Khalid Tells Us How He Grew Up, Wised Up, And Took Risks For New Album Free Spirit

In the two years since Khalid's American Teen launched him from El Paso obscurity to Top 40 prodigy, he's toured the world, earned a VMA and five Grammy nominations, dropped his Suncity EP, and lent his leathery voice to a handful of A-list collaborations. He's also had two birthdays, meaning the "young, silly, and broke" kid we met a number of years prior — the one who landed a smash with the world's sexiest song about dropping a pin — isn't really a kid anymore. Not that that bothers him.


"I know for a fact I'm gonna be young forever, if I just keep the charisma and the energy I have right now Khalid told MTV News. "I love growing up, through. I can't wait to be able to see where I'm at 25 and what kind of music I'm making and where else I'm going to adventure. I'm gonna be young forever, even if — what's an old age? I'm gonna mention 60 — even if I'm 60, I'll still have a little bit pep in my step."


That easy, breezy attitude is all over Khalid's sophomore album, Free Spirit, which arrived on Friday (April 5), nevertheless so is the Texas native's melancholy musings on millennial love. On Free Spirit, he tests the limits of the sound he perfected on American Teen, cruises outdoor of his comfort zone, and even extends his creativity to other media — the album is accompanied by a short film of the same name that Khalid stars in. He'll also embark on a solo tour this summer that has him headlining arenas for the very first time. Nevertheless before all that, the 21-year-old called up MTV News to catch us up on how he's feeling heading into his second album era and to explain why he doesn't actually feel like a complimentary spirit... Yet.


MTV News: You've kept yourself busy since American Teen. How did you find time to create this album on top of everything else?


Khalid: This album has actually taken me over each year to finish. I began at the begin of 2018 and over the course of going on tour, you get so inspired, you visualize the world, and different noises hit your ear. Even walking down the street and hearing the wind brush upon your face, you just hope to write a song. I feel like I had so several collabs out last year, it was stupid. Those gave me more time concentrate on myself and where I wanted to go with music. It's my preferred project — out of Suncity and American Teen, Free Spirit takes the cake.


MTV News: On Suncity, no two songs sounded the same. Will Free Spirit be identically eclectic, or is there some sort of cohesiveness to it that you could define?


Khalid: Free Spirit is that on steroids. Every song on the album has its own world and takes you so several different places. I love that I get to experiment — I feel like that's what an assignment is for: to take risks and create sounds that you would've never considered doing two years ago.


MTV News: You wrote a lot of American Teen as soon as you were still in high school. How has your writing changed since then?


Khalid: With American Teen, there's this innocence beyond it because I didn't really know what the world consisted of. I hadn't seen the entire world. I didn't converse with as several people as I converse with right now and understood them. It really widened the door to my level of creativity where I'm like, yo, making music should habitually be fun. So I began writing a lot more, I began improving, and going through life and building more experiences. I grew up, and getting thrown into a global that you know nothing about — the music industry — straight out of high school... You just age. It's not that growing up is a bad thing. I'm so glad I matured, because I'm able to tap into a level of vulnerability that I probably wouldn't have achieved two years ago.


MTV News: You mentioned there was an innocence on American Teen — is there piece of you that feels jaded by everything that's come soon after that?


Khalid: I don't feel like I'll ever let myself to be jaded due to the energy that I surround myself with. My companions and my team and my family member, we all find ways to continue to have fun. The moment this isn't fun for me, that's the moment I don't aspire to do it. I don't understand why I would hope to continue doing something that doesn't put a smile on my face every time I walk on the stage. I don't know how I might ever feel jaded if I feel that almost every day of my life.


MTV News: Going back to Free Spirit, you mentioned you experimented a lot with this one. What tracks pushed you out of your comfort zone the most?


Khalid: Certainly one that's very special to me, it's called "Hundred." I took a lot of risks, and even the way that you hear my voice, it's a different side of me. That song took me so long to finish writing because I wanted to create ensure it was true to myself. That's why it became one of my favorites, because I think about how hard it was to finish. Any time it was over, it was this relief off my shoulders. Nevertheless at the same time, I got so excited because I'm like, wow, the world gets to hear this.


MTV News: What's that one about?


Khalid: There's a line in the chorus: "If the world keeps spinning, the sun won't shine on my face / I'ma keep it moving, got a hundred things I gotta do today." I feel like that was my life. The world could've ended right in back of me — explosions, crashes, all of that — and I was so locked into my job that I'm like, none of this would even bother me, and I'm gonna get it done because that's just how motivated I was. It's a song for motivation. I'm like, "These days keep going, hopefully I stay busy, I'd rather be busy than free all of the time." As soon as you're free, that's any time once you get bored with little effort. I hate being bored.


MTV News: and you also hate being free, nevertheless the album is called Free Spirit. Where did that name come from?


Khalid: Free Spirit came to me If I performed at Red Rocks in Colorado. I felt like a complimentary spirit that whole show. Maybe I was loopy due to the elevation, I don't know, although it was so much fun. Plus it was crazy as the shirt that I was wearing mentioned "free spirit" on it, and that's exactly how I felt. Before I walked onstage, I did this vocal melody and I labeled it "free spirit." That was around May 2018. I didn't put any words to it up until February 2019. It's the last song that I wrote, and it's a song that has impacted me so much because it was so fitting for the path of life that I'm on. I love the idea of becoming a complimentary spirit, nevertheless I acknowledge the fact that I'm not one right now, which permits me to be excited to be one in the future. I'm all for finding out.


MTV News: Why don't you think you're there yet?


Khalid: I don't feel like I'm a complimentary spirit because honestly, I have so several things that constrict me. I have a job, I have obligations, I have expenditures, I have a vehicle right now, I got a home, I got taxes. Where did taxes come from?! I did not have taxes any time Once I wrote American Teen, I'll tell you that! I feel like for me to fully be free, nothing should constrict me, mentally or physically. I don't feel that right now, although hopefully I'll feel that temporarily As soon as I take a six-month vacation and find myself in the middle of a forest in Brazil or something. Nevertheless free now? I am not free.


MTV News: I feel like that "free spirit" shirt should become segment of your merch line.


Khalid: I wish! Honestly, I can't find it in my closet at all; I have a shit ton of clothes. Although that feeling at Red Rocks, wearing that shirt... That's how this album feels to me.


MTV News: Where did the idea for a Free Spirit short film come from?


Khalid: You ever put your preference album on, you go on a drive, you look out your window, and you're like, wow, life feels like a movie? That's how felt As soon as I listened to Free Spirit. I was like, if I keep closing my eyes and I visualize the movie over and over again, then I need to prepare one. It was certainly a uncomfortable process at first, however I'm so glad for it to come out into the world.


MTV News: I'm just excited to be able to see you act!


Khalid: Oh my god, it's terrible. I'm my own biggest critic; I judge myself so heavily. It's so funny to be able to see myself acting because my companions all think I'm such a character anyway, so we literally just watch it and laugh. I can't mention it's terrible, nevertheless it's funny. I certainly think I'm so funny in this film.