AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Khalid has written many songs about romance. His music has topped the charts around the world and charmed the hearts of millions of fans. But on his new album, loving and accepting yourself are the big themes. It's called "After The Sun Goes Down," and he says, that's the time when he truly feels alive.
KHALID: Sometimes we see darkness, and we see the night, and we think of fear. But to me, I just think of freedom. I think of empty streets that you just walk on or just side streets you find yourself following that leads you to a random bar or pub. You know, you work all day, and you play all night. And that's kind of what I feel like this album, to me, sounds like. It just sounds like freedom, like, really indulging myself into the beauty of the night.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OUT OF BODY")
KHALID: (Singing) Yeah, ah. Way too gone off the deep end. No, I can't swim, but I still dive for you. Sun goes down in the evening on the East End, but it still shines for you. Stay right there. Don't you leave yet. All my secrets, want to share it all for you. Way too gone off the deep end. No, I can't swim, but I still fall for you. Come on, now. Let's get it started. You want it...
RASCOE: To me, listening to this album, it seems to be all about having fun, just - and also just being young.
KHALID: Yeah, it really is. I even feels even more youthful now because I feel like I'm finally able to dive into stories that I've been holding on to for so long.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OUT OF BODY")
KHALID: (Singing) You want it, and I'm about it.
I'm a happy-go-lucky, tongue-in-cheek type of guy that's flirty and fearless.
(LAUGHTER)
KHALID: And I feel like now I'm just able to dive into romanticism in a way that there's no bad blood. Like, it's all stories of my nature, which is just a free spirit.
RASCOE: I know some people listening may wonder, is there someone who maybe you dealt with who you - there could be bad blood? - because someone from your romantic past around this time last year outed you and so basically told your story without you being able to decide how to tell that story.
KHALID: Right, right.
RASCOE: You confirmed that you're gay, and coming out is generally - I mean, it's hard to do, but it's also so personal. How do you feel now having come through that?
KHALID: I think that there's a lot of ownership to bad blood. To have bad blood means that you have to harbor that. It has to live inside of you. And once I was outed, I didn't want to harbor anything. Such a level of negativity - it has nothing to do with me, but everything to do with how I respond. I'm a musician. I'm going to put it in the music.
(SOUNDBITE OF KHALID SONG, "NAH")
KHALID: I'm going to talk about freedom. I'm going to talk about liberation. To say that I have bad blood would not be the truth because I'm living the best times of my life right now.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NAH")
KHALID: (Singing) What's the benefit? The way you cling onto me, I'm not into it. Not really feeling it. It's like we've been there before. What is happening? You must be out of your mind now. I got to put you in timeout.
RASCOE: What did you learn from that experience? Did it change how you see yourself, how you think the public sees you?
KHALID: I learned that it's not that bad, being truly yourself. I was so scared to reveal sides of myself because I was always afraid that they would be weaponized against me. But I'm being embraced.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NAH")
KHALID: (Singing) Games, like, nah, nah, nah. Putting up with you is walking on a tightrope. Now you got me tripping, it's another cycle. Think I better leave right now, now, like, nah, nah. Like, nah, nah, nah. Do it all with...
I just learned so much. I learned true freedom. Like, I thought I was free, but I was really a prisoner of my own anxiety. Now I just feel like I'm just able to just walk with some pep in my step and my head held high.
RASCOE: Well, and there's - you have this song, "Hurt People."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HURT PEOPLE")
KHALID: (Singing) Oh, I've known hurt before, hurt before. And I know...
RASCOE: You're talking about connecting with other people who've also been hurt, who may understand that hurt. Did your experience that you went through last year - did that help inspire that song?
KHALID: I think that "Hurt People" to me - it actually was inspired more by the passing of my father and also just true empathy. I understand that if I let the terrible things that happened to my life consume me, that I would be a very hurtful person.
RASCOE: You know, I lost my father as a young child, and, you know, you're a child, so you don't get to really know them, and then there's so many experiences that they miss. How do you make sense of it? How do you deal with that grief?
KHALID: Oh, my God. It's still hard.
RASCOE: Yeah.
KHALID: Grief never gets easy. My father passed away when I was in the second grade, and I'm still having conversations as a 27-year-old man that are bringing me to tears. Thinking about the conversations that you could have had, the support that I could have even gotten from my father when I was outed - I didn't get to have that conversation with him. And so to live without that connection, you will always feel the loss.
RASCOE: Yeah, and the wonder of what could have been.
KHALID: Exactly.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HURT PEOPLE")
KHALID: (Singing) See no one wants the poison inside their veins. We all know that the ocean can't stop its waves. And like a wilted flower that loses life, I crawl into my shadow, and then I hide. 'Cause I've known hurt before, hurt before. And I know...
RASCOE: You've obviously been through a lot to be the artist that you are today. Talk to me about how your time growing up - how that shaped you. I know that you moved around a lot. How is that reflected in your album?
KHALID: Being a military kid, living overseas in Germany - when you step outside of the base and seeing just a completely different culture, and then even coming back onto the base and seeing nothing but American culture, just gave me a lot of perspective on life as a storyteller. But then also, you know, moving to northern New York, American folk music is really big in the North country and gave me a more - a stronger sensibility of, like, the importance of lyricism.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TRUE")
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTISTS: (Singing) It's true that I, it's true that I want you.
KHALID: Being raised in the South as well, R&B is always at the center of my core. The different pockets of the world that I was able to live in keeps me wanting to remain so worldly.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TRUE")
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTISTS: (Singing) Yeah.
KHALID: (Singing) Take a leap with me. Why don't you fall in my arms? My only intention was to heal all your scars. 'Cause...
RASCOE: "After The Sun Goes Down" is full of, like, romantic love songs. Has your idea of love changed since you released your first album nearly a decade ago?
KHALID: Yes, because I feel like when we speak about love, we have to speak about respect. And I feel like in the beginning, my music was an idea of love that I never felt that I longed for. So there's a lot of loneliness in that love. I think that there's so much more maturity with the love that I speak now, and I think to be mature is to understand that love doesn't always last forever. But when you experience love, you choose to hold on to it. You choose to give it to others.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TRUE")
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTISTS: (Singing) Yeah.
RASCOE: That's the musician Khalid, talking about his new album, "After The Sun Goes Down." Thank you so much.
KHALID: Thank y'all.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TRUE")
KHALID: (Singing) I wouldn't want to lead you blind. You've been more than patient, yeah, so I'm going to make it right. I get strung up, and I panic. But then I come to my senses. One more try and I won't give up. I, I, I - ooh, can't seem to keep my focus when you're away, so stay. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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