Ari Lennox and Smino take over the title track while Khalid harmonizes, “Give me a feeling.” The Drake-adjacent producer-singer duo Majid Jordan swirls a hint of tropical house into “Open” rapper J.I.D adds texture to the otherwise bland, boy-band-inspired “All I Feel Is Rain.” You get little wisps of Khalid, reminders of his presence-a gravely hum, an earnest introductory platitude (“Gotta live in the moment,” he sings on “Retrograde”). The singer QUIN commands the chorus on “Brand New,” trading raspy verses with Khalid over plush pulses of guitar.
On the more interesting songs, Khalid glides to the background as another artist draws the spotlight. But you don’t listen to a Khalid song to parse it closely.
It’s hard to pinpoint the slippery subtext or to find deeper meaning in a line like, “I’m the one you need to be around, ’cause I won’t bring you down.” Sometimes, just being is the whole plot: On “Present,” Khalid asks a love interest for permission to “be present,” winding his way through pick-up lines that sound like they could’ve been generated by a meditation app. The theme is less architecture and more, as Khalid might say, a mood the songs meander, Khalid’s voice undulating in layers over sparse, twinkling beats.
Scenic Drive is a concept record, and Khalid goes all in on driving metaphors, murmuring about roads and back seats and Lamborghinis.
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