Free Spirit
| Khalid
Free Spirit
Free Spirit is the second studio album by Khalid, released on April 5, 2019, through RCA Records. It is the follow-up to his 2018 EP Suncity, and includes the single "Talk". Khalid also announced a short film directed by Emil Nava to accompany the album, which was released on April 3.The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200.-"Wikipedia"
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
The second album from the historically inoffensive singer is another genreless collection of safe choices for a pop star in the making.
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Consequence of Sound
Free Spirit is an unfocused mess and badly in want of editing.
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Rolling Stone
Growing up is hard to do. Free Spirit reminds us just how weird it can be.
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NME
It is listenable, summery and occasionally thought-provoking, but tired in its laboured pushes for emotional sincerity.
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Variety
you can still hear something positive, maybe even optimistic, in the pause and sudden acknowledgement in his voice that youth is over and high school friends are gone, and that life now is filled with crusty managers and cloying paramours he can never truly trust. Maybe that spirit isn’t exactly free, but it is rich. With experience, among other things.
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The Guardian
Free Spirit looks bound to be a hit – there’s currently too much momentum behind Khalid’s career for any other outcome – but it’s hard to escape the feeling that something of his originality has been lost en route.
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Vulture
Free Spirit does the work of a good sophomore album: It builds on what came before it and opens up new avenues for the artist to pursue in the future.
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Billboard
Enjoyable sophomore record with sturdy singles -- although for Khalid, it may take some more time for him to start coloring outside the edges of his sound and mine something unexpected. There aren’t any major mistakes on this album, and for now, that’s enough.
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Hiphop DX
Over the course of the album’s 17 tracks, Khalid waters down his influences into an ambiguously tepid concoction. Despite the occasional moment of raw emotion and pop-oriented fun, the album is overshadowed by its blandness and monotony.
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The Atlantic
Khalid’s Eeyore delivery morphs through the magic of what sounds like a talk box, in a bridge that’s both annoying and glorious: a moment that forces the listener to pay attention.
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The Young Folks
Listening to the songs on Free Spirit make you want to put your arm around Khalid and share a beer with him. Decency exudes out of its every pore.
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The New York Times
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.
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The Ratings Game
In “Free Spirit,” Khalid operates with both a free spirit and free mind, dabbling in structure-less music that attempts to reach your soul through several different angles.
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The Post
The songs are individually great, but don’t quite create the exciting and nostalgic reaction from audiences that American Teen did.
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The Famuan
Overall, the album describes how the artist maneuvers through manhood. Each song tells its own story about friendship, love, and finding yourself. Although many of the songs are slower, the lyrics are very relatable and easy to understand.
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Independent
The production is warm and soft, with rounded, hints of Eighties-reference rising slowly through it like the globules in a lava lamp. And through it all is Khalid’s voice, consistently pitched at the sweet spot between pleasure and pain.
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The Harvard Crimson
Khalid’s honesty is at first refreshing; that is, until he dives into another retelling of a similarly endured relationship — and another, and another.
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While the album isn’t groundbreaking or a highlight in the contemporary music scene, it’s exactly what many in this generation need. “Free Spirit” reveals the growth Khalid has gone through since the release of his first album and shows how many of his listeners have grown with him.
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Kiss
We may not know Khalid on a personal level, but between his melodies, lyrics, and passion with this album – he takes us on a journey into his soul, and you can feel the passion behind it.
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Stereo Gum
Trouble is, Free Spirit is also a study in frustration in a meta sense. After being bombarded by the same moods and textures for an hour, it’s difficult to appreciate Khalid’s strengths. But they’re there, which makes his current predicament all the more frustrating.
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United by Pop
Following up from his successful debut and a string of striking collaborations, Khalid’s ‘Free Spirit’ provides some interesting and notable hits accompanied by some unfortunate misses for an ultimately respectable sophomore album.
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The Diamondback
Free Spirit, Khalid’s latest album, is different. It’s sadder and deeper than American Teen, but in the best way. Every track has the potential to be a chart-topping hit. With the voice of an angel, Khalid makes you want to sway and move, no matter what he’s singing.
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The Reflector
Khalid does not sugar-coat the truth in this album. I enjoy that he tells it how it is in his new music, but he does it in a subtle way because his sound is so laid-back.
