The release of Khalid’s sophomore album, Free Spirit, is barely over a week away now, and in the lead-up, he’s shared a handful of songs from the record. Now he’s back with another one, the contemplative “Self.” The mid-tempo track sees the 21-year-old getting introspective: A fan asked Khalid on Twitter what lyrics from the song are most important to him, and he answered, “There’s many people dying / I’ve always been afraid / Not that I’m scared of living / I’m scared of feeling pain.”
Khalid previously spoke about the album with Zane Lowe, and he said that despite the title Free Spirit, it’s actually a dark record:
“For me, although it’s called Free Spirit, it’s definitely so dark. It’s dark, but it’s not too dark, where’s like, ‘Ugh, I’m dragging, I’m so sad.’ It’s more just like, ‘I’m in pain, you’re in pain, we’re in pain. This is a coming of age. We are finding ourselves.’ The roughest years of your life are around this time, from 18 to 21. […] People still go through it. People still go through troubles of finding themselves. Luckily, I get to find myself through these records.”
Listen to “Self” above.
Free Spirit is out 5/5 via RCA Records. Pre-order it here.
