In ‘‘Twenty One’’ - his current age - Khalid woos someone while he confesses his own turmoil. In ‘‘Self,’’ Khalid strives to balance self-doubt - ’’The man that I’ve been running from is inside of me’’ - and self-preservation the track, produced by Hit-Boy, lurches forward on a boom-bap beat and surrounds Khalid with glimmering keyboards and echoey vocals. On the new album, Khalid embraces a fuller sound that often harks back to the 1980s and 1990s, with pillowy synthesizers, tickling guitars and multiple layers of his own vocal harmonies. He’s also learning from R&B’s more distant past. He has upper-echelon producers now (among them John Hill, Digi, Charlie Handsome and Hit-Boy), and he’s separating himself from the twitchy, narrow-band approach of the SoundCloud rap crowd. It’s a generous album - 17 songs - that rolls along smoothly for nearly an hour, one leisurely midtempo groove after another, while Khalid’s voice conveys far more longing than agitation. ‘‘Is this heaven or Armageddon?’’ he wonders in ‘‘Free Spirit.’’ He has moved from ‘‘we’’ to ‘‘I.’’ More than a billion streams, five Grammy nominations (though no wins) and a 2018 EP (‘‘Suncity’’) later, Khalid’s second full-length album, ‘‘Free Spirit,’’ grapples with a more singular, more isolated experience: coming to terms with fame, wealth, broader horizons and lingering insecurity.
The immediacy of his melodies, the Everyteen sensibility of his lyrics and the direct yearning in his voice quickly found a wide audience. With his long-breathed croon floating over unassuming low-fi production, he sang about circumscribed but smartphone-connected lives, misfiring romances and looming life choices.
Upon purchase, you will be provided with an accessĬode and a link to Hal Leonard's MyLibrary site, where you can view your digitalīook along with supplemental audio or video where applicable. Hal Leonard Digital Books are cloud-based publications, which are streamingĪnd require internet access. Our matching folio includes all 17 tracks arranged for piano and voice with guitar chord frames. As one of the most-streamed artists in the world, it was no surprise that Khalid's 2019 album debuted at the top of the BILLBOARD album charts.
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