"New Normal" is a song by American singer-songwriter

Khalid Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal". It also appears as a surname.

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

on July 21, 2021. The song was produced by John Hill,

Active Child Patrick James Grossi (born May 28, 1983), better known by his stage name Active Child, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. His debut album, ''You Are All I See'', was released in 2011 and produced by Ariel Rechtshaid, and gar ...

, and Blanda.

Background and composition

Khalid told press that the inspiration of "New Normal" comes from "the pandemic and the emotional toll that quarantine took on me and my friends". Khalid also told ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' that he started to write the song in the beginning of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and it "was my way of coping with the misunderstanding" and he also felt that it shows who he is as a person and "it just embodies hope for the outcome of our future". He also explained his inspiration for the song:

Around this time last year, I was super fascinated and gravitated towards space. I was watching this comet by the name of
Neowise Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, observatory code C51, Explorer 92 and MIDEX-6) was a NASA infrared astronomy space telescope in the Explorers Program launched in December 2009.. . WISE discovered thousands of minor planets and nu ...
last year, and space travel is something I've always been interested in as well. And I've been going through the motions of understanding this new, postmodern future that's coming together, especially when it comes down to technology – it's something that really excites me.

On July 8, 2021, Khalid announced the song along with its cover art and release date. He performed it live for the

Virgin Galactic Unity 22 Virgin Galactic Unity 22 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS ''Unity'' which launched on 11 July 2021. The crew consisted of pilots David Mackay and Michael Masucci as well as passengers Sirisha Bandla, Colin Benne ...

Spaceflight Launch on July 11, 2021. "New Normal" has been described as a "groovy, moody

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

- R&B" song.

Music video

The official music video premiered alongside the song on July 21, 2021. It shows a reference to

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

and shows a bunch of modern items, such as "skyscraper gardens, autonomous vehicles, drone deliveries, and smart homes". The music video also shows Khalid's

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...

. Andrew J. Hawkins of ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...

'' described the song "as smooth and breezy as a summer afternoon, which is weird because the video that accompanies the track is pretty much a venture capitalist's dream come true".

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. *

Khalid Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal". It also appears as a surname.

– vocals, songwriting * John Hill – production, songwriting *

– production, songwriting * Blanda – production * Denis Kosiak – mixing, engineering, vocal production * Connor Hedge – assistant engineering * Fili Filizzola – assistant engineering * Hector Vega – assistant engineering *

Dale Becker Wiren Dale Becker, who works for IBM, was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2015 for contributions to power distribution and signal integrity in high-speed interconnects for computing systems. See ...

– mastering

Charts

Release history

References

{{authority control 2021 singles 2021 songs Khalid (singer) songs Songs written by Khalid (singer) Songs written by John Hill (record producer) Song recordings produced by John Hill (record producer) RCA Records singles