Courtney Stewart discovered a young Khalid through mutual friends on Twitter and heard some of his early SoundCloud demos.

“He didn’t know it at the time, but he was writing a generational album in American Teen,” the Atlanta native Stewart says. Khalid’s management team now includes Stewart, Mame Diagne, Jordan Holly and Relvyn Lopez at Right Hand. They've been right there with him as he rose to global stardom, building a relationship with him that is also a close friendship.

For Stewart, a key to good management is supporting an artist's big ideas, no matter how unrealistic they might seem. In his interview with Billboard Canada, Khalid said his team is so successful in part because they support his "delusion."

"He was being completely honest, and I think that is the key to working with artists," says Stewart. "As management, our goal is to make sure we're able to translate the artist's vision – to keep them grounded as well, but do everything we can to make sure their goals come to life. That's our job here. If we don't have the answer, we're not going to tell him we don't have the answer – we're going to find an answer."