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Dope Cause we Said
Overall, this sophomore project from Khalid is a pretty big improvement from his first. Khalid is a young kid who hopefully has decades of music making ahead of him.
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Spectrum Culture
Free Spirit indicates that the music industry has sucked the life out of Khalid. From the album’s generic pop sounds to its non-specific lyrics, it demonstrates that Robinson hasn’t had the space to be a living, breathing American teen – he’s too busy being a pop star. Ultimately, this means that the album’s vision is more closely connected to a Volkswagen commercial montage than it is to fully considered and keenly felt experiences with freedom.
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The Breeze
The rhythm is more than a relaxed melody that pulls in head bops and foot tapping from its listener. The instrumental builds and creates a succession of notes that gracefully flow with his lyrics.
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The Berkshire Eagle
"Free Spirit" is a fuller, layered 17-track album of unrushed, somber pop from an artist extending his wings and proving why he's one of the most exciting voices in music today.
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MXDWN
Ultimately, this album is pleasant and palatable but is not elevated above that level.
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Entertainment Weekly
Many of its songs are composed of identical elements — a guitar lick, some gentle low end, maybe a glowing synth or two — making for a thoroughly mid-tempo listening experience suited for shopping-mall speaker systems and consumer-driven playlists alike.
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FHHS
The album is the work of a wiser Khalid compared to his American Teen days. He gives a more of a grown-up feel from his lyrics and sound, and it’s spectacular. Taking a look inside and analyzing his emotions and feelings, he is an honest lyricist who opens up to his audience, and it’s going to take him far in the industry.
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The Musical Hype
Khalid shines vocally throughout his sophomore album, but as sound as the material often is, there are times Free Spirit just sounds boring.
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BVNW News
Throughout the album the smooth R&B feel and lustrous sounds carry his emotional journey and provide a compelling album destined to be played on repeat.
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The Lamron
Free Spirit is the perfect kind of music to shut your mind off, get lost in the sounds of synthwave and get in the summer mood.
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Daily Free Press
Khalid delivers some refreshing tracks when matching these beats with punchier vocals, but they’re ultimately buried under layers of monotony.
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Highs Nobiety
Both musically and lyrically, there’s little to challenge the listener, aside perhaps from an intriguing intro that misleadingly hints at the influence of Frank Ocean.
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Poptized Magazine
free spirit is full of ballads, lyrics that make an impression, and just enough personal touches that we feel like we’re really getting to know khalid.
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The American River Current
Khalid hasn’t ditched his upbeat sound all together, the album consists of tracks that give off the feeling of a carefree summer and live up to its name — Free Spirit.
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Iowa State Daily
While Khalid’s latest venture brings back memories of the hugely successful “American Teen,” the album does suffer from a bit of listening fatigue around three-quarters through the album.
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The Panther
Khalid left himself out of his second album. With the amount of fame he received from “American Teen,” it seems he felt more pressure to conform to the mainstream standards in “Free Spirit” and it shows.
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UpRoxx
Free Spirit is by turns apprehensive, defiant, optimistic, and wounded, just like anyone would be at the age of 21. Khalid turns out to be adept and a number of styles and genres by sliding into the spaces between them and never quite committing all the way to one or the other.
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The Parrot
The high points definitely were the vocals and production, but the flaws overshadow the positives for the most part.
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Vulture Hound
It is evident from Free Spirit that Khalid has a lot to give to the industry, and you can expect it to be one that gets a lot of listening over the warmer months and be a big hit for the festival season. And it is well deserved.
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Medium
Overall, I’m pleased with Free Spirit. It’s not the best work ever, but it’s a solid project. It hits on multiple subjects (relationships, self-reflection, death) but can use more in the way of production variety.
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Slant Magazine
The title track grapples with the tantalizing and distressing prospects of freedom, but Khalid never seems to reconcile the depths of that freedom throughout Free Spirit. Perhaps it’s because, at 21, his journey is just beginning.
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Highlight Magazine
Free Spirit further defines his transition from teenager to young adult with the songs taking on a mature vibe. The contrast of Free Spirit to his first album, allows the listener to hear the shift that Khalid undertakes to assert himself as a young man yearning to understand himself, normalizing situations that most listeners can relate to.
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