[00:00:00] Jacob Khalil: Hello, my name is Jacob Khalil and this is my song, Rest of My Life.

[00:00:16] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Awesome. Welcome to the saloon, Jacob. How are you?

[00:00:21] Jacob Khalil: Doing good, Jordan. It's good to see you, man.

[00:00:24] Jordan Smith Reynolds: It's great to see you too.

Good to have you on this podcast. We were just talking about it. 

You were on my podcast, The Holistic Voice with my co host Austin Vitaliano.

[00:00:33] Jacob Khalil: Mm hmm. Yeah, that

[00:00:34] Jordan Smith Reynolds: great. Yeah. Great to have you on the, the song saloon as well.

[00:00:38] Jacob Khalil: Yeah, man, it was, uh, this is round two, huh? Yeah,

[00:00:42] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah. That, that episode, if anyone's interested is more on, more. Not moron. More about,

[00:00:49] Jacob Khalil: Ooh.

[00:00:50] Jordan Smith Reynolds: there's no moron about it. Um, there was more about, uh, how to get a gig as a live performer. Um, you've made your living in New York performing in many different venues. So I think that's a, still a very valuable resource on how to make it as a performing musician.

So that resource is out there for anyone interested.

[00:01:09] Jacob Khalil: Yeah. I mean, it's crazy. The gig life is crazy. And I feel like there's a lot of principles that are kind of universal that kind of never change even if it was a podcast that was a couple of years ago, you know, so

[00:01:21] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Right.

[00:01:22] Jacob Khalil: yeah,

[00:01:22] Jordan Smith Reynolds: And you're here today for the song for the rest of my life. Can you tell me a little bit about that? Awesome.

[00:01:29] Jacob Khalil: Um, this is a song I wrote a year and a half ago. It took a long time to find the recorded vibe of the song, but we finally found it had an awesome producer in L. A. Who just helped me to to capture what I have when I play it live and pretty much the essence of the song um, It's my version of Hey Jude, in a way, because I wanted a song that I could perform live and have the entire audience sing along with me.

And um, there's a moment in the song where I, um, where I walk away from the piano and I get everyone to kind of start to sing along. And it's awesome. It happens every time I play it. And so I feel like I was able to capture that in this recording here.

[00:02:21] Jordan Smith Reynolds: And again, I feel like that's really informed by your, your work as a live performer. You're, I'm sure you're always thinking like, how do I engage the crowd? Um, how do I get people interested in and

[00:02:32] Jacob Khalil: gosh. Yeah.

[00:02:33] Jordan Smith Reynolds: So how did that play into the

[00:02:34] Jacob Khalil: Well, well, yeah, it was literally a thing of I was performing Hey Jude every night as I do, um, because I'm like a Piano bar guy, but I also play a lot of jazz, but like every night it kind of gets rowdy towards the end and it ends up like, okay, I want everyone to sing along in this entire restaurant.

And I start to play, Hey Jude. And then everybody kind of turns. And then by the end of the song, the na, na, na, you know, that whole thing, like everybody in the entire restaurant is on board. And I was like, I want a song that I can have that happen with. So I tried hard to kind of write that and, um, and it was really interesting because I feel like it was also coming at a time in my life where I was like wondering what's next.

I have a lot of dreams. I have a lot of things I want to do, and I want to keep chasing after them yet. Like, I feel like I'm kind of in it. Between, like, I mean, it's like I'm kind of living in a daydream, but also I see some things that are coming to fruition and I'm like, I just have to maintain being present in this moment.

And I feel like if I can just accomplish that, I'll probably get to where I want to go. And that's kind of what the text of the song is about. But overall I wanted the feeling to be like, Hey Jude.

[00:04:04] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Awesome.

[00:04:04] Jacob Khalil: So, so that was the vibe.

[00:04:06] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah. I noticed there are quite a few na na nas as well in your, in your

[00:04:11] Jacob Khalil: There, there are lots of na na nas. Yeah. Na na nas. Everybody can do it. I never have to. Do you know how there are songs like that if you do them in an open mic or something, you have to kind of teach the audience kind of before you play the song and you're like, okay, I want you to sing along in this part. There are quite a few songs I have that are like that, but on this one, I just have to play the song and everybody gets it. Yeah. It's a little like, like, yeah, yeah. That was kind of the goal of that one. So

[00:04:42] Jordan Smith Reynolds: So no instruction necessary kind of

[00:04:44] Jacob Khalil: No instruction necessary. It's like everybody can do non, non, non. It's like, all right, I hear this.

