Pianist Chloe Flower brings her pop meets classical style to new Christmas record

Record ID: 1757255

  • Title: Pianist Chloe Flower brings her pop meets classical style to new Christmas record
  • Date: 12th December 2023
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 23, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) PIANIST CHLOE FLOWER, SAYING: ''I love pop music. And when I say pop, I say popular music, like all forms of popular music. And I love traditional classical. I am both of those things just like I am Asian. I'm also American, very, very Asian, but I'm also very, very American. I'm very tradi
  • Embargoed: 26th December 2023 10:53
  • Keywords: BTS Chloe Flower Nicole Scherzinger
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: UK
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Music
  • Reuters ID: LVA008024622112023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: With a love of fashion and both pop and classical music, acclaimed American pianist Chloe Flower hopes to offer audiences something a bit different with her 'popsical' style.
    Encouraged by her parents, 38-year-old Flower, who was born in Pennsylvania and is of Korean heritage, started playing piano when she was two years old.
    ''I don't think there's anything else I could do for 14 hours a day and not like want to die,'' she said.
    Explaining that just like she is both Asian and American, when it comes to music she is ''obsessed with popular music'' and traditional classical music, hence she mixes the two together.
    ''I just decided to call (my style) 'Popsical' because I didn't fit into a genre or a box,'' she said.
    Flower's profile rose significantly in 2019 when rapper Cardi B not only hired her to play piano on stage with her at the Grammy Awards, she got Flower a piano from composer Liberace to play on, made sure her solo's were kept in and that her outfit looked great.
    ''She wanted me to stand out .... she was really doing me a favour.''
    Following her first album release in 2021, Flower has just launched the festive record ''Chloe Hearts Christmas'', a varied16-track collection including her take on Tchaikovsky's ''Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy'' and hits such as ''River'' by Joni Mitchell.
    ''I wanted to create something for everyone because I know the holidays aren't always happy for everyone. So I wanted to kind of create this like a dream where it kind of ebbs and flows through happy and sad and melancholy and hopeful,'' she said.
    One of the tracks - ''Christmas Tree'', which was released by South Korean singer V from hit K-Pop band BTS in 2021, she recorded in just one take and was flattered when he shared it on his social media.
    ''For V to appreciate it and to post it, it was like so amazing, what's better?'' She said - adding jokingly that a collaboration would be better.
    ''I love (how) BTS (have) brought Asian culture to America. I see friends singing in Korean and they have no idea what they're saying, but that's so cool, right?''
    She would also be up for working with her friend, the singer and actor Nicole Scherzinger, who Flower says was one of the first Asian stars she saw doing pop music.
    As for the future, she hopes classical music continues to grow so that audiences can tell the various players apart, and she wants to ''compose a lot more original stuff''.
    Released by Sony Music Masterworks, her latest album is out now.
    (Production: Gerry Mey, Sarah Mills)
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