Halle Bailey will play Ariel in the upcoming The Little Mermaid and the internet is overwhelmed.
Black Twitter reacting to the news that Halle Bailey from the group ChloeXHalle was cast as Ariel in Disney’s Live Action Little Mermaid pic.twitter.com/QiBEOG2awy
— Matthew A. Cherry ???? (@MatthewACherry) July 3, 2019
Brandy walked so Halle Bailey could swim. pic.twitter.com/FGuwAzAHUT
— Kevin Fallon (@kpfallon) July 3, 2019
Halle Bailey, a Black teens who wears locs, being cast as a Disney princess is what dreams are made of. Imagine what just seeing her onscreen will do for this generation of Black girls.
— Evette Dionne ???? (@freeblackgirl) July 3, 2019
our girl halle is all the way up. so proud. ❤️
—-
source: https://t.co/52t77L9kWq pic.twitter.com/kfqUxhPBEe— grown-ish (@grownish) July 3, 2019
HALLE THEE BAILEY?!??? As ARIEL?! I am speechless!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/ekXsWiRhiq
— marcus ????️???? (@mapcus) July 3, 2019
Bailey and her sister Chloe also posted about the news on Twitter.
dream come true… ????????♀️???? pic.twitter.com/sndjYUS6wO
— chloe x halle (@chloexhalle) July 3, 2019
But how did Bailey rise to the level of Disney Princess, being plucked out of a massive nationwide search? The casting may appear at the surface level to come out of nowhere, but Bailey and her sister have been active in the entertainment world for some time now, rising further and further in the ranks of fame each year.
It all started in 2013 with the sisters’ cover of Beyonce’s “Pretty Hurts,” which they uploaded to their growing YouTube channel under their R&B group name, Chloe x Halle. The video quickly went viral, and Beyoncé herself catapulted the group to a successful R&B career with her Parkwood Entertainment label. It was a pairing destined to happen, as Chloe’s first on-screen credit was in 2003 when she had a small role in The Fighting Temptations starring Beyoncé and Cuba Gooding Jr. Together and separate, the sisters have also appeared in bit roles in films such as Last Holiday, Meet the Browns and television series like House of Payne.
Under Parkwood Entertainment, Chloe x Halle released their first EP, Sugar Symphony in 2016. Their 2017 follow-up was their mixtape The Two of Us, which ironically features one of the sisters in a mermaid tail, and their latest musical offering is 2018’s The Kids Are Alright their debut studio album. It garnered the duo Grammy nominations, including one for Best New Artist.
In between their various album releases, Chloe x Halle has been featured on the Formation and On the Run II tours, Beyonce’s Lemonade visual album and the soundtrack for A Wrinkle in Time. They also sang “America the Beautiful” at the 2018 Super Bowl.
Then, of course, they also star on the black-ish Freeform spinoff grown-ish. Both were upped to series regulars in Season 2 after recurring in the first season.
As you can see, Bailey has loads of talent and charm to body this role of Ariel, and we will be eagerly watching her performance.
READ MORE:
Halle Bailey To Star As Ariel In Disney’s Live-Action ‘The Little Mermaid’
Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
