When Khalid first dropped the bouncy “Location” on SoundCloud last year, the now-19-year-old just wanted to be prom king. He got the crown, yes, but it also changed his life. The head-bobber about connecting face-to-face rather than in sub-tweets also scored him a major-label deal with RCA.

Seventy-five million Spotify streams later, the Georgia-born, military-bred teen grew up bouncing all over the south before relocating to Germany, New York and Texas, making him the go-to expert on millennial struggles in a world inundated with screens and two-second attention spans. Fresh out of high school, Khalid has accomplished more than someone twice his age. His debut album, American Teen, is full of synth-pop and soul that’s wise beyond his years, but it’s his textured voice that really speaks volumes, along with his very real (yet, never melodramatic) perspective as a young kid living in America.

He sings about his mom smelling marijuana in his car on “8TEEN” (“My mom is gonna kill me”), about living a life of good vibes while waiting to escape youth on “American Teen,” about young love growing cold in “Winter.” Khalid delivers the voice of a true millennial—one who isn’t entitled, but who struggles to break free of his confines, who dares to dream big. Even if you aren’t a young buck yourself, listening to American Teen will remind you to stay open, while never forgetting your own teenage dreams. It’s entirely possible to be an old soul with a young heart.

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