If you get the opportunity to sit with the G.O.A.T., you gotta say a prayer and soak in as much knowledge as possible!
This was the situation that GQ filmed with breakout singer-songwriter Khalid, who was invited to have a private one-on-one conversation with music industry icon Quincy Jones.
Set up at the 84-year-old’s Los Angeles home in his Grammy and platinum plaque filled room, the legend and newbie touched on some of the most historical moments of Jones’ life and career, while Khalid attempted at best to try and relate his short musical existence to that of the icon, who has 7 decades of experience.
One of the Quincy’s sentiments to him was the importance of song. “The singer is the messenger, the song is the secret,” he says. “A great song can make the worst singer in the world a star, and a bad song can be saved by the three greatest singers in the world. I learned that 50 years ago.”
The full conversation is full of gems. Watch it below.
For me it was interesting to hear this kind of conversation between someone who for a long time has been synonymous with good music as Quincy Jones and a new young artist as singer-songwriter Khalid in all we can learn something about music. Something that every new songwriter must understand is that a good song does not come every day and sometimes we should listen to what the audience is really looking for. In the end it is not the popularity that people remember of an artist but the kind of songs that transcend generations. No one can deny that the world of music has changed a lot in recent years. As an artist, having the ability, vision and talent to create new sounds, lyrics that reach the heart and new ways of telling stories through verses in a song is something that has no age. For that Quincy Jones and Khalid must have much in common, which is why I love this kind of conversation in which we all learn.