Neon Future IV is the sixth studio album by American DJ and producer Steve Aoki, succeeding his 2018 album Neon Future III. It was released on April 3, 2020, through Dim Mak Records.[8][9][10] It contains collaborations with Lights, Norwegian producer Alan Walker, Brazilian DJ Alok, Indonesian singer Agnez Mo, Australian musician Timmy Trumpet, German DJ Felix Jaehn, American DJ Slushii, Travis Barker and Makj, Dutch DJs Ummet Ozcan, Dzeko and Dr. Phunk, and Dutch bands Showtek, Bassjackers and Going Deeper.

Neon Future IV
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 3, 2020
Recorded2018–2020
Length90:23
Label
Producer
Steve Aoki chronology
Neon Future III
(2018)
Neon Future IV
(2020)
Hiroquest: Genesis
(2022)
Singles from Neon Future IV
  1. "Are You Lonely"
    Released: February 22, 2019[1]
  2. "Play It Cool"
    Released: March 22, 2019[2]
  3. "Do It Again"
    Released: April 19, 2019
  4. "Rave"
    Released: June 28, 2019
  5. "Crash Into Me"
    Released: July 12, 2019
  6. "Hava"
    Released: August 9, 2019
  7. "Let It Be Me"
    Released: September 6, 2019[3]
  8. "I Wanna Rave"
    Released: October 25, 2019[4]
  9. "2 in a Million"
    Released: December 6, 2019[5]
  10. "Popcorn"
    Released: December 20, 2019
  11. "Maldad"
    Released: January 17, 2020[6]
  12. "Halfway Dead"
    Released: March 6, 2020
  13. "Love You More"
    Released: March 20, 2020
  14. "One True Love"
    Released: March 27, 2020
  15. "I Love My Friends"
    Released: April 3, 2020[7]

Background edit

Steve Aoki first announced the album during an interview for EDM.com at the end of January 2019. According to him, it marks the continuation of Neon Future II and III that he wrote together. He announced that he was finishing Neon Future IV, which would contain "mega collaborations" and that he would release the following singles of the album one by one, before publishing the opus, which was originally planned to be unveiled in 2019.[3][11][12][13][14][15] A few days after, he announced via Twitter that he was working for a song with American rapper Ty Dolla Sign, which will be included in Neon Future IV.[16] The album availability date has been announced several months after the release of Neon Future III in November 2018, and two dates were defined, first in Spring 2019,[10][17][18] then in September 2019.[2] In June, during an interview for MusicTech, he confirmed that he was working on it and prevented that many new singles will be dropped in order to complement the upcoming album.[19] During an interview for iHeartRadio about his song "Let It Be Me" released in September, Aoki said, "Neon Future IV is packed with collabs. Every song is gonna be [a] very interesting, diverse collab list of artists from all different kinds of worlds — which is how I love to do Neon Future. It's all about connecting with artists from all different walks of life."[20] In November, he premiered his album during All Nippon Airways Celebration in New York. A few moments before his performance, he said, "It's a bit nerve wracking because I've never played it for anyone. Actually, some of these songs never heard the light of day outside my studio. So this is a big moment, and the moment's coming soon. The Neon Future IV album will be coming out soon, but people in this room tonight will be the first to ever hear what I've been working on for a long time." The DJ also confirmed that it will be released at the end of 2019, and then debuted a mix containing his previous tracks and seven unreleased songs – all of them are collaborations – which should appear in the album tracklist. Liz Kraker of EDM.com noted that they varied in subgenre with dance-pop, future bass, trap and moombahton.[4] After the release of the track "2 in a Million" in December 2019, the album was announced for release in 2020.[9]

Track listing edit

Side 1
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Closer to God" (featuring Julien Marchal and Kita Sovee)
Steve Aoki4:38
2."I Love My Friends" (featuring Icona Pop)3:05
3."Halfway Dead" (featuring Global Dan and Travis Barker)
  • Aoki
  • Barker
3:24
4."Daylight" (featuring Tory Lanez)3:15
5."One True Love" (with Slushii)3:24
6."Girl" (featuring Agnez Mo and Desiigner)Aoki3:12
7."Maldad" (featuring Maluma)
2:48
8."Last One to Know" (featuring Mike Shinoda and Lights)
  • Aoki
3:17
9."Love You More" (featuring Lay and will.i.am)
  • Aoki
3:24
10."2 in a Million" (featuring Sting and Shaed)
  • Aoki
  • Omega
3:55
11."Let It Be Me" (featuring Backstreet Boys)
  • Aoki
  • Alexandru Craciun
  • Michael Gazzo
  • Henig
  • Torrey
  • Noah Conrad
  • Teddy Geiger
3:44
12."1 4 U" (featuring Zooey Deschanel)Aoki3:23
13."Inside Out" (with Felix Jaehn featuring Jamie Scott)
  • Aoki
  • Jaehn
2:37
14."Play It Cool" (featuring Monsta X)
  • Aoki
  • Sly
  • Dehiro
2:49
15."Crash Into Me" (featuring Darren Criss)Aoki3:46
Total length:49:41
Side 2
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
16."New Blood" (featuring Sydney Sierota)
Aoki3:12
17."Homo Deus" (featuring Yuval Harari)Aoki3:36
18."Are You Lonely" (with Alan Walker featuring Isák)
  • Aoki
  • Walker
  • Big Fred[vp]
  • James Njie
2:37
19."Do It Again" (with Alok)
2:56
20."Terra Incognita" (featuring Bryan Johnson)Aoki3:22
21."2045" (with Going Deeper)
  • Aoki
  • Evgeny Voronov
  • Timur Shafiev
  • Aoki
  • Going Deeper
3:58
22."Popcorn" (with Ummet Ozcan and Dzeko)Gershon Kingsley3:33
23."I Wanna Rave" (with Bassjackers)
2:24
24."Hava" (with Timmy Trumpet featuring Dr Phunk)
  • Aoki
  • Timmy Trumpet
  • Dr Phunk
4:19
25."Rave" (with Showtek and Makj featuring Kris Kiss)3:25
26."Cut You Loose" (featuring Matthew Koma)
Aoki4:19
27."Eevos Atik foes ireht" (featuring Kita Sovee)AokiAoki3:01
Total length:40:52
Japanese edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
28."Let It Be Me" (Denis First Remix) (featuring Backstreet Boys)
  • Aoki
  • Alexandru Craciun
  • Michael Gazzo
  • Henig
  • Torrey
  • Noah Conrad
  • Teddy Geiger
  • Aoki
  • Geiger
  • Torrey[c]
  • Conrad[c]
  • Stuart Crichton[v]
  • Denis First[r]
3:22
29."Maldad" (R3hab Remix) (featuring Maluma)
  • Aoki
  • Niles Hollowell-Dhar
  • Giancarlos Rivera Tapia
  • Jonathan River Tapia
  • Juan Luis Londoño Arias
2:13
30."Crash Into Me" (Settle Down Steavis Aoki Remix) (featuring Darren Criss))
  • Colden Grey
  • David John Matthews
Aoki[rp]4:26
Total length:50:53

