Tune in as Khalid joins on #AudacyCheckIn to talk about his latest album ‘Sincere’ + more!
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00:00If I would choose any rapper to do a collaboration project with, I'm definitely going with Black.
00:06I mean, we've already done songs together, so we have chemistry.
00:10I would probably do something with J. Cole as well. I've met him and he was super kind to me as well.
00:15So I feel like kindness is key, you know.
00:18If you can have a conversation and you can meet someone and you can connect with them, then the sky's the limit.
00:24All right, what's up? It's Mike Adam.
00:27We are at the Odyssey Soundspace at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York for our check-in with Khalid.
00:33What's up, everybody? Thank you for having me.
00:35Of course, man. Congratulations on everything.
00:38I love your voice. I love the new project.
00:40I appreciate it.
00:42Five-year gap between this album and the last.
00:46I imagine you were writing all through that, through the pandemic.
00:50How did you know now was the time to drop the album?
00:54Well, when I started off, I started writing music at 17 years old.
01:00To go from being a high school student into a multi-platinum career in a matter of two to three years.
01:08Tell them!
01:09No, but it was insane. It was nothing that they can teach you.
01:12It's nothing that they can prepare you for.
01:14I really feel like I had to take some time off to write.
01:17To understand what I wanted my true impact as an artist to be on this earth.
01:24What ways I wanted to connect with my fans.
01:26It took a lot of lived experiences.
01:30Walking life and seeing the world.
01:33Seeing different sides of the world for me to get to this point where I finish this album.
01:40I'm putting out something that I feel like is rooted in my core.
01:44It's exactly the name of the title of the album.
01:46This is Sincere.
01:48Please don't fall in love with me.
01:50It samples Alicia and Drake.
01:53It got me thinking.
01:55Can you remember the first song you heard that you didn't know was a sample?
02:01Something that puts you on to an old song or even a recent song where you were like,
02:07For me it was probably Puff Daddy No Way Out because there were so many fire samples on there.
02:11I would say it was this song.
02:14One of my favorite songs actually that I've loved for years.
02:17Fill It All Around by Washed Out.
02:20I didn't know that the whole baseline of that song is a sample from another song.
02:26From a Spanish artist from the 70s or something like that.
02:31It's kind of insane how you listen to a song.
02:34Or even Changes, Tupac.
02:37Yes!
02:38Changes, Tupac.
02:39But I love this sample now and I've been listening to the way it is.
02:42Bruce Hornsby?
02:44I've been listening to the way it is for a minute now.
02:47I'm addicted to that song.
02:49I feel like if you didn't even throw it in the intro it would take people a minute to pick up on it.
02:55Yeah.
02:57So you sampled Drake on this.
02:59I know you are a lifelong Die Hard Kendrick fan as well though.
03:04I have my thoughts on this but I want to know yours.
03:08Do you feel like in 2024 rap beef is still important for the culture?
03:18For hip hop?
03:19I definitely believe that competition in any sport is important to thrive, to create for the culture.
03:29Me, I'm a little pop star that stays out of the way and minds my own business.
03:35I don't really get too much in other people's business or anybody else's altercations.
03:40I kind of try to choose a low profile, chill, relaxed life over here.
03:45But as long as it stays chill, right?
03:47It brings out the best of these lyricists usually, which is amazing.
03:51Yeah, as long as people are looking at it for their benefit, for their benefit to thrive and creativity.
03:58I mean, I don't necessarily see it as a problem.
04:01So if Khalid was to come out with a full project or even an EP with a rapper,
04:07do you know who you would pair well with?
04:09Who you would want to do that with?
04:12I don't know, actually. I don't know.
04:16I'm more of a vibe person.
04:18I feel like it's about just sitting in the room with you, getting to know who you are, connecting with you on a deeper level.
04:24I mean, if I would choose any rapper to do a collaboration project with, I'm definitely going with Black.
04:31I mean, we've already done songs together, so we have chemistry.
04:35I would probably do something with J. Cole as well.
04:37I've met him and he was super kind to me as well.
04:40So I feel like kindness is key.
04:43If you can have a conversation and you can meet someone and you can connect with them, then the sky's the limit.
04:48So now in R&B and pop, really in all genres, things are so polished from an engineering standpoint with vocals and everything
04:59versus like you look at Al Green, Marvin Gaye, when there were mistakes, they would be kept in.
