Album Review/Analysis

A Little About the Musician:

Khalid is yet another artist to climb up there in the music industry at a relatively young age. The 21 year old rising star is an American singer and songwriter. His fame kicked off after the release of his catchy, laid back, debut single, Location, in July of 2016. During high school, Khalid studied musical theater and singing while beginning to write his own music and publishing it through sound cloud. Not to mention, he worked his way out of the majority group that typically ends up nowhere when they post their own music and or covers online, but a start is a start, and look at where it got him!

Gotta Give Him Some Credit!

Soon after coming out with his very first album, American Teen, in 2017 he had won an award for being the Best New Artist. A year later, he was nominated for many other awards but won Best New R&B Artist of 2018 and was the 2018 Choice Breakout Artist. More recently, earlier this year, Khalid had a successful performance at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards.

What’s up With the Album?

Despite “American Teen” being Khalid’s first album, the media made it seem like a big success. I’d say it raised expectations for himself and other artists in the R&B/Soul music industry. The album title pretty much speaks for itself, but to be more in detail, the entirety of the songs give off a vibe that revolves around a time period in a young adults life where they deal with issues regarding emotions, growth, and relationships. All of which is where most of the connections with audiences are at, or why the music was able to grab my attention.

Not all the songs in the album regarding growth were light hearted, but in my opinion it is the darker songs within the collection that bring out the positive themes in the others. It’s also nice that Khalid has a song for just about any type of mood that you’re feeling. Just about anywhere from being heart broken, to feeling rebellious, to feeling uplifted.

As for the standards of the musical side of the album, the songs go from being super upbeat like “8TEEN“, a song that gives a realistic view on parts of a troubled teen’s life, to slow and sad like “Shot Down”, a song about a lover that stole his heart and left him following her shadow. A bittersweet line from one of his most popular songs is, “But we still got love to give while we’re young dumb broke high school kids”. If you think about it, it’s true!.. At least in the case that you’re an average american high school student. #relatable

Not that the order of the songs had a huge significance, but I got the feeling that if the album was a story, and Khalid was the main character, he went on a roller coaster to becoming more sophisticated, song by song, due to the different experiences and such. In a sense, Khalid’s mentality becomes more and more mature. The variety of issues that confront him in the songs teach him something new every time, and with this, he grows.

In his eighth song of the album, “Let’s Go” Khalid sang, “Leave your sorrow on the table, pick up your worries and throw them out the window”. The sentimental values of the narrator seem to shift from immature expressions towards freedom to a more serious look at how he can be laid back while taking chances for new opportunities in life. PEOPLE, LEARN; his words hold value.

Transitioning over to the love stories of the album, “Winter” is about a cold breakup that the narrator is trying to come to peace with as he remembers the important things as a pair parts. “Promise that you’ll keep my love with ya”. Oh, how people mess with other’s hearts. Not even going to lie… after all of the heartbreak songs that Khalid makes, I wonder how many heartbreaks has he gone through. ANYWAYS, another touchy song that tugged at my feelings is “Therapy”, and let me just say that the piano really hits with this one. Whether the partner in the song was just a friend or a significant other, it show’d how much someone in a relationship can have a toll on another person. Protect your heart and learn how to make boundaries, kids.

“Angels” is the fifteenth and last song of the album, and not surprisingly, a song that seems to mend all of the hardships that the narrator faces in each of the songs. “The angels give me strength, and I’m not giving up. So I wipe away my tears and unveil my pain. They’re brushing off my shoulders and I hold on to their stain. I’ve been seeing angels”. Listen, religious or not, this song has a good lesson. One may not always have some sort of guardian to look up to, but you always have something to work for. A beautiful way to motivate and a seamless job doing it. Decent, Khalid, decent.

Although the storylines might seem to target most general circumstances within a teenager’s life, it can totally be enjoyable to other audiences, which is even more of a plus. While one might shove the style of the songs in this particular album into just one genre, there’s still a song that can fit just about any mood. Not to mention that most people have to have gone through and or are able to relate to something within his songs at some point in their lives. This artist to audience connection is important because it’s what drives more people to listen to his music and like his works entirely. 

But is it REALLY worth the listen?

Yes, all 15 songs, the entire 54 minutes and 45 seconds. And if you’re the type of person that thinks that you won’t be able to relate to the words behind the song, no worries! It’ll be made up by the way the music changes your mood in a great way, no matter the kind of atmosphere you’re in. Give Khalid’s music a chance, and you wont regret it!