Songfacts®:

• Here, Khalid attempts to convince a girl he likes that there's nothing wrong with being "young" and "dumb" and "broke" high school kids. Khalid penned the song with Australian producer Joel Little, who is best known for being Lorde's collaborator on her debut album. Pure Heroine. Khalid recalled the story of the song to Genius:
  
  "We created the beat from scratch, me and Joel Little. I just wanted something not necessarily positive, but super upbeat. Hearing the chords, 'I was like this sounds anthemic.' And I was like, 'You know what. I'm young, I'm dumb, and I'm broke. I've been young, I've been dumb, and I've been broke.' That's pretty much where the basis of the song came from. I feel like the whole project is all about me being honest. And I felt like, you can't get more honest than calling yourself young, dumb, and broke."
• Filmed in an actual high school, the Calmatic-directed video features a host of celebrity cameos, starting with Dennis Haskins (Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell) as Khalid's principal. Other famous names that make appearances include Fifth Harmony's Normani Kordei, as the singer's Prom Queen, She's All That actress Rachael Leigh Cook who portrays a teacher, and Kenan & Kel's Kel Mitchell, who plays a cafeteria worker. The clip ends with TV personality Wayne Brady in the guise of a disgruntled janitor.
• Khalid told the Minneapolis Star Tribune the song was inspired by "not seeing love as a commitment at my age."
  
  He continued, "It was my expression of just accepting the characteristics I had at the time, and not caring that older people might look down at us. It's like, 'Yeah, I might be young, dumb and broke, but I still have so much love to give.'"
  
  Khalid added: "I've met so many different people, especially as a military kid, that I know relationships don't always last. And that's OK."
• It was Joel Little's publisher, Sony/ATV, who set up the session with Khalid that produced this track. He recalled to Songwriter Universe:
  
  "At the time, it was in the early days for Khalid, before his song 'Location' became a hit. I'd heard a Soundcloud link to 'Location' and I thought it was really cool. When I heard his voice and the type of music he was making, I thought there was something really special about him.
  
  Then Khalid came around to my studio, which I have in my house, and we were there with a topliner named Talay Riley. And on the first day together, we wrote 'Young Dumb & Broke.' We'd written another song that day and it was really cool... a slow, dark track. We were about to finish up, but Talay said, 'Hey. how about we try something else? We can do something that's a little more upbeat.' And both Khalid and I looked at each other—we were quite tired…we'd been working pretty hard. But we said 'Okay,' and I just turned around and I made the beat and the chords on the spot. And within half an hour, the majority of the song was written. It obviously doesn't always happen quickly, but for some reason that song clicked into place straight away."