No. 201 · Aug 3New York · London · Berlin
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Single Review · Alternative Rock / Pop-Punk

beabadoobee slams the door and doesn't look back on "Sun Has Set"

"Sun Has Set" is a new single from beabadoobee that plants her firmly in alt-rock/pop-punk territory, running on defiance rather than grief. Where a breakup song usually lingers in the wreckage, this one locks the exit — the thesis isn't heartbreak, it's finality.

By Cal MercerIndependentReviewed July 27, 2026 · 341 words · 2 min read
Release
“Sun Has Set”
Released
Verdict
7.8
Listen
Streaming embed · spotify.comOpen on Spotify ↗
A breakup song that isn't mourning anything — it's enforcing a verdict.

The interesting choice beabadoobee makes on "Sun Has Set" is to skip the part where she's sad about it. The track arrives at full-throttle urgency from the jump — distorted guitar chords driving hard over a punchy, locked-in drum kit — and never lets the tempo drop enough to invite second-guessing. This is a song about a decision already made, not one being negotiated in real time.

The arrangement earns that emotional stance. Kick, snare, and hi-hats give the rhythm section a tight, almost bruising snap; the electric bass locks underneath rather than wandering; and the guitar stays rhythmically dense, thickening the wall of sound without turning to mush in the mix. The production is polished but doesn't sand away the edges — the guitars stay thick and the drums stay punchy, which keeps the track feeling live and purposeful rather than studio-buffed into submission.

What cuts through is the vocal delivery. Her lead is clear and forward in the mix, melodic enough to carry the hook but with a slight, controlled strain that registers as genuine conviction rather than performance. In the chorus sections, where female backing harmonies stack in behind her, the impassioned quality tips toward forceful — the kind of forceful that doesn't need to shout because it's already certain. That certainty is the whole argument.

The lyrical terrain — missed chances, a friendship or relationship that crossed a line it can't uncross, a refusal to pretend otherwise — is familiar ground for the genre. What keeps "Sun Has Set" from feeling like a genre exercise is the specificity of the stance: not wounded, not ambivalent, just resolved. The song's thesis is right there in the title. Whatever this was, the sun has set on it.

The fair caveat, from a 30-second preview, is that the track's full arc — whether it earns a dynamic shift, whether the outro finds something the verses don't — remains unheard. On the available evidence, it's a lean, driving single that does what it sets out to do without overstaying its welcome.

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