phenoms Coco Jones, Halle Bailey, Giveon and bLAck pARty, she got her drive from her hometown of Atlanta.
Currently based in Los Angeles, Holt credits the ATL scene for showing her the grind and hunger that she’d need as a burgeoning artist. It was in the mid-2010s that she kept SoundCloud selections on repeat, listening to acts Smino, Tommy Genesis, Raury, and Awful Records’ Alexandria. Even in her eight years spent on the West Coast, Holt’s mind hasn’t left her southern beginnings, which would come to shape the color theory and contrast in her commercial, editorial and cover artwork.
“We really grew up on dance cultures [in Atlanta], so the music really inspired a lot of the work that I was creating,” Holt tells Uproxx. “When I first started, my photography was very moody, and I think once I moved to LA, over time, I did see that my word got brighter, and I was kind of pulling away from what made me stand out as an artist. I had to take a step back like, ‘Okay, I don’t want to pull too far away like staying into the lines and following the trends and what LA has.’”
But while Holt would depend on her music playlists to soundtrack her mood while editing photos, she credits her father’s early film photography as an influence. Even as a singular visionary, Holt showcases that influence through grainy, analogue photography images of subjects like SZA and Normani.
Giveon
“I [loved] when I was going to his archive and what that would make me feel,” Holt says of her father’s works. “So even though I was mainly shooting on digital cameras at that time, I was trying to mimic that feeling that film made me feel. So the colors that you get with film is just a very organic type of feeling. I would say my dad was really one of my biggest inspirations at that time.”
Through her lens, Holt keeps an eye on individuals across entertainment, but viewers find her photos of Black women to be the most definitive. There’s an artist-to-subject unison where Holt channels the strength of Black womanhood and represents it with dignity. Holt’s portfolio exhibits crisp colors against genuine facial expressions and poses. Most of all, the Black femme energy radiates.
“I believe that it’s very important for us to be seen in a beautiful light and I think that sometimes, when Black women or Black men are the subject, we get the short end of the stick,” Holt says. “Whether it’s how we’re being lit–it doesn’t always represent us in the most powerful or the most uplifting way. Who I am at the core, I love art so much, and I want to make sure that we’re being documented and being seen in the best light, because these things will matter today and to generations to come.”
Since taking the cover art photography for albums like Joyce Wrice’s Overgrown, Coco Jones’ What I Didn’t Tell You, and Amindi’s TWYN, more recently, Holt shot the cover image of Halle Bailey’s new single “Because I Love You.”
“Her voice — she’s literally a siren; her voice is very angelic,” Holt says of Bailey, a fellow Georgia native. “Even just the instruments that she chose to use throughout the record. It was just something so refreshing and something I haven’t really heard before. When you hear a record like that, that inspires the colors you use. Just working with her on that project–the sound and the song is really what inspired the approach of the cover art, and I think it reflects the music video, which was incredible.”
Joyce Wrice
The commanding and vulnerable song would come to reflect Bailey’s confident stance on the artwork, which took on a life of its own. “Even down to the posing, all of those factors matter with the cover art. I’m so happy she chose that photo as the cover,” Holt continues. “I think it was empowering how you know her hands up, her chest out, the arms up–it’s just a very powerful image, and I’m just so happy to have this in my portfolio and to be a part of this.”
On capturing her muses, like the hair-blowing moment-in-time cover of Overgrown or 1970s funk ode on the cover of bLAck pARty’s Hummingbird, Holt likens the interaction to a “dance” between herself and the muse.
“These are real moments and actions for the most part. It’s not like ‘We’re going into these cover arts, and we want you to pose exactly like this,’ because I feel like it would come off a little forced and people would feel that,” she shares. “But these are real moments listening to the music on set, we’re in the vibe — this is a real emotion that they’re expressing through their body, through their face and the color is just there to amplify what’s happening.”
Except for the textured collage on the TWYN backdrop, Holt’s cover art is fairly minimal in practice, keeping the viewers’ gaze on her subjects, and the photography is a visual interpretation of their music.
