Sincere by Khalid | Album Review

Khalid’s first album in over 5 years

Source: Apple Music

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It’s been over 5 years since the release of Khalid’s last drop, so long that it almost feels like an entirely different lifetime ago. As such, the loose, care-free feeling of Free Spirit and the crooning of American Teen are lodged firmly in the rearview. Sincere delivers a more sentimental approach while clinging on to a loose, almost lazy delivery to mixed results.

Opening with the lead single, “Adore U,” it is both frustratingly simple and catchy. The smoke-induced haze that seems to cloud this track, weighs down the delivery, and as such, its impact. The transition into another particularly inconsequential track — “Everything We See” — does not help the case. The production is disgustingly simple, innately uninteresting for the most part, and experiments with either heavily altered or raw vocals — and I can’t figure out which end of the spectrum I fear more. The amount of clutter and noise feels abundant over what is normally a decisive comfortability in his genre from Khalid.

“Altitude,” delivers the first semblance of sonic curiosity, riding along a heavy bass-lines and electronic thrum as Khalid seems to finally settle into the pocket before delivering a first down pass, the melodies the strongest of the opening tracks. It’s bouncy and complemented by solid enough songwriting that it finally feels like the artist is letting loose. This tracks transitions well into “All Good,” which is built upon boring, “chill trap type” Youtube beats and perfect melodies.

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