I hear this. I can jump in. You know what I mean?

[00:04:51] Jordan Smith Reynolds: that's awesome. For me, when I do live shows, it's typically Sweet Caroline where everyone kind of jumps in with the bop bop bop thing. And so good. Yeah.

[00:05:02] Jacob Khalil: that would also, I should probably try to write a version of that for myself. That's a really good one. 

But that one has a lot of history around it too. That like everybody, I don't know how everybody just knows that song or like, there are other ones like, um, piano man, everybody.

How does everybody around the world know piano man? How does everybody know? Wonderwall. Isn't that crazy? They're like high school kids or middle school kids. I meet who know Wonderwall and I'm like, how old are you? How do you know this song? And they just know it and they like it. It's like these songs are, yeah, they're so timeless.

And I'm like, how do you write a song like that? Because it isn't even like, yeah, like maybe you're going to be the one that saves me. It's not like a, But yeah, like I wouldn't necessarily call that the hookiest melody in the world. You know what I mean? How did it, yeah, but it's

[00:06:01] Jordan Smith Reynolds: it's just like

[00:06:01] Jacob Khalil: knows it.

[00:06:02] Jordan Smith Reynolds: I think it's just the perfect pairing that that one in particular is a really great pairing of lyric and Like vibe and like in melody, 

[00:06:14] Jacob Khalil: absolute vibe. Absolute vibe that today is going to be, yeah. That's one. The moment it starts, everyone's like, ah,

[00:06:23] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Uh huh

[00:06:24] Jacob Khalil: know what I mean? Yeah,

[00:06:25] Jordan Smith Reynolds: and to your point like there's this like visceral personal connection that people have to those specific songs that we're all fighting for as songwriters, I'm sure.

[00:06:35] Jacob Khalil: Oh, oh my gosh, we can have like one of those. I mean, I think of even like, um, Neil Diamond, I don't think that he had like, like a ton of number one songs, did he? but he has a lot of evergreen songs, you know what I mean?

[00:06:49] Jordan Smith Reynolds: I don't know a lot of his catalog, but I,

I 

[00:06:52] Jacob Khalil: know a ton of his songs either. I really know sweet Caroline cause it's the one, but

like 

[00:06:57] Jordan Smith Reynolds: really well live.

[00:06:59] Jacob Khalil: yeah. The other one, like, I love you, baby.

And if it's quite all right, everybody, everybody, everybody, it doesn't matter how old you are. It doesn't matter where you're from. It doesn't matter if you're from like Eastern Europe, you know, you show up at a piano bar in New York and you know, that song, like, how did that happen?

[00:07:20] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, it is magical

[00:07:22] Jacob Khalil: it's so cool. I love that thing. I love that stuff.

[00:07:26] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Cool. I think that's a great place to to start with the introduction for your song. 

Can we can we hear it?

[00:07:33] Jacob Khalil: Yeah, sure you want me to play it

[00:07:34] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, yeah, I'd love to hear it

[00:07:35] Jacob Khalil: Okay, sure. Sure. Sure. Okay I might do like a ragtime intro or something. It's normally not like that, but I'm playing it solo, you know what I mean?

[00:07:43] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah Whoo Beautiful. 

Thank you. Jacob. So great to hear you sing

[00:11:49] Jacob Khalil: Thanks, man. Thank you.

[00:11:51] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, and I, and it's so fun hearing it even just in this little performance. Um, it, it feels like you're singing it for a crowd full of people. So,

[00:12:01] Jacob Khalil: Oh, dang, bro. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This, yeah, I mean, I've played it live hundreds of times now.

[00:12:07] Jordan Smith Reynolds: yeah, you, you can tell it's very, yeah, it's deep in your bones at this point, which is awesome to hear. Oh,

[00:12:15] Jacob Khalil: Yeah, were you singing along over there? Were you saying some na na nas? 

[00:12:18] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Uh huh. 

[00:12:19] Jacob Khalil: Yeah,

[00:12:20] Jordan Smith Reynolds: an eyes over here. Uh huh. Yeah.

