Chelsea Pastel
Image via Destiny Fulfilled
Watch the recap video of Ice Cream Fridae, a Fresh Scoops live event featuring Chelsea Pastel
Chelsea Pastel aka Chelsea Ferguson grew up listening to artists like Michael Jackson, Jay-Z, MC Lyte, Missy Elliott, Nicki Minaj, Paul Wall, Mike Jones, and Crime Mob who all greatly influenced her artistry. Chelsea played a variety of instruments as a child - saxophone, trombone, tuba, drums, and piano, starting around the 5th grade, before attending Cleveland School of the Arts in Cleveland, OH. This likely helped her more easily pick up the art of production when she began making beats in college at the University of Toledo and Cleveland State University. Still, this was years after she started rapping, which she says was around 8th or 9th grade under the name, “C Money.” Years later as a beatmaker, she transitioned to the name, “ChelsLovesBeats,” but finally landed on the alias, “Chelsea Pastel,” inspired by her favorite color scheme. After attending college and focusing more and more on her craft, Chelsea began a job at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. While working there, she would write songs, and just a few years later, she would go on to perform those songs at the venue.
Chelsea Pastel released her self-titled, debut EP in 2017. The 5-track effort is highlighted by the opening track, “Flossin’.” Beyond rappers and singers, Chelsea’s music is largely influenced by other aspects of pop culture, including video games and TV. This is put on a larger display on Chelsea’s debut project, Pastelevision (like “television”), released in October 2021. On the project, Chelsea comes through with hard-hitting raps, and lands a feature from Cleveland legend, Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony on the song, “Eastside.”
Chelsea has released just two songs in the past two years, likely to be the lead singles for the project. The first, “Jeeps” was released in 2020, with the video game-inspired music video released in August 2021. In March 2021, Chelsea released “Stop Asking,” a song that sounds like a major reemergence, discussing themes of COVID-19, quarantine, and delaying the release of new music. In 2021, Chelsea also jumped on two features for The Monday Program; “Laying Low” and “Late Night Runs.” In the same year as Pastelevision, Chelsea Pastel also formed a partnership with Issa Rae’s Raedio. The partnership is a sync agreement with about 6 songs, set to appear in various Viacom shows, including Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta.
Chelsea returned in January 2023 with “Last Year I Was Broke,” her first release in nearly 6 months, and well worth the wait. The song started her 2023 off right, foreshadowing the big year to come. In June 2023, fellow Clevelander, Kid Cudi announced that Chelsea Pastel will be one of the performers at the second annual Moon Man’s Landing festival in Cleveland, OH on August 19.
Follow Chelsea Pastel
In The Media