Ungodly Hour

In March 2018, Chloe x Halle released their debut studio album, The Kids Are Alright, which earned them nominations for two Grammy Awards, Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best New Artist. Much like The Kids Are Alright, which was recorded entirely in their family living room in Los Angeles,[1] most of Ungodly Hour was recorded in the duo's household parking garage, which they had converted into a home studio.[2] Chloe was the primary producer of the record and was inspired by "90s music and early 2000s production" during the creative process.[3] The sisters executively produced the entire record with help from Beyoncé who had previously discovered, mentored, and signed them to her label Parkwood Entertainment.[4] It also features production from Sounwave, Jake One, Scott Storch, Avedon, Disclosure, Jeff Gitelman, Nasri, Mike Will Made It, Pluss, Royal Z, Asoteric, Boi-1da and Vinylz, as well as songwriting from prominent songwriters Nija Charles and Victoria Monét.

The duo finished recording Ungodly Hour in October 2019, and finished filming the associated music videos in November 2019.[5] The duo made use of mood boards during the brainstorming phase of their creative process.[6] The duo co-wrote all thirteen of the tracks on Ungodly Hour, with Chloe helping produce ten of those tracks.[7][1] Chloe told Women's Wear Daily, "It was really collaborative. But we still executive produced it. We had our hands in everything on this album."[1] They also revealed to NPR that creative control was paramount in their work ethic for the album.[7]

Ungodly Hour is an R&B,[8] pop,[9] and hip hop soul[10] record which contains elements of trap,[11] soul,[12] hip hop,[8] blues,[4] acoustic pop,[12] UK garage,[4] doo-wop,[13] gospel,[14] jazz,[13] techno,[13] indie rock,[13] and sophisti-pop.[15] Shahzaib Hussain of Clash describes the album as "the spiritual companion piece to their debut", and that it is a "cohesive, complete listen".[8] Nick Levine of BBC Culture stated the album "offers modern R&B at its most sleek and serene".[4]

Most of the tracks on Ungodly Hour are about "navigating messy situations — sometimes ones that you have caused."[3] The concept of the album has a constant message of being completely unapologetic about one's true self.[16] The thirty-second album opener "Intro" contains the lyric "Don't ever ask for permission, ask for forgiveness", before immediately leading into the track "Forgive Me". This song in particular pushes the aforementioned message, and also drives a "sorry, not sorry" attitude while giving "a proverbial middle finger up to the lovers they've spurned".[8] The track "Baby Girl" was noted by critics for its female empowerment elements and for "reconciling the vulnerability of womanhood with the angst of their younger, more impressionable selves."[17][8][18]

In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music on BBC Radio 1, Chloe said that the duo "really just wanted to show how we could pair [their] musicianship with a few bops and letting people enjoy themselves." The duo developed the title Ungodly Hour while writing the lead single "Do It".[19] Halle revealed that they gave the record this name because "it's okay to not be perfect all the time. We wanted to challenge the idea of us being these perfect angels that everybody has this image of us in their head."[20] In another interview with NPR, Halle also said she felt that "during [the 'ungodly hour'], there can be a lot of things going on through your head" and that a person may think of all the insecurities or ups and downs they may have in life, hence why in the title track they sing the lyric: "When you decide you like yourself, and you need someone in your life, love me at the ungodly hour. Love me at my best and my worst."[7]

On December 4, 2019, the duo first announced the name of the album and performed the unreleased songs "Do It" and "ROYL" during a standalone performance at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles.[21] In April 2020, Chloe x Halle posted various clues and lyrics on social media to tease the single "Catch Up" with Swae Lee featuring Mike Will Made It, which was later released on April 16.[22][23][24] On May 14, 2020, Chloe x Halle announced the album and revealed its artwork and release date of June 5 via social media.[25] With this announcement, the second single "Do It" was released,[26][20] and would later earn Chloe x Halle their first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 83.[27] The track would go on to peak at number 63. The duo revealed the tracklist via social media on May 28,[28] and on June 2 postponed the release of the album by a week as a gesture of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and the global protests following the murder of George Floyd.[29] Ungodly Hour was released on June 12, 2020 alongside the release of the music video for its third single "Forgive Me".[30][31][32] In early September 2020, Chloe x Halle released a remix of their single "Do It" featuring Doja Cat, City Girls and Mulatto.[33] The single was shortly certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, becoming the duo's first-ever certification in their career.[34]

On February 24, 2021, Chloe x Halle went on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to announce the release of the Ungodly Hour (Chrome Edition). A music video for the album's title track was released on the same evening.[35] The reissue was released on February 26, 2021, alongside a first time vinyl release and includes two new songs.[36][37]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.5/10[58]
Metacritic	81/100[59]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[12]
Clash	8.0/10[8]
The Daily Telegraph	[60]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[14]
The Guardian	[61]
The Line of Best Fit	9.0/10[10]
Our Culture Mag	[62]
Pitchfork	7.7/10[63]
Rolling Stone	[64]

The album received critical acclaim, with critics praising their vocal delivery, artistic growth, maturity, and the album's cohesiveness. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 81 based on 9 sources, indicating "universal acclaim".[59]

Shahzaib Hussain of Clash stated that the album "lacks some of the DIY spirit of their earlier efforts, but benefits from navigating the trails of playability and experimentation". He praised the fact that the album "doesn't adhere to good-girl-gone-bad tropes, that age-old changeover from wide-eyed teen sensations to risqué provocateurs" and that the pair's vocals and harmonies elevated the more mundane tracks, concluding that the album "is a soothing salve for a world on fire. It's an avowal of sisterhood and sorority, a projection of a generation of young black women galvanized by a collective willingness to enact efficacious change in the face of adversity."[8] Rachel Aroesti of The Guardian said the pair match "sumptuous harmonies with intricate beats" and that the listener's attention was drawn to the album's details and "the slow-burn appeal of the pair's vocal melodies, which are habitually inventive, ornate and hauntingly beautiful".[61]

Comparing the album to the act's previous release, Andy Kellman from AllMusic claimed "the Baileys' second album is really a refinement of and progression from The Kids Are Alright. Its pop-R&B foundation is a little slicker, still tricked out with the occasional trap-styled production techniques—probing bass, rattling percussion—twisted just enough to not sound overdone."[12]

At the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, Ungodly Hour and its tracks received three nominations: The album was nominated for Best Progressive R&B Album, its lead single, "Do It", was nominated for Best R&B Song, while "Wonder What She Thinks of Me" was nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance.[75][76]

Ungodly Hour debuted at number 16 on the Billboard 200 chart with 24,000 units sold.[27] It peaked at number 80 on the UK Albums chart,[79] number 11 on the UK R&B Albums chart,[80] number 160 on the Belgian Albums chart,[81] and number 200 on the French Albums chart.[82]