[00:12:24] Jacob Khalil: is like when I go like, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, get everybody, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, yeah, but it wouldn't, but it wouldn't be as effective right here because we're like, you know, it's only two of us, you know what I mean?

So I was like, I'm just going to wrap

[00:12:40] Jordan Smith Reynolds: And the whole latency thing where I'll be like no no

[00:12:42] Jacob Khalil: lazy,

[00:12:44] Jordan Smith Reynolds: alright.

[00:12:44] Jacob Khalil: you'll be clapping on beat one and three. What a travesty. You'll be like, one, two, three. Oh my gosh,

that'll be, that'll be bad, dude. All right. Well, yeah, well that was rest of my life. That one comes out, um, January 12th

[00:13:02] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, that should be out. Um, this episode will probably release in February. Um, Yeah, so it'll have been out for a little bit. So please everyone go check out Jacob's song, go stream it, come back, hear more

[00:13:16] Jacob Khalil: Yeah.

Awesome, dude.

[00:13:21] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, tell me a little bit about the production process. You said you worked with someone in LA?

[00:13:26] Jacob Khalil: Yes. Um, it was produced by Jacob Sigmund who's based in LA and it's, and it's kind of crazy. I found him and I wasn't like trying to find him per se. I heard his music on Spotify and it was super dope. And I messaged him like probably over a year ago now. And I said, Hey man, I love your music.

If you're ever in, it. New York, I would love to, uh, love to do a show together or something, you know, because I perform a lot here and I have like, like a pretty good fan base. And I was like, yeah, man, if you ever wanted to tour here, I would love to have you on a show. And I think that my fans will be your fans and vice versa.

Um, because our vibes are similar, like, he was totally down with that. He came out here and I didn't even realize at the time that he. Produced all his own music too. And so like, I just, I just loved his songs. I loved his voice. Then he came out here and like, we were chatting after a couple of shows he did one here in July in Harlem on a rooftop.

Then we did another, Silent show. It was like a silent disco show, but it was live music. It's a really cool concept that he came up with. we did that one here in Central Park. And after that show, I was just kind of chatting with him and I was like, man, I've been trying to record the rest of my life.

And it's been like, I've tried three times now, to try to find the vibe. And, and it's almost there, but it's not quite there and I want to make sure that I capture the vibe that I have when I play it live and I was just kind of talking to him about this and he goes, Oh man, I feel like I, I feel like I know exactly what to do.

And I was like, Whoa, dude, really? And so he was like, yeah. why don't we do it? And I was like, all right, dude, I'll go to LA because I'm old fashioned. I was like, I'm old fashioned. I want to be in the room. I want to. I want to do it there in the room. I want to rerecord everything. And like, I went over to his, his place in LA in October.

So I guess it was only a few months ago. we were in his bedroom. He's a bedroom producer. And um, we found the vibe like, like that. And I was like, this is it, dude. Like the way that we produced it was a way that I've never, never really done it. Like. most of the time I'm very singer songwriter. I know that you're very singer songwriter too, Jordan.

I'm like, I want to play the whole song on my own and then kind of we build around it. But like, but we kind of, we found a vibe first on kind of the hook, like I won't let this moment go by. And then no, no, no, no, no, no. We went kind of to the hook first. Then we found the vibe on the hook. Then we built everything around that.

And it. It was a cool process I had that I hadn't ever done and, um, to this day, I'm just crazy grateful that like, well, that I met Jacob Sigmund and that like it worked out. It was a journey to make this song, you know, it took over a year. To make it, you know, after writing it like a year and a half ago, you know what I mean?

So, anyway, I'm so grateful with how it turned out. I really love the way that it turned out. And like, that always needs to be the vibe of a song release. 

I feel like you as an artist have to love it. You know what I mean? Then everything else that happens after that is like, whatever, right? I mean, yeah, yeah, like who knows?

But, but I'm really in love with the way it turned out.

[00:17:00] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, yeah, feeling proud of your work and and loving that process. I think that is that should be number one

[00:17:08] Jacob Khalil: I think so.

