Dracula

Album

Deadbeat

Label

Columbia Records

Genre

Disco

Composer(s)

Kevin Parker;Sarah Aarons

Entered Chart

Oct 11, 2025

Peak Date

Apr 25, 2026

Released

26 September 2025

Recorded

2023–2025

The Gothic novel Dracula, published in 1897 by Bram Stoker, cemented the image of the modern vampire. Its central figure, Count Dracula, is portrayed as the archetypal vampire, damned by God, steeped in the black arts and cursed to prowl the night. Though powerful and terrifying, his abilities fade with the rising sun, leaving him weakened and vulnerable by day. In this song, Tame Impala's Kevin Parker conjures imagery of an all-night revelry in which daylight threatens to end the party, hence the refrain "Run from the sunlight, Dracula." Like many Tame Impala songs, "Dracula" is both playful and oddly profound. Much like "The Less I Know the Better," it's about the pull between what we want in our nights, and what we know will come with dawn. Dracula's curse, Parker seems to suggest, is really just the same one we all face: the music has to stop sometime. Kevin Parker produced the track and co-wrote it with fellow Aussie songwriter Sarah Aarons (Zedd's "Stay," Maren Morris' "Girl," Ravyn Lenae's "Love Me Not"). It was the first Tame Impala single to credit a co-writer since Parker collaborated with Pond co-founder Jay Watson in 2012 for "Elephant." Musically, "Dracula" sits in the same after-hours neighborhood as "Let It Happen" and "Eventually," only here the beat is bigger, the synths shimmer longer, and the bass thumps like it's been handed a Red Bull. Parker told Apple Music's Zane Lowe it started as one of those "raw, minimal" sketches he likes to tinker with. And "then just sort of slowly expanded into pop. I kind of just give the song what it wants, like a Max Martin song." The video, directed by Julian Klincewicz (who also handled "End Of Summer"), doubles down on the nocturnal theme. Shot in the Australian outback, it depicts moonlit gatherings, portable house parties, and the kind of communal energy you'd expect if Dracula traded his cape for a bucket hat. The song began as two different ideas - one built around the lyric "Run from the sun like Dracula," and another with the line "In the end, I hope it's you and me." Parker eventually merged the two after his wife told him how much she loved the original "Dracula" concept. What followed was a long, piecemeal writing process that stretched over several years, with Parker frequently calling London-based Sarah Aarons from Australia to tweak verses and rework melodies. "Sometimes he'd call me, and I'd be in London, and it would be 11 p.m. for me and 9 a.m. for him," Sarah Aarons recalled to Billboard. "We just had so many moments where he'd be like, 'The verse is bothering me.'" Parker's perfectionism kept the song evolving - each revision reshaping what it was "about" - until the two ideas finally locked into place.

Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
(Check it out now)

The morning light is turning blue, the feeling is bizarre (bizarre)
The night is almost over, I still don't know where you are
The shadows, yeah, they keep me pretty like a movie star
Daylight makes me feel like Dracula (Dracula)

In the end, I hope it's you and me
In the darkness, I would never leave you (ah)
Won't ever see me in the light of day
It's far too late, the time has come

I'm on the verge of caving in, I run back through the dark
Now I'm Mr. Charisma, fuckin' Pablo Escobar (Escobar)
My friends are saying, "Shut up, Kevin, just get in the car" (Kevin)
I just wanna be right where you are (oh, my love)

In the end, I hope it's you and me
In the darkness, I would never leave (I won't leave her)
We both saw this moment comin' from afar
Now here we are


Run from the sun like Dracula (hey)
Run from the sun like Dracula (Dracu-Dracula)
Run from the sun like Dracula (run from the sun)
Isn't the view spectacular? (sunlight, Dracula)

Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh (check it out now)
Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh

But please, do you think about what it might mean?
'Cause I dream about you in my sleep
That you ever love someone like me? Like me? (Oh)

In the end, I hope it's you and me (oh)
In the darkness, I would never leave (I won't leave her)
We both saw this moment comin' from afar
Now here we are

So run from the sunlight, Dracula (hey)
Run from the sun like Dracula (run from the sunlight, Dracula)
Run from the sun like Dracula (oh)

Isn't the view spectacular? (run from the sunlight, Dracula)
Run from the sun like Dracula (run from the sunlight, Dracula)
Run from the sun like Dracula (run from the sunlight)
Isn't the view spectacular? (run from the sunlight, Dracula)
Run from the sun like Dracula (run from the sunlight, Dracula)
Run from the sun like Dracula (run from the sunlight, Dracula)
Isn't the view spectacular?