“When I’m hearing the music, because I really enjoy color theory, it’s about ‘What is this making me feel?’” Holt says. “I think you can communicate a lot through color theory, you can evoke an emotion through the colors that you choose to use. I think using minimal backgrounds, for me, helps you focus on who the subject is. I love a moment where the environment is just an add-on, but like the eyes, the facial expression, the mood of the body language in the model, all of that really matters to me.”
Halle
Along with her photography, Holt calls it a “greater goal” to take her still images to the screen as a filmmaker, especially since she’s built her portfolio as a music video director and creative director.
“Although I started off, and I’m able to grasp people’s attention through my photography, I think people have taken a chance with me when it comes to these music videos,” Holt says of her budding path in filmmaking. “[I’ve] even shocked myself at what I’m able to create as a director, but as I continue to explore with music videos, I would love to grow in that field and do more short films and let that grow, as well, into longform video, movies and things like that.”
In continuing to document the culture, Holt also has her hands in tactile fashion projects under her Exquisite Eye banner, but presenting Blackness in an authentic lens remains integral to her purpose. Holt embraces her roots, and it shows in her life’s work.
“I just love my culture. I love being Black and I love how we always create such beautiful art no matter what,” she says. “To be in this day and age and be able to have the internet and be able to share my art and people gravitate to it, or they feel inspired by it, I’m just doing this for the bigger picture.”
After taking a social media hiatus earlier this month, Halle Bailey returns as promised with one wild video for her seductive new single, “Because I Love You.” Balancing rapping and singing over a driving instrumental, it’s a strong return to form for the younger half of Chloe X Halle.
Even if you think you know where the plot of this twisty thriller of a clip is going, you wouldn’t be able to guess the surreal snarl in the road ahead. What seemingly starts off as an exploration of a steamy love triangle — with Halle herself playing two of its points opposite The Book Of Clarence‘s RJ Cyler — turns into a true mind bender as “faithful partner” Halle catches “exotic dancer/other woman” Halle with RJ on a romantic night out.
The jilted version of the singer doesn’t just confront the unfaithful partner and his paramour, she hops on the hood to put on a show of her own. But right before Clyer’s disbelieving eyes, he’s confronted by a whole cadre of Halle clones (timed to the choral explosion of her duplicated voices on the track itself). The video ends on this cliffhanger, but whatever the many Halles decide to do to the perfidious paramour, you just know it can’t be good.
“Because I Love You” is Halle’s second solo single of 2024 after the more demure “In Your Hands,” and already seems to be much more warmly received among fans online. You can watch the video above.
In today’s ultra-connected world, it’s important to unplug sometimes. This is especially true for artists and other public figures, whose social media allows them to stay in contact with fans, but also exposes them to thousands of criticisms and myriad distractions from their respective crafts.
Halle Bailey knows this, and is giving herself a break from social media for a while, as she told fans on Twitter (never calling it “X”). But, there’s good news, too: She’ll only be gone until August, and when she returns, it’ll be with new music.
“hey guys. i am going to go away for a few weeks, will be offline,” she wrote. “just need a break from everyone. will be back with new music in august. xo.”
hey guys. i am going to go away for a few weeks, will be offline. just need a break from everyone. will be back with new music in august. xo
The actress and singer has plenty of reason to take that break. In April, she admitted to having “severe postpartum depression” after the birth of her son Halo, just a month after releasing the new single “In Your Hands” to less-than-enthusiastic reception from fans. She was also encouraged to ignore social media by her sister Chloe during her pregnancy, and perhaps that strategy proved effective enough to encourage her to do it again. Meanwhile, as fans, we’ll be looking forward to August with plenty of curiosity about what she plans to do next.
Halle is back and stronger than ever. Earlier this year, the remarkably talented multihyphenate revealed she gave birth to a baby son with her longtime partner, rapper DDG. She’s also been teasing new solo music, as she and her sister, Chlöe, have been working on new material — both as a duo and as solo acts. Tonight (March 15), Halle shared her new single, “In Your Hands.”
On “In Your Hands,” Halle waxes romantic, as she feels empowered when her love holds her. Fully aware of the power she possesses, Halle warns him not to fumble her, as this type of love only comes once in a lifetime.