[00:17:08] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Beyond streams and everything else all the other goal posts and

things we can try to hit

[00:17:14] Jacob Khalil: There are so many things that I feel like are arbitrary almost. Well, not arbitrary. I mean, if you get a lot of streams, there's a way to leverage that in an awesome way. But like, but I feel like there are times that we just crave things that, I mean, they're important, but I think that we get too obsessive about them and then we kind of forget that we're trying to be artists.

You know what I mean? Yeah, we're just trying to make music that we love. I mean, obviously I care about like as many people hearing the song as possible. The dichotomy all of us are little business people too. You

know what I mean?

We're artists and

also little businesses.

[00:17:56] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, and constantly having those analytics kind of in our face, you know, 

um, those numbers, like exactly who's listening and who's doing this, um, without actually having a face behind it because the, the companies that are running the analytics don't want us, you know, like it's really hard to develop personal relationships with the, with the people.

So

um, 

[00:18:17] Jacob Khalil: dude

[00:18:17] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, so I think, I think that's the right way to go about it, you know, making the art because we care about it and That that's what's most important.

[00:18:27] Jacob Khalil: Yeah, that is number one. 

I just had a thought That I kind of have to plug if that's okay with you Jordan like Like, I've been getting really big about my email list

[00:18:38] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Mm hmm

[00:18:39] Jacob Khalil: these days because of kind of what you said. It's like, there are all these platforms that we're on, which are awesome.

I've met tons of people on Instagram. I love it when people follow me on Spotify or Apple music. Awesome. But like, but I've been really pushing my email list because of all that kind of goes away. At least I can like. Um, keep in touch over email and, and I don't ever like spam anybody ever. I only, Oh yeah.

Like most of my emails I replied to, I do like a lot of personal emails. Like I don't really do like a lot of mass emails. So like if you enjoy my music, you can totally join the email list. And I tour a lot. And if I'm ever in the area, that's a plug. I'll shoot you an email. Or if I release a song, I'll shoot you an email, that kind of thing.

That's kind of my main kind of thing I'm doing now. Because I want to make friends, you know what I mean, I'm about that.

[00:19:33] Jordan Smith Reynolds: hmm. I love that

[00:19:35] Jacob Khalil: yeah,

[00:19:35] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, so go to the episode description notes You should see a link there for where you can you can follow and get on the email list for for Jacob 

[00:19:45] Jacob Khalil: sick, 

[00:19:45] Jordan Smith Reynolds: great I hear some, some New York sirens behind

[00:19:49] Jacob Khalil: Definitely some New York sirens, we're right by the window on 72nd Street. It's very authentic, I can't even mask it, even when I want to. Um,

[00:20:02] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Did you stay in a New York for the holidays?

[00:20:05] Jacob Khalil: I was here for the holidays. Yeah, we, um, yeah, uh, like I did a gig in Arizona earlier in the month, um, of December. And then, uh, then I was here throughout the holidays.

I had a Christmas gig, a Christmas Eve gig.

[00:20:23] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Very nice.

[00:20:25] Jacob Khalil: And a New Year's Eve gig on Times Square. It was so wild. 

It was so wild. Yeah, man. I got to see the ball drop. It was really cool. I mean, I was just in a restaurant in Times Square. It was me and my trio and we were just kind of playing tunes for hours for people eating sushi.

And then, then after that was all over, we just walked outside and we, we kind of did the countdown and it was so cool. It was like extremely energetic. I thought like it would be like a thing like, Oh man, it's hyped up. And it's like, everyone wants to watch the ball drop, but it was really cool actually.

It's just awesome. Like millions of people counting down. How cool is

that? You know, Then it was over and everybody tried to go home.

[00:21:09] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, and then, uh, happy feelings were gone. Yeah. 

[00:21:13] Jacob Khalil: The happy feelings are gone and then there's a lot of foot traffic and we all we all just tried to get home, you know,

[00:21:18] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah. 

Yeah, there is something, I think, about having so many people all together in one space. And I imagine for that, you know, everyone has their hopes for the new year. And they're kind of bringing that energy to the table. And that's got to be palpable with that many 

[00:21:31] Jacob Khalil: Totally totally told it. Yeah, I would say that it was mostly like a joyful atmosphere. It was awesome. Yeah, it was cool And, um, yeah, like maybe a once in a lifetime thing. I mean, I don't know. 

I mean, like the New Year's gigs or they're kind of different every year. I don't know. It might just be at a bar next year.

