The Poet of Booktok: Chloe Ament
“Book-tok” is an online community on TikTok where readers of all ages and identities come together for a shared a love for books and reading. They often are at the forefront of trends in the literary world. Book-tok has grown in popularity over the last few years, and one rising star is climbing the ranks for her literary-inspired music. Chloe Ament, bona fide poet of Book-tok, is an independent artist from Baltimore, Maryland. Ament, 20, attends college in York, Pennsylvania with her brother, Patrick, who collaborates with her in music production. The duo made music out of their basement for years, and as their following has grown, they have been able to get more studio time as a result. Her inspirations are heavily rooted in the literature she consumes and that is what makes her musical style truly unique.
Describing her style, Ament’s niche music is similar to the “production style of Paramore, the lyricism of early Taylor Swift, and a performance reminiscent of Lizzy McAlpine meets Sabrina Carpenter.” Her music is for the girly-pop girls. Paramore’s After Laughter album is often referenced in her sound production, while her lyrical and vocal sound is inspired more so by the poeticism and harmonies of Swift's Fearless and 1989.
Image courtesy of @erikas_bookshelf
“Writing about books was unintentional,” Ament says. “It’s not like a conscious decision I make. There was a decision there, but only after I saw how much of my writing was inspired by the content I consumed.” Her love for consuming content like books, movies and television drives her to create music about things and experiences that move her. Among some examples of this are her more popular songs, being inspired by the fanfiction sensation All the Young Dudes by MsKingBean89, and her most recent song, “Will You Want Me Now?” inspired by Zoya from the Shadow and Bone trilogy. Ament is rather fond of gathering inspiration from fellow readers and their recommendations: “I love pouring myself into books. I love it when words that people write make me feel real emotions. I think that’s such a beautiful thing that we can do.”
Her two favorite songs she has produced are based on “The Amazing Spider-Man” and the Shadow and Bone trilogy. “Stay Right Here (Demo),” based on “The Amazing Spider-Man,” is a favorite because she worked on so much of it by herself and lyrically, the song captures her desire to paint specific pictures that point toward much larger ideas. Tied for her favorite track and based on the Shadow and Bone trilogy is her newest single, “Will You Want Me Now?” It contains some of the “most meaningful, from-the-heart lyrics that I've ever written before. It’s tough writing about characters because I cannot help [using myself for inspiration] at the same time — just putting little pieces of me in every song even if it isn’t fully about me. ‘Will You Want Me Now?’ is a song that was [essentially] 50/50 the whole time.”
The creation of Ament’s new single was a long and painstaking process. She started writing in February and knew it would be different because she and her brother had gotten into a significant argument over the lyrics. “Will You Want Me Now?” had an interesting writing process, in which the two explore a new sound and “lyrically stretched” themselves. The duo wrote the lyrics first and did a traditional circle-time session in the studio with just acoustic instruments, ending with a thirty-minute voice memo. There were constant revisions to the song and it was being workshopped up until its release on September 29th. Ament notes that this song is a more accurate representation of the new genre she is trying to tap into.
The artist’s growing following and budding career aren't the only two things on her mind. Her biggest goals for the next six months are to have another song hit a million streams, to travel and play more shows. More than anything, she always aims to share good music with people and describes herself as “just kinda livin' life for the ride.”
Ament stresses many mantras in addition to this one for amateur musicians. One of the most important lessons she has learned has been to avoid putting any expectations on the music itself. The goal to be famous puts so much pressure on artists to create work that will sell, versus art that truly represents who they are as people. It's healthier for the artist to take pride in the music they share with the world, rather than creating simply to sell.