Notes

  • ^[c] signifies a co-producer
  • ^[v] signifies a vocal producer
  • ^[vp] signifies a producer and vocal producer
  • ^[r] signifies a remix producer
  • ^[rp] signifies a producer and remix producer

Charts edit

Chart (2020) Peak
position
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[21] 125
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[22] 11

References edit

  1. ^ Murgalé, Yannick (April 29, 2019). "Clip " Are You Lonely " : Steve Aoki et Alan Walker au bord de la trance". aficia (in French). Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Leroy, Elodie (March 25, 2019). "Play it Cool : Monsta X collabore avec le DJ Steve Aoki". Stellar Sisters (in French). Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Bertoni, Adrien (September 10, 2019). "Steve Aoki et les Backstreet Boys s'unissent sur 'Let It Be Me'". DJ Mag France, Switzerland & Belgium (in French). Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Kraker, Liz (November 12, 2019). "Steve Aoki Gives a Sneak Preview of Neon Future IV at All Nippon Airways Celebration". EDM.com. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  5. ^ Wenn (December 6, 2019). "Steve Aoki and Sting team up for new single and video". Canoe. Archived from the original on December 8, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  6. ^ Exposito, Suzy (January 17, 2020). "Steve Aoki on Working With Maluma: 'We Wanted to Hypnotize People'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  7. ^ "Steve Aoki Releases New Single "I Love My Friends" Ft. Icona Pop On Highly-Anticipated Album "Neon Future IV"". EDMSauce. April 3, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  8. ^ Herman, Tamar (March 19, 2020). "Steve Aoki Teams Up With EXO's Lay Zhang & will.i.am on 'Love You More': Premiere". Billboard. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  9. ^ a b Stickler, Jon (December 6, 2019). "Steve Aoki Shares Sting And SHAED Collaboration 2 In A Million". Stereoboard. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
  10. ^ a b "Steve Aoki". Electrobeach. July 14, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  11. ^ Cameron, John (January 29, 2019). "Steve Aoki Announces Neon Future IV, Talks Hakkasan Residency and K-Pop Collabs [Interview]". Edm.com - the Latest Electronic Dance Music News, Reviews & Artists. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  12. ^ "Steve Aoki Talks Comic Book Series 'Neon Future': 'Technology Will Merge With Us'". Billboard. May 6, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019. {{cite magazine}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Greenburg, Zack O'Malley (July 29, 2019). "Inside The Winning, Spinning World Of Steve Aoki, Music's $30 Million DJ". Forbes. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  14. ^ Fischer, David (May 4, 2019). "Neon Future: DJ Steve Aoki's comic book sees techno-optimism". KRCR. Associated Press. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  15. ^ Salazar, Doris (May 4, 2019). "Steve Aoki lanza su nueva edición del comic "Neon Future"". Tónica (in Spanish). Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  16. ^ "We got a banger!!!! @tydollasign #roadtoneonfuture4". Retrieved September 20, 2019 – via Twitter.
  17. ^ BWW News Desk (March 22, 2019). "Steve Aoki and Global Sensation Monsta X Release English Version of Hit Single PLAY IT COOL". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  18. ^ "PREVIEWS Exclusive: Steve Aoki Sees A 'Neon Future'". PreviewsWorld. January 10, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  19. ^ Betts, Will (June 14, 2019). "Steve Aoki on the world's best DJs, holograms and the future of production". MusicTech. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  20. ^ Steve Aoki (September 19, 2019). "Steve Aoki on Emotional Backstreet Boys Collab & Vulnerable Autobiography". iHeartRadio (Interview). Interviewed by Nicole Mastrogiannis. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
  21. ^ "ネオン・フューチャー (Neon Future) Part.4" (in Japanese). Oricon. 2020-12-19. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
  22. ^ "Steve Aoki Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 1, 2020.