So, like, it's cool that I got to play at a restaurant on Times Square, you know?

[00:21:53] Jordan Smith Reynolds: For sure. Yeah. 

I have a question about rest of my life.

[00:21:58] Jacob Khalil: Okay.

[00:21:58] Jordan Smith Reynolds: um, I wanted to ask about some of the lyric writing

[00:22:02] Jacob Khalil: Sure.

[00:22:03] Jordan Smith Reynolds: for this song, when it came to you, was it like chorus first, verses, melody, lyrics? Do you remember? Combination?

[00:22:11] Jacob Khalil: gosh. I think it was verse first, which is actually not how it always happens for me. I think that I get the hook first a lot of the time, and then I have to try to write a good verse after, um, like, hold on, let me remember. So like,

yeah, yeah, yeah, like I was playing around on that kind of for a while and I was

Yeah, that was what came first and it was melody. Then I thought of the question, have you ever had a dream? And I was like, Whoa, all right. Okay. I can. Yeah. Then I can work with something there.

Yeah. Yeah.

[00:23:07] Jordan Smith Reynolds: so exciting. I, I love that. 'cause yeah, usually, you know, you hear it's, it's the hook that happens and then you kind of structure the verses. But it's cool to hear that this song that has such a strong hook came from kind of wandering into it from a

[00:23:21] Jacob Khalil: Yeah. Yeah. And. 

Oh my gosh, Jordan. Uh, the hook changed a few

[00:23:27] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Oh yeah.

[00:23:29] Jacob Khalil: Isn't that crazy? So like, um, it was always, I won't let this moment go by. It was always that, but the non non nos had a few kind of different renditions. Do you want to hear them? So, so like it goes, so the first one that I came up with and I, even to the time of the final recording, I was like, what do I actually want it to be?

And I was asking everybody like. Yeah, like, what do you like more? So how I originally wrote it, I just wrote it like this. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Just one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four, five. For the rest of my life. It's just like, very rhythmic. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. It's cool. It is cool.

Then I came up with, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Which is what we landed on, right? 

And then there was a moment where I kinda made a crazy one and I was like, okay maybe I want it to be this and it can be like a cool horn line eventually. It was um, Na na na na na na na na na na Na na na na na na na na na Na na na na na na na na For the rest of my life Isn't that crazy?

Yeah, I have done that one live

[00:24:54] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Okay. I feel like I've seen that one on socials, that version

[00:24:58] Jacob Khalil: That, yeah, that one I have had posted. I've even actually posted the nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

[00:25:04] Jordan Smith Reynolds: hmm. Yeah.

[00:25:06] Jacob Khalil: is cool too. I mean, like they were all cool in their own right. And I had to just ask a ton of people. And get the affirmative answer. Like, Oh yeah, it's definitely no, no, no, no, no, no.

There were people, there are people to this day who like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And there are people that asked me about it even now. It was like, wasn't it that melody at one time? I was like, yeah, it was. but you got to understand that. Like, I've just. I've performed it live so much and I just like notice people's reactions and stuff like that and I just had to play it off of that.

And then I chatted with people. I was really close to going like very simple, just nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. Because like I played at this, um, this winery for two years upstate that a lot of families would come to. And I was playing into that, that song a year and a half ago and it was just nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

And, um, there was a little girl who was like maybe, maybe three years old who remembered that melody and was like, Going home and singing it. And like, then I saw her months later and her family and, uh, they said that, that she was singing that melody still. So like, and I was like, oh man, that's catchy enough that a kid will remember it.

I think I need to take note of that. But like, it was a hard choice because I had that in the back of my mind. Do I keep it? Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, or do I go nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. And I settled on nah, nah, nah. So yeah,

[00:26:49] Jordan Smith Reynolds: I love hearing the the background of the Na Na Na's. Um, and I'm glad you landed on what you did. personally, I really like that too. And the other one, as fun as it is, I imagine it's more of your musician friends that are like, I really love that.

[00:27:04] Jacob Khalil: It is the musician friends. It is the musician friends. And I had to really think about that. It's like, I mean, I want everybody to be able to sing this. That was, that was kind of the goal of this one. There are other songs that I write that it's like, okay, this is a cool harmony and like all this. And I want like kind of the music nerds to get in on it.

