“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. But it's when he calls on some heavy-hitter peers for the remaining tracks that we're really reminded of his bona fides. 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. Scenic Drive is proudly for the latter group. 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.
