00:00Mean, I'm not afraid to say it
00:01But I love listening to my music because it's like my own personal journal entries that I get to look back
00:10Hey, what's up? It's Khalid here and you're watching billboard news
00:16Hey everybody, I'm Rania niftos with billboard news and I could not be more excited
00:21I have one of my favorite artists here in the studio today. We have Khaleed
00:25Everybody
00:27Happy to be here. I'm so happy to have you
00:30And like what a special time in your career right now. You're about to release your third studio album sincere
00:36This is the one that I have been waiting five years for it to come out
00:40I feel like this is the one full of music that I've been harboring over the past half decade
00:46Just for the perfect moment and I feel like no moment is more perfect
00:55I
00:56Where do you feel that you are in your growth the journey that you're like, I feel comfortable with this
01:00I met a random person a year ago in South Africa
01:05Actually, and I had a conversation with him and he shook my hand and looked me in my eyes
01:10And he told me he was like next year is gonna be one of the biggest years that you've had in your career so far
01:15He's like 2024 Wow
01:18crazy real story half of the album wasn't even like
01:23Fully mixed half of the album isn't even fully produced. There's like seven tracks
01:28I don't even know what's coming on the album and like I took his words for the truth
01:33And I've been chasing that ever since and it's like finally here. We are and I agree
01:39It's like I was touched by an angel
01:46I mean who is the Khalid I think that you want to introduce with sincere
01:51I mean, I feel like the title says it all yeah you and all your aspects exactly when I debuted I was 17 years old
01:57I had no true sense of self writing not even from my experiences
02:02but I feel like this album is exactly that I took it back to basics and I
02:09Approached this as if I was debuting as an artist all over again
02:13So it's like I'm coming right back to the start of my journey
02:17But this time with more insight and more knowledge you're releasing ground
02:25As part of ground you had this quote in your post that was as beautiful as the top may seem
02:30I'm so happy to embrace the ground that I walk on what inspired that notion because I feel like so many of us
02:38Need to hear something like that because we're so caught up in the attachment the goal, you know, I love the dream
02:44It's it's all about the dream
02:46but when I looked at
02:48When I first came into this industry, it's the moments that led up to the dream coming true
02:54That I really wish I could relive those moments feeling the first for the very first time
02:59Meeting my favorite artists for the very first time having those conversations with them for the very first time my first time performing in LA
03:06My first time accepting a Billboard Music Award my first time everything. Yeah, it's it's something
03:12There's something so beautiful about those firsts and I feel like with this journey, there's still many firsts left to come for sure
03:19It's only the beginning in so many ways and about the creative process of the album something that I found really interesting that you mentioned
03:25Was that the songs came throughout the years?
03:28How do you choose a song to go on the album that I guess represents that time but still represents you now, you know
03:35Yes, and I'm sure other artists can relate to this
03:38you record
03:39Hundreds of songs before a project comes out but for me when I'm thinking about picking these songs for for an album
03:46which songs
03:49Immediately when I recorded them made me feel something when I left the room
03:52Which songs did I play on my ride home from the studio on?
03:57Repeat before I got home and those are the ones that I keep in this pile of okay
04:01This is this pile of selects. I'm like, okay
04:05But which one still makes me feel something now when I listen to it and that's the one I'm keeping that and that's the one
04:11I'm putting them out makes sense because those are the keys I think of all of your favorite songs
04:15They're the ones that you revisit after years and they still like hurt or they still make you feel amazing or all that stuff
04:21And I love that you can apply that to your own situation
04:25I mean, I'm not afraid to say it
04:27but I love listening to my music because
04:29It's like my own personal journal entries that I get to look back at and I'm like, wow
04:33I was really going through something when I wrote this song or at Wow
04:38I was really visiting a place for the first time when I conceptualize the song
04:43So when I look back and I listen to my music, it's it immediately brings me to those moments those stories
04:50So I love listening and I love reflecting not even just on this album
04:54But I still love listening to better and I still love listening to American teen
04:58I still love listening to all these things because I'm like I thought of that
05:03But then I'm like, I'm so glad that it wasn't just the thought right I'm so glad I released it
05:09I love it
05:10and that must translate to performing live because I think
05:14Sometimes when you have a hit a lot of times you're chained to performing that forever. Does that?
