An EP, Suncity, arrived in late 2018, opening with audio of Khalid being given keys to the city of El Paso-not bad for a kid who’d moved there only a few years before. In between, Robinson featured on high-profile collaborations with Logic (“1-80”), Calvin Harris (“Rollin”), and Normani (“Love Lies”), among others. alone.) In 2017, he released American Teen, a celebratory but bittersweet mix of synth-pop and neon-lit R&B that garnered five Grammy nominations-proof that you’re rarely an outsider alone. (His breakout single, 2016’s “Location,” was recorded during spring break of his senior year a few weeks after it came out, he won Prom King within a couple of years, the song had sold more than five million copies in the U.S.
Self-described as “an awkward teen,” he picked up songwriting primarily to stave off loneliness, sharing music through SoundCloud and quickly catching the ears of both his peers and the industry. A military kid, Robinson split his childhood between Georgia, Kentucky, upstate New York, and Heidelberg, Germany, eventually settling in El Paso, Texas-a pattern of dislocation that often made him feel like an outsider. About a year later, he proved them right.
In 2016, Khalid Robinson was voted Most Likely to Go Platinum by his high school class.
