Here’s a lowdown on the global star, who has an ever growing fan following all over the world and many in India who are eagerly waiting to see him in the flesh.

Khalid is unique, unlike other singers we see today. He’s a beautiful writer with the ability to take human concepts and make you understand and feel them deep down inside of you. He has a full, powerful voice, mature and fresh, just like a brand new day.

Khalid Donnel Robinson better known to everyone as Khalid, is a native of Fort Stewart, Georgia, US. As a young boy, he spent his time moving home to various parts in the United States due to his parents numerous military postings. Khalid completed his schooling in Carthage Senior High School in New York City where the family had base for a few years. The family took a transfer to Europe, where a young Khalid spent six years in Heidelberg, Germany. While in school there, he took part in singing and did a bit of theater with his friends. He had no goal on what he really wanted to be, but his interest in singing and the arts fascinated him. The family finally moved back to the US and over to El Paso, Texas where Khalid got a chance to finish his High school.

In 2015, while still in school and in his late teens, he began writing songs and recording them from the halls of the high school. His music if one had to really go back and listen was full of youthful innocence and poetic passion. 

He posted his early works to SoundCloud and by 2016 he found his music reaching an audience who loved it. His single Location began charting, which led to his being featured in many publications in the US and instant recognition for his work. With production top music producers like Syk Sense, Tunji Ige and Smash David, things moved. The song received great critical acclaim and praise, for his soulful, gentle and mellifluous voice is perfectly suited for a retro soul style. Location finished the year 2016 at number 20 on the US Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and reached the Top 10 on the US Hot R&B Songs chart in early January 2017.

His second song Young, Dumb & Broke, was s slow burner, but nevertheless it got noticed everywhere it was played, moving to radio airplay and climbing the charts.

Noticing the success of his song, Khalid took off on a 21-city tour between January–February 2017 titled ‘Location Tour’, also playing in his hometown the 1,500-capacity Tricky Falls in El Paso.

Back from a whirlwind tour, Khalid released his debut album ‘American Teen’ in March of 2017 via Right Hand Music Group/RCA Records, which featured previously released singles. The album is title, was possibly related to the artist himself who is teen material and from America, which labels him as an American Teen star.

Khalid simultaneously also recorded his first music video for his first song Location that was well received.

The Aquarius born American was now getting wide coverage everywhere he went. The album, garnered Khalid 5 Grammy nominations including Best Urban Contemporary Album and Best R & B song among others for Location at the 60^th Grammy awards ceremony. He also received numerous other nominations, besides mass critical acclaim with Rolling Stone magazine calling Khalid a “pop prodigy” and TIME Magazine stating, “His thoughtful, relatable reflections on modern youth culture and the limitations of love are just as pitch-perfect as his soulful, measured delivery.” ‘American Teen’ shattered expectations, as it stayed in the Top 200 for 51 weeks, peaked at number 4, and stayed in the Top 20 for 48 out of the 51 weeks it was in the Top 200.

For those who have not tuned into the music of Khalid, let it be known that Khalid’s music is pure R & B style, with influences of pop, hip hop layering around. He has a deep baritone and tenor range, and possesses a two octave vocal range. As for his influences, Khalid cites his mother as his leading musical inspiration and ticks his favorite artists like Kendrick Lamar, A$AP, Franck Ocean, Chance the Rapper, Lorde and many similar styles artists he looks up to.

Khalid's next single was a collaboration with American DJ Marshmello with the song Silence. Due to the enormous popularity of Marshmellow who was and still is a big name all over the world, the song appeared on the Top 200 in over 28 countries. It topped the Dance charts in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and charted in the Top 10 of more than fifteen countries such as Germany, Sweden and Norway. It also appeared on the year-end charts of Hungary, Denmark, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Additionally, it was certified multi-platinum in many countries.

By the end of 2017, the album ‘American Teen’ was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over 1,000,000 copies in combined pure sales and album equivalent units.

One album done and Khalid was not the one to rest on his success. He decided to collaborate with the best in the industry and so it was.

Khalid's song The Ways with rapper Swae Lee was featured in the Marvel film “Black Panther”. He later worked with Lorde on her track Homemade Dynamite, artists like SZA, Post Malone and many others.

He released a duet with singer Normani called Love Lies recorded for the Hollywood film “Love, Simon” soundtrack. The song reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2018.

In May 2018, he wrote Youth in collaboration with Canadian superstar Shawn Mendes, which was snapped by Mendes and appears on his self titled album. The song contains references to the social and political climate at that time. Mendes joined Khalid at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards on 20^th May 2018 where he performed the song Youth as a tribute to the victims of gun violence. The performance also featured the show choir from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Midyear, he found friendship with Billie Elish, then a struggling newcomer, who this year amassed five Grammy awards. He collaborated with the then 16 year old on the song Lovely which was sampled multiple times in the debut album of rapper Juice WRLD.

Around the same time he featured alongside singer Halsey on Benny Blanco’s debut single Eastside, a song that charted in the Billboard Hot 100's top ten and reached number one on the US Pop Songs chart, after a record 30-week climb.

Watching the immense success Khalid brought to the town of El Paso, the Mayor and Council of the City of El Paso honoured Khalid with a “Key to the City” marking 13^th September, 2018 as “Khalid Day.” An honour that put him literally on a pedestal. 2018 was a year for Khalid and ended with him releasing an EP Suncity. The song debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200.

Fast forward to February 2019, Khalid was now in a state of mind all ready to release his new album, but was waiting for the right moment. In April that year after the release of his single Talk and Better, he released his second album with an accompanying short film. The album titled ‘Free Spirit’, debuted atop the US Billboard 200 once again with 202,000 album-equivalent units (including 85,000 pure album sales) in its first week, becoming Khalid's first US number-one album.

On 20^th April, 2019, Khalid made history by becoming the first and only artist to occupy the entire top 5 of the Billboard R & B Songs chart. Five months later he and Major Lazer released a single titled Trigger which was also featured on Death Stranding's video game soundtrack.

To promote his album, Khalid reportedly embarked on a world tour in mid June 2019 titled ‘Free Spirit World Tour’ covering the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and concluding in early December in New Zealand.

While the music industry fully got behind the young crooner and managed to create a star out of him, changing his life forever and giving him a platform to spread his beautiful sounds, one noticeable feature we need to look at besides his soothing voice and approachable look, is his hairstyle. The 22 year old singer who celebrated his birthday on the 11^th of last month, sports a rather interesting hair style, which has been copied by many. The black rapper has made his hairstyle popular just like his music.

His style if one has followed him, hasn't changed much since his debut, but he loves playing with color a little, finding some blue dye at times and applying it to his high-top fade to switch things up a little. But black suits the man fine, we think.

Khalid continues to be a beacon of originality, pride and imagination for today’s rising youth, without going wayward in his music. Through his unique sound and a personal journey that took him across the country, Khalid authentically symbolizes to inspire creativity and encourage experimentation.

We were to see the man in the flesh in April 2020, but the COVID 19 epidemic changed all plans. We hope he does perform in India one day.

By Verus Ferreira