American singer Chloe Bailey has come under fire after announcing a new single she's created in collaboration with Chris Brown.
Bailey took to social media yesterday (16 February) to announce her new track, 'How Does It Feel', would be released on 24 February.
It comes ahead of her studio album In Pieces, which is set to be released in March after she began her solo career following a successful collaboration with her sister, The Little Mermaid star Halle Bailey, as the duo Chloe x Halle.
Bailey shared the news of her new single alongside a visual for the track, which showed her standing close to Brown with their heads and hands touching.
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Bailey tagged Brown in the post and he responded to the image with a fire emoji, but not everyone appeared as excited about the release of the single.
Music fans were quick to criticise the 24-year-old over her decision to collaborate with Brown, who pled guilty to physically assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009.
Brown was sentenced to five years of probation, community service hours and domestic violence counselling in the wake of the events, which also sparked huge backlash from both his and Rihanna's fanbases.
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Many music fans expressed their disappointment and frustration over Bailey's decision to share a song with Brown, with one writing: "We’re failing Black women in music if they feel like they have to collaborate with a known abuser in order to chart."
Another unimpressed person wrote: "We won't be supporting. Sorry, sister," while a third commented: "It’s 2023 and women still collaborating with Chris Brown."
"Why him? I thought you are better .. out all of the people in this industry.. why him?," asked another.
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Bailey previously commented on her upcoming album in an interview with Essence last year, when she described the project as the embodiment of 'everything that [she's] been going through'.
"All the tearing down, people underestimating, telling me I can’t do it — all of those things have gone into the music," Bailey said.
“The album is me picking myself up and talking myself out of any little place or space that the world has tried to put me in, that people and personal relationships have tried to put me in, and even [doing that to] myself. It’s me breaking free.”
News of Bailey's new track comes amid Brown's ongoing world tour, which this week saw him take to the stage for his first solo show in the UK in 13 years.
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UNILAD has reached out to representatives for Bailey for comment.
Emily Brown