05:07And I feel like a lot of times that makes you connect with the vocals on a different level.
05:12Do you like where it's at? Do you ever think it'll go back?
05:15I mean, I feel like nostalgia is one of the biggest drugs known to man.
05:22And we have to just understand that times are different and autotune can also be a talent.
05:31The way that people can utilize these programs on their computers, that has to be respected for something.
05:37But it doesn't mean that there's not classically trained musicians that are thriving and are killing it in the game.
05:43But I like to see the beauty in both sides of the spectrum.
05:47I wish I could have picked up a laptop when I grew up and learned how to produce on Pro Tools or something like that,
05:53but I took a different route.
05:55But I respect it all.
05:57If I wasn't doing this, maybe I would have learned to be a little bit more classically trained as an artist.
06:01So like I said, I love both sides.
06:04You should be a politician, bro.
06:07Was there any track on this album that almost didn't make the cut that you were going back and forth with?
06:12Like, should I throw it on there?
06:14Yeah, definitely.
06:15Heatstroke, actually, I added.
06:17I want to say it was like three, four weeks before I turned into the master.
06:23Yeah, I mean, you never know.
06:25And I did that song in like 2021.
06:27But like I said, I'm very impulse driven.
06:29I move with my heart.
06:31And one day I just randomly decided, you know what?
06:33I feel like this album is missing.
06:35I took like two songs off and I replaced it with another.
06:37And it seems to be doing well for me right now.
06:39Yeah, man.
06:41It's crazy how it works out like that.
06:43That's great.
06:45And it's awesome that you are at that point now in your career, only three albums deep, and you can make a decision on a whim like that.
06:51That's awesome.
06:53I mean, I love writing music.
06:55I love making music.
06:57And I love curating my music for my listeners and for my fans.
06:59And so when I was finishing up the album, I'm like, something is definitely missing.
07:03And I've recorded like hundreds of songs over the past few years.
07:09So there's definitely a lot of songs to fill in the gaps.
07:11Bro, you got to answer this question.
07:13You have to answer this question.
07:15Okay?
07:17Is there a fire line, a line you know?
07:19A line itself that will go viral on TikTok that you got in your back pocket that you haven't slid into a song yet?
07:27Come on.
07:29Break out your phone if you need to.
07:31A viral line?
07:33Yes.
07:35Just a line that you love and you know you're going to use it at some point, but you haven't worked it into a song yet.
07:39Actually, I don't work like that.
07:43No, truthfully, I don't work like that.
07:45I don't think about what I write until I hit the studio.
07:47Really?
07:49Yeah.
07:51Okay.
07:53I'm like a freestyle-based creator.
07:55I'm not going to do it right now.
07:57Don't ask.
07:59But I could probably freestyle a song from five to ten minutes off rip.
08:01I love that.
08:03Super, super impulse-driven.
08:05I don't even know what I'm going to eat for lunch today.
08:07I don't know what I'm going to eat for dinner tonight.
08:09Just super impulse-driven.
08:11Before we wrap, you're doing our We Can Survive concert, which I love.
08:15The whole point of it is it raises mental health awareness.
08:19Right.
08:21I just want to ask you, what's been your relationship with your mental health, especially using writing as an outlet and the pandemic?
08:31Have you found hobbies that help you keep you in a good space and stuff like that?
08:35Long walks.
08:37I mean, we sleep on walks, but they are so important.
08:41I feel like my walking through the pandemic over the past few years definitely has improved.
08:47You start walking one mile.
08:49You start walking two.
08:51You start walking five.
08:53It gives me time to reflect on my life and the path that I've led.
08:57And it's a long time.
08:59You can either choose to listen to music.
09:01You can choose to listen to the wind.
09:03I feel like long walks have definitely helped me gain a lot of mental focus and clarity.
09:07I love that.
09:09What's your relationship with that phone?
09:11How does that factor into it?
09:13I mean, I feel like I'm an average phone user.
09:17I kind of stay out of the way.
09:21I mean, social media has transformed into a different place.
09:25I feel like I'm a little outdated and trying to catch up with the times here and there.
09:29But yeah, it's pretty average, pretty healthy.
09:33Awesome.
09:35Khalid, thank you so much for giving us your time.