Adults adjusting to new media may well exaggerate the chaos they experience and/or blame it on the culture, but by now enough adolescents have grown up flirting by text to address such things in art with relaxed acceptance rather than panic.Īmerican Teen also tweaks musical paradigms in its blend of airy and concrete. Khalid, a 19-year-old vocal prodigy, looks at the same world and doesn’t see hedonism it’s just life. The image of the tortured millennial who hates parties and hookups yet partakes because everyone else does, the old soul, surrounded by shallowness, secretly craving something real - this amounts to a moralistic, hypocritical condemnation of hedonism, a youth-specific version of what Drake and the Weeknd have made careers of. The Chainsmokers can’t, and the crassness of their Memories… Do Not Open represents a nadir. Mitski’s sharp, miserable Puberty 2 pulls it off because the specifics of analysis disappear beneath her guitar feedback in an expertly dramatized outburst of deprivation and rage. The convention when depicting the current generation’s love life is to bemoan the prevalence of hookup culture, social media, and all the concomitant ills that, according to those who think about these very serious issues, ostensibly follow: narcissism, commitmentphobia, phone addiction, inability to emulate the previous generation’s correct behavior, etc.
It inhabits its own winningly intimate, hushed, balmy aural space, and it corrects several tendencies that befall artists who address similar subject matter. If the album is any indication, we’ll be hearing those vocals for a long time to come.I’ve been listening to American Teen with increasing fascination since its release in March. “Cold Blooded” and “Therapy” are two of the highlights of the album that really capture the essence behind the vocals of American Teen. The new songs on American Teen provide an even further glimpse into Khalid’s vocal dexterity and range as an artist. Khalid’s album sounds fresh, despite the fact that seven of its 15 songs are previously released singles.
He has the poise and development of an artist that has been doing this much longer than he has, evidenced by the regularity with which he has been putting out music over the course of the past 10 months. Khalid’s vocals - as well as his growing presence in the music industry - show that he is a talent that should be recognized, even at 19. He has a gentle voice that possess an underlying power, making his words sharp while maintaining their melodic quality, which is apparent in every song on American Teen. Tying the entire thing together are Khalid’s vocals. There are themes that connect the songs, giving the project a narrative to follow.
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