It was Khalid’s night at the MTV VMA’s. The 19-year-old Americas High School graduate won the first of what we can assume will be many major awards in his career Sunday night.

The American Teen took home the ‘Best New Artist’ award against other nominees Julia Michaels, Kodak Black, Noah Cyrus, SZA and Young M.A.

In addition to winning his first Moon Man, Khalid also performed an emotional collaboration of “1-800-273-8255” with Logic and Alessia Cara to address depression, anxiety and mental health issues. Many in the crowd were in tears during the performance.

The very first words out of Khalid’s mouth during his acceptance speech were “First off, I gotta thank the City of El Paso for standing behind me. Shout out to El Paso. This isn’t just for me, it’s for the city.”

Now– we’re REALLY El Paso Proud of him.