19-year-old Khalid Robinson, better known simply as Khalid, entered the music scene at 18-years-old. The young artist has since then transformed the essence of being young and it’s tribulations into 15 tracks.
The heartbreak, the consuming love, the partying, the emotional confusion, and despite being unable to offer nothing more than heart, youth is more than willing to give more than they have.
Khalid found his fame with the release of “Location” in early 2017. The song centers around a modern relationship where the young singer is asking for the location of his love interest. Khalid brings the aspect of communication in this song and wraps around the fact that we’re no longer inclined to talk to someone in person now that we can talk to one another through text messages in emojis.
There’s no need to face the fears of wondering whether someone likes you or not in person when there’s the presence of text message.
“[T]o connect with someone as a form of intimacy, I think it’s really necessary to, kind of, pick their brain face to face and see their reaction,” Khalid told Genius in a breakdown of the song.
Much of Khalid’s album focus around how technology can either make or break a relationship in terms of how well communication flows. The theme of technology’s presence returns once more in “Saved” where he sings about a failed relationship, but keeps her phone number in hopes that either one of them can one day be able to contact the other in hopes to fix things between them.
“Everyone, including myself, is so wrapped up in this digital era. Our phone is kind of like our safety net,” — Khalid on “Saved”
The album closes with “Angels” a piano ridden song that slows down the upbeat tempo the album has had the entire time. Even through the heartbreak songs, he managed to keep a beat that held a dance-able gesture to it except for the closing song. He takes the last song to reminder listeners that it’s not always bad relationships getting him (or anyone) down. It could be life itself and he uses angels as a reminder that there’s always someone on the lookout, waiting to pick you up when you’re down. Waiting to bring you “better days” to look forward to.
Khalid brings modern age to the music world with his own experiences. He’s the breath of fresh air from all of the pop songs singing about everything that doesn’t really touch on what’s wrong with being young and free. He touches the faults in communication and technology without excluding himself from it. He shared his personal feelings and did it with an album that’s going to stay trending as he continues to be discovered.
