Mr. Kitty's "After Dark"

Submission 16,025

About

"After Dark" is a 2014 synthwave song by American singer and producer Mr. Kitty. The song achieved massive popularity online on TikTok and YouTube and was used in various meme formats, most notably Billy Herrington Drinking Beer and Tradwave edits memes similar to Little Dark Age edits.

Origin

On September 23rd, 2014, Austin music producer Mr. Kitty released his fourth album Time.^[1] The album included the dark electronica / synthpop track "After Dark." On February 2nd, 2015, Mr. Kitty uploaded the video to YouTube,^[2] where it gained over 92 million views in seven years (music audio shown below). On Spotify,^[3] the song gained over 315 million streams since its release.

Spread

Starting in 2017, the song has been used in various edits. On February 17th, 2017, YouTube^[4] user Twilight Zone posted a fan-made music video for the song made using clips from the 2012 film Silver Linings Playbook. The video received over 4.8 million views in five years (shown below, left). On June 10th, 2018, YouTube^[5] user Alexander Bogdanovski posted a Blade Runner 2049 montage accompanied by the song that gained over 3.5 million views in four years (shown below, right), setting the tone for further use of the song in Literally Me memes. On July 14th, 2018, YouTube^[6] user masterderrian posted a slowed version of the song that gained over 23 million views on YouTube in four years.

On April 17th, 2019, YouTuber^[7] Diana Arkangel posted another fan-made music video, made using clips from the 1991 film Career Opportunities, which received over 75 million views in three years (shown below, left). On February 6th, 2021, YouTube^[8] user EmilyPro Vieuwbot posted the Billy Herrington Drinking Beer video set to the song, with the edit accumulating over 660,000 views in one year (shown below, right).

In late March 2021, the song, combined with the yandere soundbite, "If I can't have you, no one can" gained popularity on TikTok (original sound since banned by the app). On March 30th, 2021, YouTube^[9] channel cute tiktok uploaded a compilation of I Can't Have You, No One Can clips that received over 183,300 views in one year (shown below, left).

At the same time, the Billy Herrington Drinking Beer edit inspired remakes: on March 8th, 2021, YouTuber^[10] CitizenFive posted a Source Filmmaker remake of the video. On May 3rd, 2021, YouTuber^[11] DRAMESON posted a Gachimuchi remix of the song (shown below, right).

In 2022, the song gained an association with Tradwave edits on YouTube, similar to Little Dark Age edits. For example, on March 8th, 2022, YouTuber^[12] Yes2Day posted an edit that gained over 3.5 million views in five months (shown below, left). On April 3rd, 2022, YouTuber^[13] Ronzo posted a Reject Modernity edit set to the song that gained over 1.1 million views in four months (shown below, right).

In mid-2022, the song maintained viral popularity on all major platforms as it was remixed and, together with its versions, used as the soundtrack for various edits.