Scenic Drive

Since Khalid first debuted in 2017, he\'s been an emblem of the ever blurry line between pop and R&B, naturally resulting in some fans leaning more towards one version of him than the other. *Scenic Drive* is proudly for the latter group. The first songs, “Present” and “Backseat,” are solo outings, with the singer displaying a savvy proficiency in both the nostalgic past and the fluid present. But it\'s when he calls on some heavy-hitter peers for the remaining tracks that we\'re really reminded of his bona fides. “Retrograde” is a wounded fame-is-hard-but-love-is-harder jam that features Lucky Daye and 6LACK—with whom he\'s had a magnetic artistic chemistry since 2018\'s “OTW”—and duets with QUIN (“Brand New”) and Kiana Ledé (“Voicemail”) are tender in their intertwined melodies. On “Open,” he\'s joined by Majid Jordan for a sensual slow-burner, while “All I Feel Is Rain,” with JID, and “Scenic Drive,” with Smino and Ari Lennox, provide still soulful injections of hip-hop. Khalid\'s collaborators all have starpower on their own, but he\'s never outshined here; instead, he uses the unique qualities of his voice to highlight those of his guests to striking effect. For an artist who introduced himself as an “American teen,” *Scenic Drive* is silky smooth maturation.

With a stacked guest list, the 23-year-old singer’s latest mixtape showcases his curatorial instincts even as it cruises through a familiar landscape of soft, shapeless R&B.

‘Scenic Drive’ is no doubt a listening experience with each track blending seamlessly into the next – but maybe that’s the problem