Hopping off a world tour alongside R&B artist Omar Apollo, singer and songwriter Malcolm Todd talks new songs, his twenties, and how he’s letting his youth guide his music.
“Comfort Me” – Malcolm Todd
It’s not easy being in your twenties. From a young age we’re told these years will dictate the decades that follow, setting a precedent for a future that, for many, is still unclear.
We ultimately become a hive mind, itching for a stable life, love, and work combination that entirely devoids self-failure and introspection. But what makes our twenties so alive are these tensions of early adulthood calling out “get it together” while conjoined with our clinging adolescence– one that is wilting in place, yes, but there and salvaging whatever attachment to our youth we have left. Navigating these years can be some of the hardest, but love-struck, freshly turned 21-year-old Malcolm Todd is breaking this mold of insecurity by tackling his new decade the only way he knows: with whimsy youth in mind and music guiding the way.
Todd is no stranger to creating with possibility at his heel. While his mom’s introduction to the classics of Broadway budded the musical drive, his journey began back in his sophomore year of high school– a guitar in hand and the possibilities of where his music could go spinning against a turntable. From discovering Omar Apollo and Kali Uchis to covering tracks by Dominic Fike and Steve Lacy, all of whom he looks up to, and then releasing his Demos Before Prom EP which picked up traction in 2022, he’s gone from high school sophomore to alternative R&B artist in an instant.
“I’m still learning every day. I just want to grow and make music and I want people to be there with me.” Todd begins, a hard-set demeanor on his face as he shares how he wants his music to be a part of his life journey rather than an all-defining trait.
“I’m trying to figure out new things about myself, and writing and sharing music with new people is my means of doing that.”
Whether it’s on stage or in a recording studio, he’s figuring himself out through the sonic highs and lows of a keyboard, snare drum, and bass line.
He sings of heartbreak with intense fervor and reaps his teenage sorrows in his lyrics, but doesn’t ignore that bouncy, overly comedic spirit he identifies with. For Todd, music is a youthful adventure into adulthood.
Todd shares, “I’m trying to be present and just do what I naturally would do. I want to be myself and try not to be overly influenced by things, you know? I’m letting my music and performance be instinctual and what Malcolm would want to do right now.”
Being unapologetically himself is no new feat for the singer. On the Austin City Limits stage, a screen will read “Malcolm Todd and his band had a sleepover last night and talked about their feelings.” His Spotify bio notes “Girl I love you girl,” and he means it in the most 2000s R&B way possible. And his music, with all its lovesick clamor, features a number of ad-libs between his friends and himself, entwining that boyish personality with his endeavors into a life grown-up.
His most recent euphoric adventure: a shades-on, charismatically up-front world tour. The young artist was an opener alongside American rapper and former Brockhampton member, Kevin Abstract, on Omar Apollo’s God Said No World Tour– an experience he says he doesn’t hold lightly.
“Being with Omar was super cool,” he begins but pauses, a small smile etched as he rehashes the last four months. “He was definitely a big inspiration for me getting into making my own music in high school and while on tour he told me, ‘If you’re listening to stuff and you’re not loving what you hear, then stop. Just make what you want to hear. You have that power.’”
He quickly switches focus, now speaking on how touring has compensated for the college years his early adulthood missed out on.
“When I get off the road, I feel a little bit bummed just because I’m so used to going out there, performing, and touring with my band who are my best friends. Getting to live with them and doing that in place of my college years–it’s fun and feels like I’m making [those years] up in some way.”
He speaks of a surrealness that’s encapsulated these last few months and even years. It’s one that began with the buzzing of his first EP, to the funky guitar lines and vocal textures of his debut album Sweet Boy, through a Sweet Boy US tour and opening gig, an ACL festival performance, and now as he prepares for his next record. His creativity knows no bounds. However, he notes that in this new chapter, he’d rather allow creative inspiration to take root on its own than actively search for it.
“I spent this tour trying to not make music because I came on and started making music and it felt like I was kind of just doing it to to overwork myself. It wasn’t coming from as real of a place as I’d like,” Todd explains. “I spent a lot of time just chipping away trying to find what made me excited.”
He comically adds that sports documentaries inspired this new outlook, mentioning the way these “[athletes] carry themselves and how much they care, no matter how much money is involved, inspired me to just work on giving my 100% with these next tracks.”
Nonetheless, sound also found its way into his creative process, with Todd noting his current musical rotation consisting of Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, and Clairo. However, he highlights these sonic inspirations are less about recreating sounds he loves and more about being “inspired by the feeling of them.”
Cue the layered vocals and lithe guitar strums feathered alongside the undertones of an addictive bass line, Todd’s latest releases “You Owe Me” and “Cute Shirt (Interlude)” play with the realities of a love lost and yearned. There’s a near boyish touch to these tracks that ignores the sadness that follows heartbreak and focuses on the anger, confusion, and lust immersed in it.
Todd’s next release explores an entirely new musical wave, trapezing through a smoothly upbeat, electrically eccentric, lyrically honest beat his past tracks have all but eluded. “Comfort Me” is not a love song, but is a testament to what it feels like to be engulfed with sexual desire in your twenties. The lyrics are straightforward, true to the blunt sexual sentiment, and the sounds share in this hunger. The chords are consumed in desire and build up with tension until it finally finds release by song’s peak, crashing like pent up waves against a shore. This sonic construction reflects the dynamic complexities of relationships at the cusp of a twenty-year-old’s teenage and adult years– mature, confusing, and still actively playful.
“I started so young and I see my career going a long way. I just see [my sound] becoming evolved and more mature. I’m going to take more risks and hopefully show that as everyone else grows, I’m growing too,” explains Todd.
He adds that beyond blooming alongside his acoustic soundscape, his lyrics have also found a maturity of their own. “It was all very easy for me once I kind of committed to songwriting. I just got used to the breakup thing, and I really wanted to pour my heart out so I wrote all while I got older.”
His favorite lyrics? Todd shares, “‘I want to share an apartment, a room and a bed’ from ‘Roommates.’ That’s a bar, for sure. And then ‘I’m six foot four without my shoes’ from ‘Rodrick Rules.’ I like that one too because it’s just a classic and everyone loves that one. It just makes me like it even more.”
The last few years for Todd have been a rollercoaster of major highs and deep lows, all painted in the music he so enthusiastically creates.
From reaching new levels of stardom and performing with friends to working with idols and recently turning 21, change has been on the uptick for the young artist, but he’s approaching it with a whimsy irony. As he reflects on this age milestone, he thinks back to a younger self from when it all began.
“He’d be like, ‘No way, dude. That’s actually crazy! Congrats, that’s so cool.’ He’d just be stoked for me,” Todd says with a laugh, dazed in thought as he tries to wrap his mind around his success and current reality. “Sometimes I do feel like I made it, but a lot of times I feel like I’m eager to see what else is out there.”
He takes a beat then says, “But young Malcolm would definitely give me a fist bump.”
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“Comfort Me” – Malcolm Todd
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