Khalid

In 2016 Khalid Robinson was voted Most Likely to Go Platinum by his high school class About a year later he proved them right A military kid Robinson split his childhood between Georgia Kentucky upstate New York and Heidelberg Germany eventually settling in El Paso Texasa pattern of dislocation that often made him feel like an outsider Selfdescribed as an awkward teen he picked up songwriting primarily to stave off loneliness sharing music through SoundCloud and quickly catching the ears of both his peers and the industry His breakout single 2016s Location was recorded during spring break of his senior year a few weeks after it came out he won Prom King within a couple of years the song had sold more than five million copies in the US alone In 2017 he released American Teen a celebratory but bittersweet mix of synthpop and neonlit RB that garnered five Grammy nominationsproof that youre rarely an outsider alone In between Robinson featured on highprofile collaborations with Logic 18002738255 Calvin Harris Rollin and Normani Love Lies among others An EP Suncity arrived in late 2018 opening with audio of Khalid being given keys to the city of El Pasonot bad for a kid whod moved there only a few years before Reflecting on his evolution from spectator to artist for Apple Musics Up Next series Robinson said I would sit in this apartment I would look at the mountain behind me I would watch all the lightning and I would listen to music I was like You know what I need something to help me a little bit more So he took it on himself and started to write