Sun Down (Nicholas Stewart album)

## Sun Down

Cover for Sun Down

***Sun Down*** is the fourteenth studio album by American-Romanian singer-songwriter Nicholas Stewart, released on December 25, 2034, through Sunset Records. It is his first album to be released after *Bloodfly: Mixtape* (2030), and his first studio album to be released after *Old Shack of Copenhagen* (2029). Recording sessions took place at Abbey Road, London, for about a span of seventeen months.

*Sun Down* debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming twenty-eighth number one album on the Billboard 200, and received Grammy Awards nominations for Album of the Year and Best Jazz Album. It was later certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA on August 15, 2036, for combined album sales, track sales, on-demand audio and video streams equivalent of two million album-sale units.

## Background, release and production

After a reunion with his former collaborators Sam Shawna, Rob Schneider, John Salem on June 2032, Nicholas Stewart was inspired to do another Jazz-style record after *Ozymandias* (2017) but a lighter one. Later that year, he sent demos to the trio and approved to make another record with them. Recording sessions started on March 2033 and ended on August 2034 with polishing. During this long span, Stewart was also focusing more on *Return To Luna, First Walk to Mars,* and *Interstellar Program,* the three conducted researches he was currently working on with various astronomers. Stewart was chosen to become one of the astronauts to land on the moon the same year. Before leaving Earth, Stewart already teased his new music project as a farewell gift to his home planet.

*Sun Down* is an acoustic pop album that features Stewart supported by jazz musicians: Shawna, Schneider, and Salem (mentioned above) who also worked with Stewart back in 2017 with Ozymandias. Songs were written by Stewart himself long before the recording sessions. Bobby Dodd of *All About Jazz* writes that although the album features jazz standards, reggae purists and academics "may deny [Stewarts] jazz credibility for her folk infusion". A similar tracklist style on his 2024 album *After Party, Sun Down* is divided into two sides. Side A leans more over the jazz side of the record while Side B leans more over the reggae side of the record.

On December 15, 2034, ten days before the release, Stewart announced on his social media accounts that his fourteenth studio album will be released on Christmas Day, while also posting a photo of himself in silhouette form watching the sunset, and also the tracklist. It became one of the most-anticipated releases of 2034. The closing track of the album "Where Do Flat-Earthers Go?" served as the lead single. Being the most popular track of the album, *Sunset Records* decided to send it on radios. The track debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 during the album's release and peaked at #3 on its 28th week of charting. It charted for a total of 50 weeks, his longest-running single since "Lost In The Dancefloor".

## Critical reception

*Sun Down* received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 82 out of 100, which indicates "universal acclaim" based on 29 reviews. The album received 4 out of 5 stars from both Exclaim.ca and The Quietus reviews. AllMusic's David R. Adler wrote that "while the mood of this record stagnates after a few songs, it does give a strong indication of Stewart' alluring talents." Robert Christgau of *The Village Voice* cited it as "the most unique album [Stewart] has ever released" and criticized that "Stewart's voice dominates the record."

*The A.V. Club* gave it a favorable review and called the album "A showcase for Stewart' remarkable voice and the record's bold production, the disc captures a singer whose rare instinct for interpretation always serves the song, rather than working against it." E! Online gave it an A and stated: "Gorgeous and intimate, the 21 songs on his comeback disc ache with romantic maturity and a smart, slow-jam sexiness that belies the fact that, at almost 60, Stewart is still on his prime." *Kludge* included it on their list of best albums of 2034.

## Commercial performance

*Sun Down* debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling 560,000 equivalent album units, which consists of 378,000 pure sales and 273 million streams. 14 of its tracks charted inside the Hot 100 the same week the album was released. The influx of pure sales was due to holiday sale offers. On its second week, it remained at #1 for the last time, selling 149,000 album equivalent album units, before descending to #3 the following week. Due to the popularity of its single "Where Do Flat-Earthers Go?", the album returned to the top ten for awhile before leaving the chart two years later. It was later certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA on August 15, 2036, for combined album sales, track sales, on-demand audio and video streams equivalent of two million album-sale units.

On overseas countries, it topped the European charts, debuted at #4 in Canada, debuted at #3 on Australia and New Zealand, #3 in United Kingdom and #10 in Japan. As of 2037, the album sold a total of 2.1 million copies worldwide, making it only the few albums to sell this amount in the 2030s.

## Track listing

All tracks are written and produced by Nicholas Stewart.

**Side A**

**Side B**

## Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes and Tidal.

### Musicians

* Nicholas Stewart - piano (track 1), lead vocals (all tracks)
* Sam Shawna – Hammond B-3 organ
* Rob Schneider – pump organ, accordion
* John Salem – violin

### Producers and engineers

* Nicholas Stewart – piano (track 1), production (all tracks), recording (all tracks), executive production, mixing, mastering

### Artwork

* Nicholas Stewart – art direction
* Wolf Haley – art direction
* Luis "Panch" Perez – cover photography

## Charts

### Year-end charts

**Year-end chart positions for *Sun Down***