Khalid’s <em>Free Spirit</em> Is Lost in Vibes
The singer broke out with fresh, specific songs about dating in the iPhone age. Now he just seems to be trying to fit into playlists.
The debut single from Khalid Robinson, 2016’s “” marked a new model in an old love-song category: the kind about telecommunications. He wasn’t , and he wasn’t . He was getting specific, app-y, and post-privacy. As he pleaded for a crush to send him coordinates on Google Maps or one of its competitors, a harplike trill sounded, questioning and unpredictably paced, like a notification. His rich drawl had a faint hint of church in it. But this prayer was