Like I have those for sure. that wasn't kind of the goal of this one. I wanted to, Hey Jude, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, hey Jude. It's like so easy. Anybody can sing that. So, so that was the vibe.

[00:27:39] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, you don't want anyone to feel like they're tripping up as they're trying to sing along with you.

[00:27:43] Jacob Khalil: No.

[00:27:44] Jordan Smith Reynolds: there are some, I remember I'll go to some concerts with some artists. They're like, all right now sing along And like do like these crazy high in the stratosphere stuff. I'm like, why why are you making everyone do

[00:27:55] Jacob Khalil: to those every now and then. And I'm like, dude, like. You want people to sing along or do you want to perform? Yeah, like I don't know. I think people have to make a choice sometimes Yeah

Yeah 

[00:28:05] Jordan Smith Reynolds: question two. 

Um, I love by the way that I won't let this moment go by. I'm going to live it like a minute for the rest of my life. I think that live it like a minute line is just really solid. I love that.

[00:28:16] Jacob Khalil: Yeah, man. Thank you so much. So that was a phrase that came all at once, I think. And it was a moment. So this is actually a part of kind of the genesis of the song, because I had the verse melodies. I was kind of sitting on these for like a few months, like, have you ever had a dream?

Well, it doesn't let you sleep. I had that already. And I was just kind of playing around with it. And then I had another song that isn't out yet. That was. Kind of my rousing. I played it everywhere and everybody loved it and I'll release that one soon. but there was a guy that came over to me and like kind of criticized that song, which I mean, who cares right now?

But I was really prideful it the time and I was writing a song every week and I was writing every day. I was completing a song every week, however, I was writing every day. 

And after I got that critique, I was like, okay, I have to write a better one. Like I have to write one that he won't critique, but he's, yeah, like this was a music person that I looked up to in a way that that's like, very seasoned on the scene and everything.

And I was like, I need to write one that he can't critique. So like, that was kind of my goal. I know that that's not a good goal. Actually, it's not a good goal. However, I wanted that. And I don't even know if I achieved it, but I had it in the back of my mind. I want to write one that's like even better. it has hooks.

It has depth. It like, yeah, all these things. And like, yeah, like I guess that kind of that emotion though of like, Oh shoot, this is kind of what I want to do for the rest of, My life, I want to have really good music that I play for people. And like, it just came like, I won't let this moment go by, Live it like I'm in it, For the rest of my life.

And it was like, oh yeah, I feel that. It's like, eh, eh, um, What's ironic about that is like, I feel like, the moment I came up with, That line. I was like, I don't care what anybody thinks about

[00:30:22] Jordan Smith Reynolds: huh.

[00:30:23] Jacob Khalil: I'm in this for me right now. Like this is my stuff and like, I don't care. I'm going to live it like I'm in it no matter what.

Like, and yeah, like, and I think that after that I abandoned the whole, like, I'm trying to write a song that nobody can critique, you know what I mean? Because I think that, I think it's a bad goal. I think you should try to write, I think you should try to write super good songs and well part of me, I mean, I am opinionated about this, that I think that there is such thing as a good song.

I, I actually think that, I actually think that, how do you kind of define that? I mean, I don't, I don't know everything, obviously, who does, but I think that we know it when. We hear it like Gotye, uh, somebody that I used to know is a good song and it doesn't follow all of the pop kind of structure at all.

what's another one? American pie has, has like 11 verses, like, I mean, how is it ever on, on the radio, but everybody knows it. And that is a good song. I don't think anybody can argue with that. Even if you hate it. So like, I think that there are, there is that, but like, so like, I think that we should be striving to make our best work, but I don't think that we should be striving to please the masses. You know what I'm saying? Um, because good music alienates people can say like, Oh yeah, it's a good song. I just fricking hate it. there are songs out there. I'm not going to say what mine are because I don't want to discriminate any music. But like, but I mean, I think that that if you lean a certain way and it's like, this is exactly what I wanted to do.

I think I wrote it well. I think that I crafted it well. It will be alienating. Not everyone will be on board. You know what I mean? I think that that's 

[00:32:24] Jordan Smith Reynolds: you're doing it, right. 