“In your hands, in your hands / The world is yours when I’m in it / In your hands, in your hands / You can’t let go or you’ll lose your chance / ‘Cause after me, you’ll never fall in love again,” she sings on the song’s chorus.
In the song’s accompanying video, Halle is seen in the ocean, moving effortlessly through the water.
In a follow-up scene, Halle is in the mountains and flawlessly nails a guitar riff. As Halle is the only person in the video, she offers a simple reminder that she, alone, is enough to change her lover’s life.
Grammy season is underway. As the events are rolling out, members of the Recording Academy are looking forward to enriching their minds with music knowledge and creativity.
“I am so excited for this second installment of Grammy House,” Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement (via Billboard). “The response last year from younger fans and artists just starting their relationship with the Recording Academy was overwhelming, and we’re a better organization because of the increased engagement with them. I’m grateful for the amazing artists and partners who are helping make this year’s Grammy House an even bigger success.”
One of the Grammy Week events includes a special Masterclass with singer and actress Halle Bailey. Members of Grammy U will be able to attend the Masterclass in person by invitation only. The good news for non-members is that they will be able to livestream the event on Friday, February 2 at 1 p.m. PT, via the Grammy Awards’ YouTube and Twitch channels.
Over the course of the past year, Halle Bailey, who performs under the stage name Halle, starred in two movie musicals — The Little Mermaid and The Color Purple released her solo debut single, “Angel.” She has proven to be quite successful in both music and film, and while it’s not clear what her Masterclass will be about, she’ll surely have some valuable insight to offer.
Halle’s Masterclass is just one of a handful of Grammy Week events from the Recording Academy, so learn more about what else is going on here.
Now that Halle Bailey has finally revealed the birth of her and DDG’s baby Halo, the floodgates of pregnancy content have opened. After months of Halle staying off social media to protect her mental health, she’s apparently given her sister Chloe the green light to start sharing the videos and photos the two inevitably shot during the pregnancy. Chloe’s first post shows that the baby weight didn’t slow the younger Bailey down one bit as the sisters teamed up to twerk it out to Drake’s For All The Dogs ratchet favorite, “Rich Baby Daddy” featuring Sexyy Red and SZA.
The rumors of Halle’s pregnancy swirled throughout the last quarter of 2023 as the Color Purple star mostly stayed out of the press cycle for the film despite playing a major role in it and being featured heavily in the trailers. Any appearances she did make in public were in very baggy clothing to hide the baby bump. However, the sisters — and DDG — went to extreme lengths to downplay the rumors, with Chloe appearing to address them by telling fans to “keep my sister’s name out your mouth” and DDG trolling fans with a baby doll on a livestream.
Now that the baby has arrived, though, he already has over 50,000 followers on Instagram, despite only having one photo. But in terms of the Bailey fam social media, it seems we’re mostly just happy to see more Chloe X Halle content — and the potential for a follow-up to Ungodly Hour.
Halle Bailey had an incredible 2023, with the premiere of two blockbuster films, as well as her debut solo single. And she’s already kicking off 2024 with a bang. Earlier this month, Bailey revealed that she and her beau, rapper DDG, welcomed a baby boy named Halo last year.
Though she remained mum about the pregnancy throughout much of last year, keeping her body hidden with large flowing dresses and garments, Bailey finally took some time to answer fans’ questions via Snapchat.
One fan asked “Was the [sic] blogs and cameras stressful while pregnant?”
Bailey responded, saying “I mean, a little bit, but honestly I stayed off of all social media. I really tried to, just to keep myself sane and okay.”
Though she was quiet on social, that didn’t stop fans from coming up with their own theories, and attempting to catch Bailey or DDG slipping up. But the couple was committed to sharing the news on their own terms.
“I know that there was a lot of people who would always, like, comment and be like, ‘We know, girl, we know.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s great that you know. But I’m gonna just chill, you know, and that’s wonderful if you support me, and if not, that’s okay too. I hope you have a wonderful life.”
pic.twitter.com/TSFArpMhYD
just need a break from everyone. will be back with new music in august. xo 
