Khalid is a young, new artist native to El Paso, Texas on the come up and just released his debut album, “American Teen.”

The 19 year-old’s first career album was released on March 3 and includes 15 tracks with no features, but it didn’t need the help that features usually give. Khalid has an amazing sound that hasn’t made it’s way to mainstream music in a long time. He does an amazing job of combining a soulful, raspy voice, with electronic-esque instrumentals.

The album should be the soundtrack to every high schooler’s Spring Break. “American Teen” is the most relatable record I have ever listened to. Including tracks like “Young, Dumb, and Broke,” the album is mostly about having fun and living life as an American teenager. “Young, Dumb, and Broke” is a ballad dedicated to teenagers lifestyle, and describes us almost 100 percent accurately. Khalid captures the stubbornness and “know it all” attitude of our young generation saying things like, “We have so much in common, we argue all the time, you always say I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure I’m right.”

“American Teen” is also loaded with heartfelt, love songs, with a bit of heartbreak. “8TEEN” is my favorite of the bunch, and has the feel of one of the songs that would play in the background of a cute relationship montage movie scene. The end of the chorus seems to capture this feeling perfectly, “I never fell in love, I saved those feelings for you, So let’s do all the stupid things that young kids do, just me and you.”

One of the slower, and more heart-broken songs is “Winter.” Immediately, Khalid hits us with the lyrics, “I lost my heart in the nighttime, she left me out in the cold.” He tends to elude to this heartbreak in a number of the songs on the album. Which is ironic, because in other songs he talks about how much fun it is to be young, single and not really caring about relationships, or on the contrary, in a loving and committed relationship like in “8TEEN.” I believe that if you really analyze the album you’ll find that he’s describing all teenagers internal struggle. Many teen’s are at a struggle with themselves, who they want to be, and what they want to do in terms of relationships. When he says he want’s to just be single and have fun, it is really him hiding from his heartbreak in having fun. He bounces from heartbreak to fun in the span of one song. On the last song of the album, “Angels,” he describes the struggle he had throughout the album and finally overcomes it. Khalid says that he has been seeing angels and that they’ve been telling him stories. The angels in this song can be taken in a number of ways, I look at them as the friends and family of Khalid as opposed to actual angels. He says, “I hope for better days and lately times are tough, the angels give me strength and I’m not giving up, So I wipe away my tears, I unveil my pain, they’re brushing off my shoulders, and I hold on to their stain.” What I think this means is that if you surround yourself with people who care about you and the way that you feel and manage day in and day out, that no matter what you go through you’ll be able to get through it. All because you have those people to support you, whether it’s family or friends.

Khalid’s debut album, “American Teen” is not only one with a feel-good and upbeat tempo, but has a far deeper meaning than what the surface might reveal to you. He did a very good job of combining up-tempo songs that you can vibe to, with magnificent lyrical content. In the end there’s not much more you can ask out of an album.