The record begins abruptly with him singing beautifully, against a lush, silky-smooth guitar-fueled backdrop. “Can’t count up the times you’ve blown my line / And that’s been on my mind a lot lately.” Khalid keeps ✓ “My Bad” short and sweet, clocking in under three-minutes in. His cool, calm, and collected approach is awesome, even if the song itself could use a bit more bite ultimately. “Bad Luck” is a lovely follow-up, finding the gifted singer barely breaking a sweat despite singing with great expressiveness. Give “Intro” credit for its gradual build-up to something grander, even if it falls short of making an incredibly memorable, ‘can’t miss,’ statement. It’s characteristic and idiomatic of the artist, featuring top-rate vocals, and a production giving off some splendid vibes. Rather than deliver a couple of seconds foreshadowing the project, Khalid opts for a full-length number. Free Spirit isn’t ever bad, but it also lacks dynamic standouts, particularly compared to American Teen.įree Spirit kicks off with “Intro,” which far surpasses the duration of most album intros. Focusing on the album’s title, also a song on the album, normally, we associated a ‘free spirit’ spirit as being a total ‘wild child.’ Perhaps Khalid is indeed a free spirit, but his sophomore album honestly delivers a limited amount of free-spiritedness beyond how we come to view the 21-year old singer. Given the uniqueness of his instrument, it should come as no surprise that Free Spirit is a highly-anticipated album release. While Khalid remains consistent on his highly-anticipated sophomore album, ‘ Free Spirit,’ at times, he could stand to exhibit more free-spiritedness.Īfter wowing with his debut album, American Teen in 2017, and tiding over fans with his EP, Suncity in 2018, Grammy-nominated R&B artist Khalid returns with his sophomore LP, Free Spirit.

Free spirit khalid album cover