6th November 2023
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The date is 29th October 2025. I’ve just finished Khalid’s new album after the sun goes down (released on October 10th) and it is immediately shaping up to be not only my favourite album I’ve heard this year but perhaps the best Khalid album I’ve ever listened to. As his 4th album, he has refined his craft and embraced a more bold, overt display compared to 2024’s Sincere (which to me, felt far more restrained and reserved) and given us the summer playlist I wish I had months ago; for context, Khalid had began constructing after the sun goes down in 2024 and was able to see it fully realised after he was publicly outed as gay.
He told Apple Music’s Proud Radio host Hattie Collins that he “immediately knew everything” he “needed to say”. Within these 17 songs (featuring a collaboration with oskar med k), Khalid is able to balance both contemporary (whenever you’re gone), rock-synth (instant offers this through the drums) and noughties pop (looking at you, out of body) in a way that is efficient, striking and incredibly powerful; we can see this enthusiasm through his adamance that he “wanted to be bold” due to having “played it safe so many times”. Each time I listen to this album, it makes me wish we were given this sometime during the summer, as the pop aesthetic would have fit so perfectly. Regardless, I am incredibly happy with the result and would like to give my official ranking of the album.
Ranking:
Wow. You know when people say song of the summer? Well, if this came out back between June and August, this would have been my actual song of the summer.
The song starts off with a reverb applied to Khalid’s voice and this kinaesthetic imagery of Khalid and another person growing physically apart via “Distance left between us, and I’m getting lonely”, forging a melancholic tone. This is reinforced by “the space that’s underneath us” and the progressive verb “hoping”, suggesting he is still determined to make things work with this person. After, the hyperbolic metaphor of “when you’re on your planet miles away” reinforces how incredibly isolated both of these people have become and the opportunity for them to be united is almost impossible.
Next, the pre-chorus follows an AAAB rhyming scheme via the triadic repetition of “up” and then concluding with “I don’t want you to leave when the day’s done”. Perhaps this repeated usage of “up” highlights the narrow-minded nature of Khalid by hyper-fixating on repairing this relationship with this person and confessing his need for them within his life; the alliteration of “day’s done” offers this audial flow that is pleasing to the ear in my opinion. After, the chorus is a standout via the epistrophe of “gone”, amplifying the separation.
The rhyme scheme of ABABCAA offers a both typical and erratic lexical flow that offers variety to the listeners, subverting their expectations. I personally really like the secondary female voice which reiterates “gone”, who perhaps is meant to represent the other person who Khalid has separated from? Although, this is pure speculation from me.
Then, the next verse starts with “Yeah, won’t lie, now I’m stranded”, with the embedded clause of “won’t lie” providing an almost stream of consciousness that gives us an insight into his mind. Additionally, the past dynamic verb of “stranded” strengthens the notion that Khalid is so detached from this person. The sibilance of “So” and “Soul” retains a consistent flow until he switches this with “Ride”.
He remarks how he “fell in love with” their “dark side”, inferring their relationship wasn’t the most healthy but that he could acknowledge and embrace it. Furthermore, there is the use of intertextuality via the reference to a “burnt red El Dorado”, with the El Dorado being something which Khalid references in his feature song with Alina Baraz called Off The Grid (released in 2020).
He even calls himself a “Love aficionado”, with “aficionado” perhaps insinuating that his knowledge of love and enthusiasm for sharing it is real and authentic. Hearing this reminded me of his song Ocean with Martin Garrix, where in that he asserts how “You could put an ocean between our love, it won’t keep us apart”. Perhaps here we can see some semblance of his determination coming to the surface.
Then, there is the reference to Eastside – which may be an homage to his collaboration with Halsey and Benny Blanco, where he remarks how the woman he used to meet was “in the city where the sun don’t set”. How ironic then that the title of this album is after the sun goes down, perhaps indicating to us that Khalid’s separation with this person – which he found impossible at the time – has happened, paralleling the sun’s transition of remaining in the sky to eventually ‘go[ing] down’ to set.
The pre-chorus and chorus then commence, which eventually culminate in the bridge; in this, Khalid informs the audience and the person that all he has been doing is “dreaming” and “thinking”, with these progressive stative verbs offering an introspective tone that conveys how intrusive this person is to have almost infected his mind. After, Khalid utilises asyndetic listing (where you join clauses without conjunctions) via “I can’t live without you, breathe without you, sleep without you, die without you, so about you, all about you”.
This semantic field of life processes – supplemented by the vowel elongation of the 1st person pronoun “I” – depict the key aspects of biological existence, suggesting that this person holds a vitality for Khalid and he is almost physically reliant on them to keep on living. After, the final chorus kicks in and Khalid is holding no punches through his melodic highs and lows, finishing off with the verbal riff (a melodic repeated phrase) that reminds us how “gone” this person truly is from Khalid’s life. Finally, he finishes with some ad-libbing.
