The record is inspired by the trials and errors of transitioning from teenage years to adulthood. Less than a year later, the artist has released his first album, American Teen. The song earned him the crown, in addition to over 50 million Spotify plays. and El Paso. 'My days off I want to go back to El Paso and invite all of my friends, just to get the state of humility and groundedness, and to remember where I came from.Khalid released his debut single“Location” weeks before his senior prom in hopes that the song could earn him the title of Prom King. Khalid says he's planning to split his time between L.A. He also has a collaboration in the works with producer Zedd, who has a host of Billboard chart toppers hits under his belt with 'Clarity' and 'Stay the Night.' And while El Paso may still lead the charge in streaming activity on Pandora, his activity on Twitter is starting to spread, with cities outside the southwest, including Chicago and Philadelphia, ranking in the top 10 in Twitter mentions over the past month. After all, American Teen debuted this week in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 Chart, moving 37,000 units. It may be only a matter of time until Khalid sees this sort of attention everywhere. After he left, a car tried to follow him home. He recounted a time when he held a CD signing party in El Paso and 'literally thousands of people were waiting.' He couldn't get to everyone and had to shut it down early. He only just crossed over to what Next Big Sound would call Mainstream status a couple weeks ago, but Khalid tells us that in El Paso, 'I can't even walk around, really.' While Khalid isn’t quite a household name yet. 'So everyone’s very excited and feel like they have a bit of ownership, and it feels very personal when it comes to me. from it there’s so much positivity because they feel like they own me, they feel like I’m their child and I’m a beacon of hope.'

'I understand because, you know, stuff like what I’m doing doesn’t necessarily happen in towns like El Paso,' he said.

According to data provided by Nielsen Music for the week ending March 9, sales of American Teen in El Paso roughly matched sales in New York City, including track equivalent album and streaming equivalent album sales, behind only Los Angeles. 10, respectively. In total, El Paso makes up more than a 3% share of artist station adds on Pandora.

That's far ahead of larger cities like Los Angeles or Atlanta, which rank No. Unlike artists from major metropolitan areas, where promising new artists are popping up every month, Khalid has seen his city give him just as much love back, rallying behind him like a hometown hero. According to data provided by music analytics company Next Big Sound, which is owned by Pandora, the city is responsible for over 2,500 monthly artist station adds on Pandora.

Khalid location album