DJ Khaled is star power personified. He’s got two hot new tracks dominating the charts and zooming to the top of everyone’s summer playlist, “Popstar” and “Greece” – both collabs with fellow pop heavy hitter, Drake. His new album, Khaled Khaled, is dropping soon. And he’s on the cover of this month’s POPSTAR! Digital Magazine! DJ Khaled is the ultimate Popstar — and we’ve got a POPSTAR! exclusive one-on-one with Liz Stanton.
A few highlights…
On releasing “Popstar” and “Greece” during the pandemic
“This year, it’s a lot of craziness, but I was talking to Drake and I said, ‘Man, through these hard time, we gotta find the light and we gotta bring the light.’ And when we dropped these two anthems I felt like this gonna be a light to the fans across the world.
We’re quarantining and we’re in the pandemic but music’s so powerful that the light is shining. I’m all about motivation and inspiration and also uplifting people and also making great music.”
That “Popstar” status
“I always knew [that] being me would be the right thing to do and the only thing that I would do – and I encourage all my fans out there to always be you. To me, we’re all posters in our way. And we blessed.”
Passion & drive
“If I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t be doing it. I gotta love it cos a lot comes with it…
I don’t like to do nothing regular, I don’t do that cos I’m not regular. I’m different. It’s like, I don’t know how to do nothing halfway. I don’t. And I can’t do something unless I know I’m gonna go all out.”
Shoutout to Drake
“To collaborate with my brother is always a great experience, and also, it’s special. When Khaled and Drake get together it’s always special. I’m always honored to work with him. We’re real friends, and we have great energy together, and we work great together.”
Advice to aspiring artists
“My advice is [to] love what you do, and just know not everything happens overnight. Be honest with yourself and love what you do. You gotta go hard and gotta grind and be on another level, but you gotta be true to yourself. When you’re true to yourself things will happen. And of course, you have to be great — and when I say be great, I mean push yourself to be great. We’re born great, all of us, and it’s up to us [to reach] our levels of greatness.
My advice is basically love what you do and don’t give up. That’s the big key, not giving up.”
Best advice given to him
“My mother and father, I was born God’s child but they made sure I knew how much God is great. God first, family. God is the greatest and that’s so important. I know God loves us. Once you walk with God, you’re good.”
Being on the cover of POPSTAR!
“I’m very grateful. What’s so beautiful about it is the timing, it’s incredible because you put out a big anthem like “Popstar” and then, boom, to get the cover of Popstar was just not only incredible timing — it’s genius. And I’m honored and I’m blessed and I’m grateful.
Look at me I’m on the cover of Popstar magazine. I’m a solidified Popstar!”
And catch DJ Khaled on the cover of POPSTAR! Digital — https://www.popstaronline.com/magazine/july-2020-special-issue/
