Even amid all the turmoil with AI in the music industry, 2025 has been a phenomenal year for music thus far. We’ve seen releases from the biggest names in the biz (Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Bad Bunny), posthumous albums from some of music’s greatest legends (Mac Miller, Woody Guthrie), and even some unexpected debuts (Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things fame).
This year has also seen a surge of new music from acts who dominated the 2010s, and are tapping into their fans’ sense of nostalgia. One such artist is Khalid, who was no stranger to the Billboard charts from the moment he released his 2017 debut, American Teen, which peaked at number four on the Billboard 200, followed by Free Spirit in 2019, which claimed the number one spot.
Khalid’s 2024 release, Sincerelysaw a notable drop in chart position, peaking at number 43 on the Billboard 200, without any of the album’s singles charting at all. On October 10, 2025, the mononymous singer released his fourth studio album, after the sun goes downand neither a very casual fan who hadn’t listened to Sincerely, my expectations probably shouldn’t have been as high as they were.
Khalid’s Fourth Album Is Good, But Far From Great
Part of Khalid’s charm at the start of his career, perhaps the most charming aspect of his music, was his voice itself. At a time when pop was fairly saturated with autotune and overproduction, Khalid’s authentic, soulful vocals were like a breath of fresh air. Even on his own tracks that felt overproduced at times, his voice cut through and always promised a certain level of musical integrity.
Among the 17 tracks on after the sun goes downthere are a few in which Khalid’s vocal prowess still shines through, but overall, this album feels like the same recycled pop sound from which he did so well to distance himself in the first place.
There is a three-track stretch in the middle of the album starting with “please don’t call (333)” and ending with “whenever you’re gone,” where I found myself thinking this could be delayed evidence of a sell-out. The songs are catchy, but not in the same way that his earlier hits like “Better” or “Saturday Nights” were; where those felt emotional and aspirational, these new songs sound contrived, like low-hanging fruit.
Now, that’s not to say the whole album sounds like a curated appeal to the masses—there are definitely some tracks on which the old Khalid shines through (“nah” and “out of body,” to name a couple). If this were his first, or even his second album, I’d be a lot more forgiving of the production tactics meant to grab as broad an audience as possible.
This is, generally speaking, an enjoyable album, perfect for radio play and based on a typical, yet proven-to-be-successful pop music formula. The fact of the matter is, we all know Khalid is very capable of more.