Q&A: Rodney Chrome
Born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, Rodney Chrome has always carried an unshakable sense that he was meant for something bigger.
Today, that intuition reads like prophecy. Chrome is confidence incarnate—an artist crafting mainstream-caliber pop with an all-encompassing creative vision. As a young Black queer performer, he commands full autonomy over every facet of his world: from full-out choreography to the lighting design that frames his live shows. Nothing is accidental; everything you see is Rodney Chrome–coded. His aesthetic, his sound, his movement—each is unmistakably his, carving out a template of self-determination and ambition for the communities he comes from.
After a five-year hiatus following his breakout project Queer Pressure, Chrome returned with GO, a sleek and self-assured new EP. Its standout track, “BBL,” crystallizes his identity as a true triple threat—straddling the line between pop theatrics and hyperpop maximalism, weaving in bursts of hip-hop agility, and embracing the ever-expanding possibilities of electronic music.
The GO EP is your first body of work in a while. How does it feel to have this out in the world?
GO feels like a breath of fresh air for my art right now. It’s been giving me a new energy for music and the process of creating songs. Trusting my instincts with producing and even how certain beat choices make my body move have been new techniques I’ve been allowing my creative process to pick up with this release. I guess in all I would say GO has been a big introduction for new listeners but also a kickstart for a more refined Rodney Chrome.
What prompted the brief hiatus?
Truthfully, life. I needed to ground myself in my personal life before continuing to let people into my world. I would also give myself the grace to say that I needed to find myself a little more. It’s very easy to get caught in a wave of what everyone else is doing, but to trust your personal intuition is a muscle that I needed time to strengthen.
I feel like the tracks from GO feel very Rodney Chrome but grown. What was the process & mentality behind making this versus your previous work?
Confidence. Creating my previous work kinda felt like I was shooting in the dark to be a popstar with no major experiences to make my lyrics credible. When creating GO, it felt as if I was sitting in my identity with ease versus previously trying to overly display my non-conformity within pop music.
What does “GO” represent to you? Why this title specifically?
A boost. A green light. A pep talk. All of it.
There was no extensive storyline with GO, opposed to my previous projects. I just wanted to make songs that felt good for me to listen back to, and whatever genre(s) those songs fit in were based upon the listener. I needed to be reminded why I love creating music and also do a check-in with day 1 Rodney Chrome fans and say that I’m still going strong and the dream is still the same.
You’ve always seamlessly blended music and visual identity. How did visuals play into the creation of this EP?
I wanted GO to be a stamp that my visual identity is still at the forefront of my creativity. A lot of songs on this EP are heavily inspired by the genres of dance I grew up with. “BBL,” “Cyborg,” & “Beat Machine” were videos that barely had any set choreography. Most of the movement in those videos was improvised on the day of. I wanted those videos to feel fun, and not to sound corny, but freeing. I needed my body to have a moment of intuition the same way my ears did when creating GO. No set direction, just instinct.
Which song from the EP was the most memorable to make?
No Brakes / Software Update
Who is your definite MUST LISTEN to of the week?
Lately, I’ve been going back to a lot of Dwele but specifically his song “Obey.”