05:21Perspective that you just mentioned allow you to kind of just enjoy being able to perform these songs
05:26like it's so funny you say that there was once a point in my career where I was like
05:31I have to perform young dumb and broke for the rest of my life
05:37Have to sing about being a young dumb broke high school kid for the rest of my life 50 years old
05:4250 years old and I'm speaking about but then through the pandemic and I reflected I'm like
05:49Right. Those are the times that I didn't have a care in the world and I'm not worried about anything and I embrace those
05:55Those songs because when I think about performing these for people I think about how do they listen to this song?
06:01How do they view the experience?
06:02They're coming into this like 18 years old and they could be 60
06:07You could be wherever but you're reflecting on moments of nostalgia that makes you feel good
06:12And and that's what validates it for me. So when I sing I'm not just singing for my own experience. It's a connection
06:18It's a mutual experience. We're having a conversation and I mean, it seems like you're in a really good headspace
06:24but is there any pressure to
06:26You know release this album after it's been some time since a studio album came out for you
06:32The hardest thing to do is to ignore what you're being told by others
06:37Sometimes you internalize those thoughts
06:39Yeah, when you internalize them, it's hard to decipher what's true and what's false
06:45But for me, I really took a step back and I'm like, what do I do what I do for why do I do this?
06:51And I do it because I love it and I feel called to it and in some ways I remind myself
06:58I was born to do this what beats out all of the
07:02Opinions and the thoughts is intuition. How does it make my heart feel when I'm doing this? Some people might not understand
07:11where I've been at in the journey, especially because
07:15I'm super soft-spoken and quiet at times
07:18I'm more than excited to show them where I've been over these past few years and that
07:26It's worth the wait it is a hundred percent worth the wait
07:29I mean the singles you've released already are well worth the wait
07:32In what ways do you feel that you've grown as a songwriter as a musician as an artist when I think about this album?
07:40Before I was speaking. I mean I was naive of my experiences. I didn't know
07:45Who the songs would touch I didn't know where they would be hurt through the knowledge that I've garnered over the past few years
07:51I know my audience I can connect with my audience
07:54And so I hear them asking for many things and I hear them asking for their stories to be told
08:00I hear them asking for something to relate to and now I'm like, you know what?
08:04I'm confident enough to do that for you guys. How does it work when you get into the studio?
08:08Do you start with a lyric? Do you start with the melody? Is it a mix? I am an
08:13Impulsive creator. I mean even you can ask my friends. I'm the type of friend. That's randomly like do you guys just want to go to?
08:22Do something random and they're like we have to plan for these things and I look at myself that way in the studio as well
08:29I can't plan a song
08:31I might have an idea
08:33but it's sparse when I'm in the studio and I step behind that mic and I close my eyes and
08:40The producer is playing fresh keys for the first time and it's something so magical about that moment
08:46Yeah, I find myself in those moments
08:50Writing a song within five to ten minutes. It just floats out of me the words
08:56I freestyle the melody everything is very freestyle
09:00But it's those songs too that I come back to years later that I didn't finish
09:05I'm like I didn't finish it because I had to wait for this
09:10I had to learn what I wanted to talk about, I had to experience what I wanted to talk about like the words were there
09:15But they were distant and they were small and sometimes you have to wait for those words to get so loud and unbearable
09:21I'm like I gotta get it out
09:22You know you're talking before about how much intuition played such a role in your career and letting the song guide you
09:30Sometimes we try to control everything
09:32Sometimes I go into a studio and I'm like I want to write a song about love
09:37But then you start writing and I'm like well
09:39I don't feel anything and then you wait for a moment where you're on a walk and
09:44Wind is brushing upon your ear and you're like, oh, I got it. I love this moment
09:50I love I love I love I love and then that's when the song
09:53Mm-hmm. You gotta wait for the moment
09:55You gotta wait and what would you say?
09:57Like if you went back to yourself, maybe right when like young dumb broke location came out
10:02What would you say to that Khalid be patient wait?