Yeah, as you can probably tell, I fricking LOVE this song. It gives Troye Sivan vibes in the best way possible. Absolute cinema.😊
This song feels the most musically diverse in the album in terms of instrumental range, from a unified harmony and clicking within the beginning to combining this clicking with electric synths within verse 1, electric piano within the pre-chorus, the reunited harmony within the chorus to a presumably female ad-lib between the bridge and outro. I am especially a sucker for songs that begin with vocals and then subsequently include instruments (a prime example of this would be Can’t Tell Me Nothing by Kanye West, where it begins with this similar approach via “La, la, la-la, wait ‘til I get my money right”).
If we assume that this and whenever you’re gone are both canonically linked, this could serve as a prologue to Khalid and that person’s relationship. We can see this in verse 1 with the confession of “It’s true that I want you”. Khalid’s use of collocation via “Take a leap” implies that the person he is pursuing is risking their safety to pursue a chance at love with him. His interrogative of “why don’t you fall in my arms” perhaps presents this protective tone via the possessive pronoun “my”.
This persona of the white knight is affirmed by “My only intention was to heal all your scars”, with the infinitive “to heal” suggesting he wants to provide care and support. However, perhaps we can see some retrospection via the notion of “we’re 2 worlds apart”, implying that he knows how different the 2 of them are (almost foreshadowing their eventual separation within whenever you’re gone). The decision for Khalid to make true 11th and whenever you’re gone 8th perhaps serves as a gut punch to listeners, highlighting his naivete for believing the relationship could endure and survive.
Khalid is assertive by telling the person he wants to not “lead [him] astray” and for there to be “no games”, perhaps suggesting that he has experienced this same heartbreak before and isn’t willing to undergo this again (this could then infer that whenever you’re gone is about 1 lover and this song is about another one, however it’s completely up to interpretation).
It is great, but not as good as whenever you’re gone for me.
I enjoy this song a lot and I can imagine a lot of Khalid fans will too; this was the first song within the album I listened to which truly hooked me and made me realise this was different from the more somber feel of the album Sincere. While this song has a sad subject matter, it is contrasted by the more upbeat rhythm, which I prefer a lot more than Sincere.
When I listen to this in hindsight, this feels like true and nah are interlinked, perhaps written around the same time. I assume this through the end of the pre-chorus, when Khalid remarks how the person they’re with is “playing stupid games”, something which he didn’t want to have to deal with by mentioning “no games” in true. We can assume that the person Khalid was with was toxic and incredibly manipulative, making him feel victimised and trying to move “away from the abuse”; his kinaesthetic metaphors of “walking on a tightrope” and “fall into your trap” conveys the turbulent state of the relationship and something which he couldn’t deal with.
Again, whilst the topic being discussed is negative, the chorus is incredibly engaging in my opinion and the verbal riff of “nah” just seems to fit so well, both in regards to listening and thematic purposes. Also, HAVE YOU SEEN THE MUSIC VIDEO?? It’s shot using VR and was definitely trippy but also so cool.
This song is really, really catchy. It has a very boppy, R&B vibe (something very much aligned with Khalid’s typical music) which feels designed to make you dance; the topic behind this seems to circulate around sexual tensions between Khalid and someone else, with his physical attraction to the other person almost controlling his rational thoughts in favour of desire and self-gratification. We can see this through intimate lyrics such as the interrogative “When your lips all over me” and describing his lover as his “remedy”; this juxtaposes his role as the healer in true by evincing that even he too needs to be taken care of.
My favourite part on a linguistic level is the reduplication -or vocal stutter – in the final version of the chorus via “room” and “dy” within “remedy”, creating this punchy effect that hypes up listeners. My only criticism is it takes a while to kick in.
I don’t have much to say about this song but it just slaps. My initial ranking had it placed at 12th but the more I listen to it, the more I’ve realised how much I misjudged it (although I’m not a big fan of the outro, the rest of the song is executed very well). The repeated self-harmonies such as “somethin’ ain’t right”, “him” and the vocal elongation of “sneak”, “messagin” and “sell” make me believe that this is one I will come back to a lot; the catchy melody and dynamic flow of the song feels like it was made to dance to.
When I first heard this song, I thought the introduction sounded incredibly similar to one of his songs from Sincere; when I relistened to the songs, it sounded very similar to Broken via his ad-libbing of the onomatopoeia “Ah”. This could perhaps serve as a vocal comfort for him when starting his songs. Within Broken, he also refers to the idea of love being “just a game”, serving as a motif for Khalid’s work within his lyricism.
However, unlike the more ghost-like presentation of Broken, please don’t call is far more interested in keeping the audiences moving and swaying. The reference to “333” reflects the dominant ideology of it holding a key role within people’s lives. Since this album is about love, we can assume Khalid is suggesting to embrace it and stay positive. However, in regards to numerology, it represents mind, body and spirit. This is the ethos of Khalid’s album, where he proclaimed how he “wanted to be bold” and envision his own future, rather than let people do it for him.