[00:32:25] Jacob Khalil: of the mark. Yes, dude, if you're doing it right. If it's just kind of lukewarm and it's like, oh, yeah, it's pretty good, man. Okay, you're a good songwriter.

It's like, oh, okay. Yeah, like I mean, I don't know if that's the goal because if you're going for that, it's like, okay, he's a good songwriter. Yeah. You know what I mean? I don't think that that's the goal. You know what I mean? So,

[00:32:44] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah, and I think it's fascinating that you got to this. to that conclusion from a place that you don't like super condone of being like, you know, Oh, I want to write I need to beat it. I need to get this next thing and then 

[00:32:55] Jacob Khalil: There was 

[00:32:55] Jordan Smith Reynolds: You're like, oh now it doesn't matter

like it happened. And now I don't care what the other person says.

I think that's so cool

[00:33:02] Jacob Khalil: Totally. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I try to be like what I do in the past in a way, like kind of knowing what kind of my catalog is. I mean, if I write a few other songs that have non, on, on, on, on it, it's like, dude, I think you can try other things, you know what I mean?

So like, I mean, I have, I have that in the back of my mind. But also like you just have to try to be authentic. 

There's that word right authentic. Everyone's trying to do that

[00:33:29] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yes

never ending quest for

[00:33:31] Jacob Khalil: The never ending quest for authenticity, yeah

[00:33:34] Jordan Smith Reynolds: I know you got you have a performance to get to pretty soon here.

[00:33:37] Jacob Khalil: dude. Yeah, man. I got a gig got a piano bar gig.

[00:33:40] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah If you're in New York, please do check out Jacob. he's playing 

[00:33:44] Jacob Khalil: up. I play out. 

[00:33:45] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Mimi's. You said you're at Mimi's tonight?

[00:33:48] Jacob Khalil: Yeah, yeah, I mean, Mimi's is normally like a Thursday night thing, but I play almost every night of the week, either as like a solo player or in a band. So like hit me up, dude, hit me up. I'm out almost every night in New York. The only nights I have off are Monday and Tuesday, uh, yeah, Monday and Tuesday.

Every other night I'm working.

[00:34:05] Jordan Smith Reynolds: You're, you're playing. That's awesome. so where can we find you online?

[00:34:09] Jacob Khalil: you can go to my website. It's jacobkhalil. com. you can sign up for my email list at jacobkhalil. com. You can also find me on Instagram at jacobkhalilmusic. And if you want to follow me on Spotify or Apple music, it's also just jacobkhalil. com. Jacob Khalil is my artist name and my last name is K H A L I L.

It's a very Arabic name, so it's kind of hard to spell. K H A L I L. Jacob Khalil. Yeah, that's me.

[00:34:39] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Awesome. Thank you so much, Jacob. you'd mentioned this song is out already. So for the rest of my life, go listen to that now. do you have anything else we should be looking for on the horizon for your project?

[00:34:49] Jacob Khalil: I have a lot of songs that are coming out this year that I have in The hopper as they say That's like a paintball term, isn't it? I

[00:34:59] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yeah. And the hopper, I was like, who says like 

paintball 

[00:35:02] Jacob Khalil: do I know

that paintball Yeah people. It's so fun And I'm also planning a lot of tours. I'm gonna be going to the Midwest In the summer, I'm gonna be touring the East Coast Sometime like once it kind of gets a little warmer so like April May and then I'm Touring, up the East coast from Georgia all the way kind of back here, in like February.

So, so, I mean, I'm going to be out, basically I have a lot of tours that haven't really been announced yet, but like they're on the horizon. So, so he'll definitely follow me and, um, shoot me an email and I'll let you know when I'm in your town and let me know if you like. if you enjoy the music, I want to hear from you.

I would love to hear from you.

[00:35:45] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Yes, please do reach out to Jacob. again, go to the episode notes. You can find the links for all those, all those things we just talked about. 

Jacob, it's always a pleasure to see you. can't wait to sing with you again sometime.

And yeah, Just great to see you.

[00:35:58] Jacob Khalil: Yeah, man. It's really good to see you too, Jordan. Thank you for having me, man.

[00:36:01] Jordan Smith Reynolds: course. All right. We'll see you next time.

[00:36:04] Jacob Khalil: Peace.

[00:36:04] Jordan Smith Reynolds: Bye.