Khalid’s latest ‘Satellite’ Is A Little Off-Course

The singer’s latest pop effort struggles to really take off to the heights we know he’s capable of.

Five years on from the glowing debut record that propelled Khalid to stardom with his distinctly mellow and heartfelt songs about love and growing up, his latest single ‘Satelite’ retreats from the R&B stylings he made a name for himself with, and pushes the singer further into pure pop territory.

With his upcoming album, ‘Everything Has Changed’, announced back in July 2021, (but currently without an official release date still) his offerings thus far have been the typical mellow-moody R&B expected of him with ‘New Normal’ and ‘Last Call’ delivering the hazy, nighttime soundscape he’s pretty much mastered, but it was the colourfully vibrant ‘Skyline’ which steered the singer into more flamboyant sounds, even arguably being one of the summer’s most overlooked tracks.

Satellite relies heavily on the same tricks we’ve grown accustomed to hearing with current Gen-Z-leaning pop efforts and plays things a little too safe, struggling to really execute anything overly exciting.

Its lively beat is enough to nod a head along to but nothing you’d struggle to differentiate from other current chart hits. While he remains a consistent vocal pleasure, the corny likening of his love interest to a satellite of all things is laughably generic.“We’re walkin’ on a line / A line that lead me straight, straight, straight to you / You’re like a satellite, crossin’ through my mind”, his head-voice soaked with a bubbly campness.

For the most part, Khalid seems to be enjoying himself at least in the supporting visual, lending a once again camp and charismatic touch with some surprisingly proficient choreography (yes, he dances now!) to the backdrop of futuristic tech and space visuals, though the less said about the shameless product placement of Sony’s latest headphones and the PlayStation 5, the better!

Khalid is riding an intriguing trajectory with this new direction and greater expression of himself. On the day of the single’s release, he tweeted “I’m just having fun being myself”, and while it’s always a thrill to watch an artist evolve and experiment with new ideas and concepts, Satelite is, at best, a no-thrills, passable effort that falls a little flat for the expectations we have of this bright star.