Elliott Skinner’s “THAT KID” is a soulful study in the art of beginning again

Skinner has mixed feelings about the word ‘talent.’ “People talk about talent as this thing that is given to you,” he tells BEST FIT. “This skill that you didn’t have to work for.” But when we talk about people who are skilled at something, we should be “acknowledging the work they’ve put in,” he says. Looking at Skinner’s time in the music industry which, all told, comes to at least a decade, it’s clear to see why he leads with this statement. His pathway into music was fairly typical, but he is, for lack of a better word, a grafter. Skinner’s interest began in church, his father sang in church choir, and around the fourth grade he picked up guitar: “I would just sit in my room and play and sing and write for hours.” Skinner went to Booker T. Washington High School, a prestigious performing arts school in Dallas, Texas, which boasts alumni ranging from Erykah Badu to Norah Jones. From there came the familiar beats. At Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, he met two guys with whom he’d form a band in 2014, Thirdstory, then proceeded to drop out after the first year. After dropping viral covers on YouTube, the New York soul-pop trio signed to Verve Records, under Unive...