A little over a year since the release of his Sincere LP, R&B singer Khalid has decidedly changed his tune from those airy, harmonic rhythms to a more pop-forward, liberating sound with After The Sun Goes Down, a confident, at times sexually charged collection of beats that leans into an almost Y2K sense of sound.
Whether such a shift is due to his embracement of his own sexuality (sadly though, him coming out was not as organic as it should’ve been), or that he was simply just ready to have some more fun with his own recordings, After The Sun Goes Down speaks to a performer living their best life and enjoying the frivolities of what it is to be free in their 20s; the album opener, “Medicine”, kicking us right off with such a mentality as he, over a 2000s-inspired urban pop beat, admires the intoxicating sentiment of a significant other; “I don’t do any narcotics, lovesick from breathing your toxins,” he croons.
Flitting between the highs and lows of love and sex, the lustful feelings set forth in “Medicine” continue throughout, with the more pop-minded “Impulsive” (“Cause I like to be impulsive, pulling your body closer, tugging on all your strings, you got just what I need”), the deliriously catchy “Tank Top”, which is perhaps one of the album’s greatest examples of committing to its 2000s urban sensibility, and the euphoric “Instant”, which details the quickness of transitioning from friends to lovers over a coastal-inspired pop sound.
Whilst the first half of the album has sense of cohesion in how it’s presenting Khalid’s 2025 persona – which, at times, feels deliciously Britney-coded, as he gives us the teen Arabic pop sound of “Out of Body” and the Timbaland-like “Please Don’t Call (333)” – it’s the disc’s latter half that is perhaps the most exciting. “Whenever You’re Gone” starts off as a faux-ballad, before building to a pop chorus booming over UK garage-inspired beats; the Jersey club influenced love song “Dumbstruck” sounds like the best thing Troye Sivan never recorded; and the singer’s gorgeous falsetto is on display in the sweet “Angel Boy”, which showcases the light and shade of his voice over more traditional R&B claps.
And though there’s undeniably a strong sense of self across all of After The Sun Goes Down‘s 17 tracks – lead single “In Plain Sight” details the deceit of a partner, the crowd chant-accompanied “True” is all about an insatiable want for another, and “Rendezvous”, with its dub step influence, celebrates the joys of sex – it’s “Hurt People” at the tail-end of the album that provides Khalid at his most vulnerable. Whilst the chorus is built around the notion that “Hurt people hurt people”, it’s the storytelling in the verses that paint quite a tragic picture of loss and despair; “No one wants the poison inside their veins, we all know that the ocean can’t stop its waves. And like a wilted flower that loses life, I crawl into my shadow and then I hide.”
As coquettish as it is contemplative, After The Sun Goes Down signals an assertiveness within Khalid’s musical projection, and if this club-friendly collection is anything to go by, his future as a liberated pop player is assured and rife with excitement.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
After The Sun Goes Down is available now through Sony Music Australia.