10:06Because the best has yet to come I always look back at that 12 year old version of myself
10:14dreaming and
10:15standing on tabletops and singing for all my friends and I'm like
10:19I'm gonna be this big artist and I'm gonna be all this and I look at where I where I'm at now and I'm
10:26He would be so proud of the man that I have grown to become and I think when you're young you're like
10:32This is it. This is the best my life's ever gonna be but that's not true
10:35Yeah, it really does get better. I'm like living in the American teen era like
10:42There's so much to see
10:44I'm like you haven't seen anything yet
10:56You are so unique in the sense that you're genre lists when it comes to not only your music but the collaborations
11:03EDM you'll do R&B. You'll do pop. How do you get into the studio? And I guess I don't know morph into
11:11connecting with whoever you're working with
11:14collaborations are my way of stepping into the artist's world that I'm working with and
11:19discovering them and
11:21Understanding them and creating with them when I do collaborations
11:25I gravitate to the ones that are like, let's make the song together
11:29But I'm still moved when people are like I imagined you on this song and I'm like, oh you thought of me
11:34Yeah, cool. I'll try it and I'll try to bring the best version of myself
11:39But I always listen to it like what is gonna complement this artist and what is gonna complement their path?
11:46I mean what's gonna complement their voice? And so it's it's
11:50Extremely complimentary. Is there someone that you haven't worked with yet that you're really hoping to get in the studio it you know
11:56I I met Tyler and I love Tyler and I see her in front of me right now. Maybe that's a sign
12:03Yeah, I'm really thinking about it
12:05You know, I want to work with her when I feel like the time is right and and I would love to work with Tyler
12:10I love her voice love her energy and I just think that she's a star on the opposite end
12:14I could see Noah Khan for you, too
12:17Because I think you guys both have that like intuitive
12:21heart driven
12:23Nervousism that you can fold. Yeah, I just try it out
12:28And I'm so open. So if you're an artist out there and you're thinking of me a reach out you never know. You never know
12:36What has been the biggest adjustment when it comes to dealing with being the spotlight?
12:42especially now with the social media aspect added into everything valuing what I want out of this career and
12:50Not being offended
12:53By much I have this altercation with my fans all the time because they'll beg me for music
12:59We want it. We want it. We want it and sometimes I selfishly think well, it's not done. You can't have it yet
13:05But then I remind myself they're just excited. It's just excited to hear me
13:09Yeah, just as if I'm meeting someone randomly in the grocery store and they asked me for a picture
13:13I'm like, they're just excited to see me. Yeah, when does it have to change?
13:17I remember when I first started this career and I'm
13:20Sitting on the side of football games and people are asking me if they want to take my picture and I'm so excited
13:25I'm practically walking around the the football arena like
13:30Like why does that have to change
13:33Yeah, I mean it goes back to again reminding yourself why you're in this
13:36You know like to connect with people and these people connect with your music. What more can you ask for?
13:42You know, this is my job
13:43Yeah
13:44And I'm blessed to be able to do it at the capacity that I'm able to do it at so if you see me and you
13:50Appreciate me. Don't feel afraid to come up to me and talk. I love it. I love it and on this album
13:55I mean this might be a tough question given that you're so, you know attached to everything you do
14:01Is there a lyric or maybe a song that like really encompasses the vibe that you want to bring?
14:06There's one that is who says there isn't beauty in everything we see and there's another that is
14:13Almost seems to cut me deep just like a dagger to my stomach as you watch me bleed
14:18Is this what I deserve and I look at it like this when you're sad?
14:21There's so many people telling you to be happy not telling you to embrace your sadness
14:27When you're happy, there's so many people trying to tear you down and to make you sad
14:32Yeah, but I can live in happiness and have the best time
14:36But I can also live in sadness and I can grow exactly
14:40It's where I like where the light enters is like that dark those dark moments is when you start realizing things about yourself
14:47And I love that you use the word light because when I think about this album and I look at these pictures behind me
14:53That's what I see. I see
14:55Light peeking through the darkness. I love that black and white motif. It's all
15:00Coming together. I love it. I love it. I mean think about it all day. You're like wow.
15:08And lastly
15:10What is a message that you hope that these fans who love you and connect with your music feel when they hear sincere?
15:16There's nothing better to be than to be sincere. It's what we're here to be y'all. I love it. Hey you
15:23Be yourself. Be sincere. I love it. I mean no better way to end this
15:28I've loved you forever. I'm so glad that you're back. Thank you so much for having me
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