Enter The Wacky & Wonderful World of Coco & Clair Clair [@coclair333]

Words by: Andrea Susarrey

Friends and musical duo Coco & Clair Clair created a world that makes you feel like you’re a character in the My Scene movie.

Coco & Clair are a duo from Atlanta that is firmly part of the cities tradition of going against the grain. Musically they first labelled themselves as making “demon glam rock” early on in their days on Soundcloud and sure, why not run with that label. But their music can’t really be cornered into any one genre and that is what makes it as special and enticing as it is.  

Coco & Clair´s music is a combination of singing and melodic rapping over fantastical Dream Pop beats. They have the complete and total assertiveness expected in Rap – the flexing and the insults etc.  Yet it’s delivered in a completely different tone, creating a whole new world and mood. This world sounds like one that could only be born from the freedom and playfulness of making music with a friend. This bold and genuine approach to their musical project is what I believe makes their sound as fun and rare as it is. 

Taylor Nave (Coco) and Claire Toothill (Clair Clair) both grew up in the suburbs outside Atlanta and became friends through Twitter. From there, the progression to making music together occurred naturally. In 2020, they came out with an EP, Treat Like Gold, and since then they have just been releasing singles, likely because they no longer both live in the same city with one base in New York and the other Atlanta at the moment.

Treat Like Gold consists of four songs, starting with ‘Wishy Washy’, a smooth yet bouncy tune that leads you into the sassiness of the rest of the EP. The other songs on it are consistent with the energy-  some songs like ‘TLG‘ and ‘Pretty’ have a reminiscent to early 2000s R&B. This makes sense as they often reference celebrities like Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, and Michael Jackson in the music.

Coco makes the beats on GarageBand, which might be why there is something reminiscent of Grimes‘ early albums like Geidi Primes and Visions which were also made on GarageBand. Besides the obvious genre differences, they share the same avant garde and DIY spirit in their music. Most of Coco & Clair‘s videos are self-directed, sometimes shot by someone else and their whole approach to presenting their musical projects seems to centre around authenticity and just being in the moment. The video that stands out the most is the video for ‘Sims 2’, which is a video in the Sims world that see’s a green-screened Coco & Claire singing and performing along with their Sim avatars. 

Their abrasive yet sweet sound is a combination of a memory of a flip-phone past and a lo-fi future. They are proof that sometimes the best stuff comes from not taking yourself too seriously and just having fun with it.