A: About two years and I started this TikTok account where I would post videos about my favorite books and movies, and, shockingly enough, people actually started following me. Honestly, it wasn’t until I started that account that I realized pursuing music could be a possibility for me because whenever I would live stream myself singing or post a video of an original song, I’d get such a supportive and encouraging response from viewers. So, this past June I worked with my older brother, Patrick, and the two of us released a single together called “Alternate Ending,” a song that was heavily inspired by two characters in a book I had just finished reading, Shadow and Bone. When I posted about it on my TikTok, it got a lot of attention because so many people loved this idea of writing songs inspired by books since it made it that much more relatable for them (if they’ve read the book the song was about). My brother and I decided to keep going in that direction and by the end of the summer, we had written and recorded an entire EP with a few of our friends, where each song was inspired by a different book. I posted a video about it on TikTok a week before its release date and it managed to get half a million views! That still blows my mind.

A: For me, what makes music so enjoyable is being able to share it with people. I’ve been singing and writing poems and lyrics since I was in elementary school, but I’ve only ever felt the drive to create more when I can share or work on it with others. It’s always so exhilarating to see someone else’s response to something you’ve spent so long working on. I grew up in a musical family, so I like to think that my fate was practically sealed before I could walk, but I didn’t actually start making my own music until my junior year of high school in 2019. I remember listening to “All I Want” by Olivia Rodrigo for the first time and being so taken with her lyrics and melodies that I decided that I wanted to be able to do the same thing. Ever since then, I’ve written as much as possible – it’s become kind of therapeutic. Over the summer, I began writing with my older brother and the two of us realized that our musical preferences sort of complement each other. Now, he produces everything I write.

A: Well, a few days ago we hit 60,000 streams on my EP “Daisies,” which is a huge milestone for us because it’s been out for less than a month and had already passed the two singles we put out prior, Alternate Ending and Ghost. I know that 60,000 still isn’t a lot compared to many of the successful artists out there, but I’m still so happy to have reached it.

A: If I had to give someone advice about pursuing music, I’d tell them that everyone’s journey is different. It’s so easy to think that in order to be ‘successful,’ you have to be exactly like every other famous singer or influencer out there – that you have to have the same start, write the same kind of music, dress the same way, etc. – but that’s not true at all. My brother and I record and produce all our music in the basement of our home or in a college dorm, which, while it doesn’t seem very “professional,” has proven to work just fine for us. I tend to fall into the trap of trying to mimic other artists or think that I’ll never make it if I don’t model my music and life after other successful artists, but what’s really important to understand is that no two stories look the same. I don’t need to become Billie Eilish or Taylor Swift or Phoebe Bridgers because the world already has them – what the world doesn’t have is Chloe Ament. It may sound cliché, but just be yourself. Also, be patient with yourself. Don’t give up if you release something and it doesn’t do as well as you anticipated! When my brother and I released “Ghost” as a single, it did so poorly, I was seriously considering quitting music and owning it all up to a childish pipe dream but thank God I didn’t, or else we never would have released “Daisies!”

A: I feel like it’s important that I say that you don’t have to read the books that the EP is about in order to understand the songs! I’ve had a surprising number of people reach out to me and ask if the song would spoil the book if they haven’t read it yet, and I have to clarify that the music is more about the feeling that I got while reading, not really about the plot itself. I write about things that I’ve read and things that I’ve watched because I don’t have much life experience to write about, but that doesn’t make the songs any less meaningful or authentic to me. Hopefully, in the future, I’ll be able to share more songs about reality than fiction, but I guess you’ll have to wait and see!

A: This is only the beginning. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I feel that “Daisies” was just a taste of what my brother and I are capable of accomplishing. I’m so excited to share our next release with you guys… keep an eye out on October 29th!