In August 2024, Khalid released what he described as his most personal album to date, Sincere. The US singer-songwriter’s third record, he said, was returning to his roots.
Three months later, he was outed by an ex-boyfriend on social media.
Rather than shy away from the unexpected scrutiny, Khalid immediately got to work on his fourth album, After the Sun Goes Down, which is out today. This record, he says, is “taking his power back.”
But don’t be fooled — that’s not why Khalid is back with new music just 14 months later.
“I knew I was always gonna follow up with something quickly when I was writing Sincere,” he tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ over Zoom.
“Because although it took me four years to write that album, the last year that I wrote the album — I think this was 2023 — I wrote the most songs for the album. It was the year I wrote, like, eight songs that made a 15 or 16-track album.
“I think it was when I got into a major car accident. I was on tour with Ed Sheeran at this point, [and I] got into a major car accident that changed my life completely. It reminded me of how fragile life actually is. And I got caught in this highly inspired time period, and I finished the album. I just wanted to find that spark, and I did.
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“Being aware of the reception of Sincere, you know, there were a lot of people who I feel [were] maybe conflicted on my eras, because I’ve collaborated with so many different genres, I’ve worked with so many different artists… some people are hopping on from [2021 track] ‘Skyline’, but some people are hopping on from [2024 single] ‘Please Don’t Fall in Love with Me’. So people don’t know what to expect. I think I knew that my next move, I wanted it to be as quick and as fragrant as it possibly could because I wanted people to feel where I was currently in that moment.”
After the Sun Goes Down could be a career-defining moment for Khalid.
Not only is the record executive produced by Ilya Salmanzadeh, who has worked with some of pop’s biggest names like Sheeran, Ariana Grande, and Sam Smith, but he has also recruited the likes of iconic producer Darkchild, who’s credits include Destiny’s Child, Whitney Houston, and Jennifer Lopez.
The result is an upbeat offering which blends dance, pop, and R&B. Undoubtedly, this is a new era for Khalid.
“I’m so inspired by the Rihanna’s and the Britney’s and the Janet’s, and I’m discovering music on my own, and I’m discovering pop, and I’m just discovering monster records for the first time,” he explains. “[…] that was one of the the most major time periods of pop music and pop culture in general – the late ’00s and the early ’00s and ’10s. It was the age where the digital era started to be intertwined with music… the makings of me as an artist, I feel like [they] reside in that time period.
“I feel like with this album, I knew that I wanted to go back to pop, but I wanted to do it in the way that I felt connected to it the most. I look at this as more like an homage or just thanks to the icons that paved the way for me to be able to do this, and, a more current lens, as a now openly gay black man.
Now on his fourth album, it’s difficult to believe Khalid is still just 27 years old.
The Georgia-born star first burst onto the scene with 2017’s American Teen when he was 19. As well as hitting music charts around the world, Khalid scored a string of Grammy nominations the next year, including Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best New Artist.
It seemed that the sky was the limit for the singer, but that in itself presented problems.
“I had my entire life to make American Teen. It was real. It was authentic. These were real experiences,” he recalls. “I’m really passing out in the back of cabs with my friends, sneaking out and going to parties and smoking a lot of weed and having fun and finding out [about] myself, but dealing with loneliness and feeling isolated.
“I look at it like this: the perspective was just different. I hadn’t dealt with being publicly perceived by the world at that point, so nothing could influence the decisions that I made when it came to making my music. It’s just like riding a bike: I could finally ride that bike and I was just going and going and going for miles on the end. I didn’t want to get off that bike, you know? But eventually riding along that bike, the path got harder. It got harder to be more authentic. It got harder to be real because people like one thing and they’re always comparing you to that one thing.
“So, you’re thinking to yourself, ‘Damn. How do I grow as as any artist wants? How do I grow? How do I continue?’
“It was a very tough period of time for me. Because I also wasn’t out, so I couldn’t really talk about love on a more sensual end, you know? I did my best that I could possibly do to still connect with my audience, but I was definitely guarding myself in a way. Now, I feel like it’s a full circle moment. I’m back to not worrying about public perception. Before, I only did it because I hadn’t experienced it to worry. Now I’m aware enough to understand that worrying debilitates my creative flow as an artist.
“So I’m just choosing the music and and I’m wearing that as my armour and my shield, regardless of whatever people feel about my sexuality or who I am.”
The irony isn’t lost on Khalid that his main concern throughout his career has been staying authentic to the music, while he’s spent this year largely dealing with (and embracing) public attention about his sexuality. This is the most free he’s ever felt, but he wants the focus to be where it should be: on the music.
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“I like people talking about how much they love my music. I don’t really like people talking about how much they love my outfit or not,” he laughs.
“I’m like, ‘Look, I’m a musician and I’m here to make music to feed the source’ I’m here to connect to people and I think that I just had to really come back to centre and I had to think in value. Like, what do I really love about what I do? And first and foremost, I love music and it trumps everything. I think finding that love again has allowed me to be, just [in] this flow state of creativity.
“It’s a parallel for sure, because I’m feeling some of the same feelings that I felt [on] American Teen when I made this album. I’m having the same personal conversations with myself in the mirror when I think about this album that I did when I made American Teen, and it feels good to be back to that place.”
So, if American Teen was the beginning and Sincere was his most personal record, where does After the Sun Goes Down fit into Khalid’s catalogue?
“This era is full acceptance and immersion to the community that I’m celebrating,” he says definitively.
“It’s above me as an artist… this doesn’t have anything to do with my own ego, this is just about the music. I want to bring people together to celebrate, to have fun, to feel alive, to dance, to scream, to shout, to sing, and I wanted to make an album that I felt would move people. I feel moved by it, which makes me feel like someone else will move too.”
Given the pivot in sound and direction, it’s fair to say Khalid has tapped into something new and exciting. But even he can’t say for sure he’ll still be in this world of pop music in the future.
“I will never just limit myself to a pocket of genre or a collaboration, you know? Whatever feels right and whatever feels the most authentic is what I’ll chase. So to say, you know, what’s the next album? It hasn’t found me yet… but shit, if I’m just on the road and I hear a song and blow in the wind in my ear… I’m never gonna stop myself from getting out there and being creative.
“I celebrate creativity.”
Khalid’s After the Sun Goes Down is out now.
