‘A pinch me moment’: Meet the Milton Keynes singer whose songs have featured on ITV’s Love Island

Chloe Wilson, who grew up in Bletchley and started playing the piano aged six, had two songs from her debut EP, ‘Broken Me’ and ‘What If I Let Go?’ featured on the reality show.

It is the latest chapter in the musical journey of an artist who has been tipped as ‘a rising star’ on the music scene, having signed a distribution and publishing deal with Wipe Out Music before a single note of her music was released.

Explaining how her music ended up on Love Island Chloe told the Citizen: “When I released my debut EP 'All My Feelings Falling Out' last year, all the songs were pitched for music in TV and film.

“This year, two of those songs were featured on Love Island!

“I got told in advance that it was going to be used, I just didn't know when or where in the show.

“One night I put it on in the background while I was working and I heard that intro piano line of 'Broken Me' come on and I just screamed and danced around a lot!

“It was very surreal to hear my music played on such a big TV show, very much a pinch me moment.

“It's really cool to see when something that means so much to you is put in the spotlight.”

Chloe, who describes herself as ‘a really energetic kid’, recalled: “I used to put on performances at the top of my stairs and set up a seating area at the bottom where I would make my family sit and watch a performance I'd spent the afternoon rehearsing!

“I think my mum noticed my interest in music from a young age and helped me get the opportunity to see if it was something I actually liked.

“From there, the floodgates kind of opened and I was sold. I remember I used to take songs off the newest 'Now That's What I Call...' CDs and change the lyrics into my own!”

Chloe, who has just turned 23, recalled how she spent her weekends, aged 13 and 14, busking in London at Trafalgar Square and Oxford Circus.

“I did this for a couple of years and I just loved it,” Chloe said.

“{It was} the thrill of being able to see if what I was playing could stop people going about their day and make them pay attention.

“Busking really teaches you a fundamental about being an independent artist - tenacity.

“Some days you'd go and make a couple of hundred quid and you would feel on top of the world, other days I'd spend four or five hours playing and only make a tenner.

“I think the difficult days of this really set me up well for the ups and downs of being an artist.”

When she turned 16, Chloe started playing in pubs and restaurants most weekends while at high school, before doing the same while at university.

Chloe is set to make her main stage debut at a festival at the weekend when she performs at the Bedford River Festival on July 18.

She has performances lined up later this year in London, Northampton and Stoke-on-Trent, as well as closer to home, when she supports Never The Bride at The Craufurd Arms pub on October 24.

Chloe is also preparing to release her next wave of songs and says she is ‘excited for them to be out in the world.’

COMMENT – By Neil Shefferd

Chloe regularly performs alongside her band, but when I saw her play for the first time it was during a solo show at The Swan pub in the Buckinghamshire village of Stewkley.

“When I play solo shows it really feels like everything gets brought back to the beginning,” she said.

“I feel like me and the audience might as well be back at that school piano in my living room.

“It's how all my songs begin when I write them, and I love the contrast of intimacy between the two.

“The show on Sunday {at The Swan} almost felt like I was going back even further to when I used to play at pubs and restaurants on the weekend because I don't usually play that many covers in my sets now or play so often in pubs.”

Chloe’s website describes her as “a vocal powerhouse wrapped in wide-leg jeans and big ginger curls”, and despite the sweltering conditions, Chloe wore her wide-leg jeans for the occasion, while her powerful vocals filled the pub’s garden.

Chloe brought along her own chair as she performed solo, playing the electric piano to accompany her vocals.

Without the support of her band, Chloe joked that she ‘felt a bit exposed’ as the centre of attention.

The only thing exposed was some midriff, as a relaxed Chloe delighted pubgoers with covers ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Paolo Nutini, alongside some of her own work.

With Chloe set to make her main stage festival debut this weekend, and having her music featured on ITV’s Love Island, it is easy to see why she is described as ‘a rising star’ in the music scene.

Chloe is promising bigger shows, bigger visuals, and maybe even some bigger hair, and it is clear that she has a big future in music too.

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