Khalid is among a sinuous cohort of R&B stars whose music sneaks its way under genre boundaries like smoke beneath a bedroom door. His easy, conversational delivery echoes the diaristic musings of Frank Ocean, and his husky, wounded voice hearkens back to Tracy Chapman. He joins Aaliyah, Sade, and Bill Withers in crafting bedroom music for introverts, a compulsion laid bare in Kendrick Lamar's loners' anthem “Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe.”