10 Essential Khalid Tracks

Khalid Robinson lives the life that most American teens dream of, now that he is famous. Truth is, the singer lived a life that was anything but glamorous growing up. Born in 1998 in Ft. Stewart Georgia, Khalid moved from place to place because of his Mother's career in the Military. Khalid grew up in Military bases all over including Fort Campbel in Kentucky and a six-year stint in Heidelberg, Germany.

Though his location changed quite often, one thing proved to be a constant presence in young Khalid's life and that was the music. His mother has always been a huge musical influence, as she herself had a chance to sing in the prestigious US Army band but instead decided to sacrifice the opportunity to raise her son. Khalid studied Musical Theater in high school and began recording music in 2015.

During his senior year of high school, he moved to El Paso, Texas and began releasing music on the internet and working with producers like Syk Sense and Tunji Ige. Before long Khalid's music began to catch on and in July 2016 he had reached No. 2 on the Billboard Twitter Emerging Artists chart and his single "Location" began charting.

Now the singer has released his critically acclaimed debut album American Teen and has finally found himself feeling at home in a comfortable spot upon the top of today's youth driven RnB movement. And with a cult-like following enchanted by his mesmerizing multi-layered voice, it looks like Khalid is going to be in this new setting in his life for quite some time.

So get to know the well-traveled and cultured crooner beyond his years known as Khalid in this week's Essentials pack.

Khalid has the type of voice that comes along once every twenty years. His vocals echo the raspy and visceral, swagger oozing soul popularized by artists like Anita Baker, Erykah Badu and Anthony Hamilton, all while boasting the contemporary range and songwriting ability of today's great influential artists like Frank Ocean, James Blake and more.

This first record "Would You" is the personification of Khalid's craft that represents the generational intersection fusing of internet culture with art and youth. This track is fuck on your momma savage as much as it is come and stay the night smooth. Definitely an essential from Khalid's earlier work before his debut.

Khalid came into the game as one of those acts that find balance tip-toeing in more than one genre or style of music. "Stuck On You" is a great example of his versatility as it features his raw vocals in an acoustic setting backed up by the constant and mellow rhythm of a soft guitar. His vivid vocals shine on this track and it is easy to see why this young teen sang his way into the hearts of millions in such a short time frame.

"Coaster" is a moody roller coaster that puts Khalid over trance inducing ambiance belting a bittersweet decry adolescents are all too familiar with. Another one of the reasons Khalid has cultivated such a widespread fan base is because of his music's relatable and touching rhetoric. Tracks like this provide a clear and concise dialogue for dating in the digital age that is uniquely sincere and serves as both entertainment and therapy, if you will.

If you asked us to give you reasons why Khalid is such a breathtaking artist, his track "Reasons" would probably among one of those merits to his creative character. This record is everything and the ethereal melodies and textures it boasts are additional reasons why Khalid is great and why this song is so essential to this list.

While most of his success in 2017 has been due to his breakout debut album American Teen Khalid has worked with several fledging and well-known artists and released some really dope collabs including his fire feature on Alina Baraz's single "Electric" and his #songsfromscratch collaboration with Brasstracks.

"Whirlwind" sounds exactly like the title, a swirling torrent of improvised instrumentation and plunging rhythms. This track is 100 percent essential for any and every Khalid playlist there is.

There really is no better way to dive into Khalid's debut album American Teen than by starting with the biggest record from the project "Location." This playfully sultry track chronicling the illusive nature of dropped pins and "Come thru" texts is the epitome of new age RnB and a just representation at that. This one is definitely a great introduction to his album and not only did Khalid do his thing on this song, but he did it so well that the track was deserving for a remix from Kehlani and the one and only Lil Wayne.

Check out the official video for location in addition to the remix below.

"American Teen" is magical and gentle as all get out and combines a groovy disco soul with light-hearted pop inspired synths and drums for the perfect title track. Right from Jump Khalid hits you with the vibes on this album and it is hard not to oblige his efforts. This one is a fit for the dancefloor as it is cut out for daydreaming in a sun-filled meadow.

For the second offering on the project, Khalid digs deep on "Young Dumb & Broke" to craft the perfect sonic hyperbole to get lost to on a summer's night. This song is special because of the way that it really shows Khalid's ability to infuse mature awareness with adolescent innocence in such a way that vocalizes the angst that is the spirit of an American teen. No matter how old you are or how old you get though, this track is something you can relate to.

Quite possibly one of the biggest records from the album "Saved" is the extremely chill, virtuous love driven ballad that allowed many of us to fall in love with Khalid. This track is smooth, like soft serve or velvet sheets, so enjoy accordingly.

"Let's Go" is literally such a great song. From the cascading beat to the infectious cadence of Khalid's vocals to the alternating melodies, this track sits beautifully on the ears. To be quite honest, this track is so good that we decided to put it on this list twice. So enjoy both the album version of "Let's go" and the official remix featuring GoldLink.

First off, "Everybody two-step in this motherfucker." No, but really, as soon as we heard that drop at the top of Khalid's incredible record "Hopeless" we knew that this record would have to live on this list. While this track deserves to be on the official 10 essential tracks, it serves as the perfect spot to end on as it wraps up all of Khalid's complex and diverse flavors into one big Tex-Mex burrito and force feeds it to your ears.

This is the type of record that proves this kid has what it takes to be successful across many markets and is a great milestone for his career to show where he has been and foreshadow how high he can go. Nonetheless, this track is instrumental to Khalid's American Teen album and especially to this list, so enjoy, and stay tuned for more essentials soon.