The rest of the script - about 50 percent, Stewart estimates - was improvised by a cast who quickly became close friends, including R&B singer Dizzy Fae and Skate Kitchen’s Judah Lang. Khalid co-wrote a loose script with British music video director Emil Nava ( Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran) about a group of high schoolers who take a spontaneous road trip, during which they confront their anxieties about the future. Given Khalid’s growth as an artist since his debut album American Teen in 2017, Stewart says they wanted to do something with “next-level visuals,” and after all, he adds, “when we listened to the music, it felt like a soundtrack.” One of those vans also appears in a Free Spirit short film that Khalid co-wrote and co-starred in, which screened in more than 700 theaters across the world simultaneously for one night only on April 3 (and April 1 in L.A.). At the Northeastern University stop in Boston, Khalid even made a surprise visit. in March, stocked with car-themed Free Spirit merch for students like bumper stickers and keychains.
The vans pulled up to 11 colleges across the U.S. and Gainesville, Fla., where fans don’t normally have access to the music experiences available in cities like New York and Los Angeles. The team felt it was important to send vans to smaller markets like Tuscaloosa, Ala. “But Khalid can’t be everywhere around the world, so allowed us to use an avatar to carry the message forward.” “Khalid had such a strong vision for Free Spirit, which is this romantic idea of a kid coming out of school and driving across the country,” Fleckenstein says. Though admittedly expensive to pull off, the idea resonated immediately with RCA co-president John Fleckenstein. Khalid Unleashes His 'Free Spirit': Stream It Now “It’s a balance between having Instagram-able moments and a tangible item.” “I feel like labels have stopped investing in lifestyle marketing, and it took away from the creativity a bit,” he says. Stewart says the van idea shifted the focus from social media marketing to tangible, on-the-ground experiences, something he feels is often missing from album campaigns. The van and its image appear across the album’s marketing materials, including merch and a short film tied to the project. Khalid’s label, RCA Records, invested in several more vans, which were painted with the same artwork and driven to cities and colleges across the globe to promote Free Spirit’s April 5 release.
“I stepped out on faith,” Stewart says about the purchase - and it led to something bigger. Their chat inspired Stewart to spend his own cash on a “raggedy” 1972 van, which he had completely restored and painted with a Free Spirit-themed mural. While Khalid was working on his breezy, reflective sophomore album Free Spirit last August, he told his manager, Courtney Stewart, that the new music sounded like a playlist for a road trip across the country.
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