INTERVIEW: Khalid Spills On Working With Kelly Rowland On Her New Album

It's only been six months since the release of Khalid's debut album, American Teen, but the rising star is shaping up to be more of an American Dream for his 1.2 million Instagram followers. At just 19-years-old, the Texan transplant has found a way at evoking the vulnerabilities of being a teenager in 2017 and pairing it effortlessly with his low-key R&B sounds on hits like his 2x platinum-certified "Location" and "Young Dumb & Broke." After all, there's a reason why he recently hit stages like the MTV VMA Pre-Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live! 

Ahead of his performance at the Daytime Village at the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Festival on Saturday (September 23), the chart-topper took to our headquarters in New York City to discuss working with Kelly Rowland on her next album, his upcoming Sin City set and how he's hopeful that this star-studded weekend will lead to even more collaborations. Take a look at our Q&A with Khalid below!

iHeartRadio: I know you're in the middle of touring right now. How's life on the road going?

Khalid:  Life on the road is fun. It's definitely tiring. I love this tour so much because it's just finally the "American Teen Tour" after the debut album. I mean, it [was] released in March and ever since then it's just been ridiculous. Meeting so many new fans who are familiar but not too familiar. They all get to feel my personality out on the stage. Actually, I brought my best friends with me on the road, so makes it a lot easier for me too.

You recently dropped your collaboration with Marshmello. Talk to me a little bit about what it's like working with him.

Marshmello's super awesome. He's so nice. He's so grounded. He's a really good friend of mine. I actually met him at Coachella. [That was the] first time I met him. I was nervous to meet him, but I finally saw him without the mask, so it made things a lot better. But we started a friendship way before we even had an idea of working together. Once our friendship had started, then that's when it was super natural and genuine, like "Yo, we should actually do a song together. It would be dope."

The moment that we got together in the studio, the song just flew out. We got done in like a day, probably less than that. We finished the song and for me, the song was super personal because I felt like it was just my own sense of expression of just my acceptance of loneliness. I was like, "Okay, I'm lonely, but I can turn this loneliness into a positive. I can make something from it and maybe people out there can relate to that as well."

When the song came out a couple of days ago, the reception was way bigger than what I thought it would be. It's just one of my favorite songs that I've written in a while and I'm so proud of him and all the success that he's getting.

Is it harder to work with people that you may not have a relationship with?

It's definitely really hard to work with people who I don't have a friendship with. Sometimes I won't even work with someone unless I can meet them or I can talk to them because for me, to tell the story, we have to know each other's story. We have to know who each other are. If we don't, then you can hear that within a song. But if you have chemistry with another artist, you can hear the chemistry within the music that you make. You can hear the relationship. You can hear the friendship. You can hear the passion. For me, all the songs that I have out are songs that I have with my friends.

I ask because I also saw that photo of you and Kelly Rowland. I know you guys share the same birthday, so I was just thinking: 'Was the vibe similar with her?'

Oh yeah. I actually knew me and Kelly Rowland shared the same birthday before I met her. I knew that as a kid, as a child, because she's practically ... she's not practically, she is an icon. Being in such an iconic group, her solo career, all that. Destiny's Child is my mom's favorite group, so meeting her was definitely nerve-wracking. I'm like, "Wow, I'm meeting Kelly Rowland," but the conversations that I had with her ... she became my friend in less than 10 minutes because of how sweet she was. Because of what we were talking about. Because of how open we were. We had to be completely open because to make a song, to write a song with someone else, you have to know what they're going through, so that you can emulate that throughout the song. [It's] so that the listener can hear. They're like, "Wow, I feel this because I was going through the same thing not too long ago."

I think you told Angie Martinez that it was one of your favorite songs that you've ever written.

Yeah, oh yeah. Definitely. Kelly is dope. I actually miss her. I haven't seen her for a while, so hopefully I see her soon.

You will be playing the Daytime Village at our iHeartRadio Music Festival. Is it easier to play a festival set as opposed to a more intimate show catered specifically to you?

I think festivals are a little bit more difficult than an intimate setting or my own personal show because you have so many people and they're here for music, not just a particular artist. They're here for all of the artists. But I feel like the feeling and the energy is like no other. Walking out in a festival setting and just seeing all these passionate fans screaming and yelling your words at you. It's crazy and I'm super excited because I feel like I'm gonna take that energy and I'm gonna give it back. I'm gonna let them know [that] I appreciate everyone who's out here — literally everyone, even if you're not familiar with me — because I wanna make sure that I get to work hard enough so that you are familiar with my sound.

Considering it is in Vegas, do you have any wild stories about sin city?

My perception of Vegas before I went there, I was like, "Ah, I can't wait." When I got there, I was like, "Wait. I'm 19-years-old." Everything that there is to do, I can't do anything. So the first time I was in Vegas, I spent Vegas in a hotel room alone. It wasn't fun. Hopefully this time, [I] get a little bit more leeway, and I get to go out and I get to have fun, especially since now my friends are coming.

[Related: INTERVIEW: What You Need To Know About Khalid's Daytime Village Performance]

There's gonna be a lot of artists coming through the iHeartRadio Music Festival, particularly the Daytime Village. You have Julia Michaels, Migos ... Is there anyone in particular that you hope to bump into?

Julia Michaels, I haven't met her yet. She's an amazing songwriter. I can't wait to meet her and just thank her for her music and for her work. I'm excited to see anyone honestly. I try to be friendly. I think I am. So hopefully, people come up to me as well and whoever, who knows, maybe a potential collab will come from the Village.

What else do we got planned for 2017?

I have a Lorde tour coming up in Europe, which I'm super excited about. It's gonna be so much fun. Possibly some more collabs, I've been working a lot. I'm going to Australia for the first time ever in my life, which is gonna be dope. And [I have] just a lot of great music, and a lot of fun, a lot of growth. I mean, 2017 has been ridiculous for me, so far. It's only been how long since the album came out and it's doing way better than I expected, so hopefully it keeps doing well. Hopefully, it goes platinum sometime soon. I'm hoping for it.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

If you want to see Khalid during the 2017 iHeartRadio Daytime Village Presented by Capital One, make sure you grab your tickets to the Saturday affair via Ticketmaster.

Photo: Rachel Kaplan for iHeartRadio


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