This song is clearly dedicated to someone who has saved Khalid through love, not just through materialistic or superficial means but by almost transcending society’s confines and becoming the “angel boy”; Khalid enjoys the thrill from having him in his life, remarking how his life “is so wild with [him] in it”. He then goes on to portray this man as his “teacher”, with this personification almost deliberately provocative and excessive to express his deep admiration. We then are provided with reference to his American heritage via the reflection of how they were “tongue kissing, under the bleachers”, reinforcing this sense of American youth and forbidden love. The chorus affirms that this man is his “angel boy” and he is reliant on him to keep stable, hoping he can “fill the void” and that “without him, [he is] paranoid”. The one question we’re left asking: who is it that Khalid has “wrote this song about”?
This song feels just as intimate as medicine, shown via his imperative of “give me the taste I’ve been searching for”. The fact that this song comes after medicine suggests a prolonged exposure to this sexual tension and that Khalid is almost entranced by this need for love. While it is engaging to listen to (especially with the self-harmonies he overlays onto his words), the verses are mostly repetitive and therefore lacks any variety, meaning I can’t place it as high as the songs above.
This song has arguably much stronger lyrics than dumbstruck, with a notable favourite of mine being the social commentary of “How you so stoic in a world so active?”; however, I do place it below dumbstruck as I don’t think the beat is as engaging and the high-pitch modulated voice can become somewhat irritating with the “yeah, yeah” portions. Regardless, it is a song that approaches love in both a far more nuanced and explicit way.
I really do enjoy this song; it serves as a sudden change within a relationship from platonic to romantic, with Khalid using the lyrics as a vessel to contemplate the situation. Here, he recognises how easily the relationship can shift within an “instant”, mirroring the minds of many listeners who will be able to personally identify with the fear of watching a friendship grow into something far greater. This almost universal appeal of individuals potentially jeopardising a stage of their bond to pursue love is certainly admirable but for me, it doesn’t really resonate with me. Maybe it’s because I’m single and bitter, I don’t really know to be honest. Still a good song though!
This song feels the most domineering in terms of Khalid and intimacy; here, he is the one in control, shown via the crude lexis of “Ride me like autobahns” and “Party inside my bedroom and you’re invited”. While this on paper is something I should like in how its composed, my initial impressions are that it’s just a decent song. Maybe this will change upon more repeat listens within the future.
As someone who rather enjoys random house party music, this song works for me. Khalid’s verses are strong and Oskar med k is a welcome contributor to when the sun goes down; however, the more I listen to it, the more I feel it is rather generic for a Khalid song. Maybe that’s because of how I see house party, which isn’t really highbrow – with them all sounding pretty much the same – but something I enjoy a lot. So, this isn’t a fault of Khalid as an artist or Oskar med k’s, but rather my own scrutiny against house party as a genre and it very much being for mindless consumption rather than meaningful expression. That’s just how I see it.
Perhaps my most controversial take but I don’t like this song as much as the others on this album. I do think the verses can be sort of mediocre and feel a bit fillery but the pre-chorus is good and I think the chorus is the best part. I’m sure people who love Instant will enjoy this song a lot more than me, however I do think it doesn’t have the same impact. Again, it may be because I’m a single, bitter male.
This song is the only one on the album to receive a standard music video; within this, the one song this reminded me of in terms of aesthetics was Britney Spears’ I’m A Slave 4 U; we can see this through the choreography, video framing and costume design. The clear 2000s inspiration is evident both within the visuals and audio codes. Despite this, it isn’t my favourite on the album unfortunately. I did enjoy the little nod to Nah at the end in the bathroom.
As of this moment, the reason this song is so low compared to the others is I think it’s a rather weak entry within the album; as someone who enjoys gaming, I do like the 8-bit sound effects and synths within the backing track. In fact, I can imagine myself occasionally putting this on (I do like the deeper voice he portrays, similar to Ground from the Sincere album).
However, I don’t think it really fits within the album’s musical identity. It detracts from the mostly consistent mood established (while nobody can be seen as an outlier, I still enjoy its inclusion within the album), feeling more like it would’ve fit back in his Young, Dumb & Broke era. I do imagine this song will grow on me though, so I am willing to acknowledge that it is a good song.
This song is decent but not my favourite; I think I just find it kinda boring and is dumbstruck without the charm.
You know what I think the worst part about this song is? It feels kinda forgettable and a bit too sad for the album (while of course a lot of the album discusses love in a negative light, the songs are still entertaining and draw me in far more than hurt people). The song reminds me of Sincere but doesn’t feel as well executed, likely due to it being the only ‘proper’ sad song on this album and that’s probably what switches me off from it.
So, here we are. In an interview with NPR’s Ayesha Roscoe on October 12th, Roscoe informed Khalid that she perceived the album as being “all about having fun” and “also being young”; he agreed and admitted he felt he was capable of finally diving into “stories which [he has] been holding on to for so long”. It will be interesting to see where he goes from here, and if it’s even possible to top this already incredibly authentic album. It seems what comes up after the sun goes down is an honest reflection on youth, energy and enthusiasm, ideas which we can all understand.
Any questions? Feel free to contact me via johnjoyce4535@gmail.com!
Check out my last piece: From Consumption to Prosumption – Exploring the History of Fan Editing
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