Neon Future III is the fifth studio album by American DJ and producer Steve Aoki. It was released on November 9, 2018, through Ultra Records and Dim Mak Records, serving as the third chapter of Aoki's Neon Future concept albums. A fourth installment of the series, entitled Neon Future IV, was released in 2020, and features collaborations with Nicky Romero, Play-N-Skillz, TWIIG, Don Diablo and Lush & Simon.
Content Prior to the album's release, Aoki revealed the meaning of each track in an interview with Billboard magazine. According to him, the album is "really about embracing technology" and "the future of science and ideas, music and humanity. It's just the general overview of a techno future optimist." It includes themes from various genres of music, along with a cameo from Bill Nye on one track, “Noble Gas”. In advance of the album, "Waste It on Me" charted on the Billboard Hot 100.
Track listing
signifies a co-producer signifies an additional producer
Personnel
Steve Aoki – producer
Additional musicians Bill Nye – spoken word in "Noble Gas" Matt Skiba – vocals and guitar in "Why Are We So Broken" Mark Hoppus – vocals and bass guitar in "Why Are We So Broken" Kim Nam-joon, Jeon Jung-kook, Park Jimin - vocals in "Waste it on Me"
Other personnel Brian Roettinger – art direction, design Jamie Stuart – art direction, design Brian Ziff – photography
Charts Album Chart (2018) PeakpositionJapanese Albums (Oricon)132
Singles + List of singles as lead artist, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications US USDance AUSPeak chart positions for singles in Australia: All except noted: "Waste It on Me": BEL(FL)Tip BEL(WA)Tip CAN FRA GER NLD UK "What We Started"(with Don Diablo and Lush & Simon featuring BullySongs) 2016 — — — — 13 — — — — — "Just Hold On" (with Louis Tomlinson) 52 7 20 25 30 40 8 32 27 2 RIAA: Gold ARIA: Gold MC: Gold BPI: Silver "All Night" (with Lauren Jauregui) 2017 — 9 — — — — 196 — — — "Azukita" (featuring Daddy Yankee, Play-N-Skillz and Elvis Crespo) 2018 — 16 — — — — 199 — — — "Pretender" (featuring Lil Yachty and AJR) — 24 — — — — — — — — "Lie to Me" (featuring Ina Wroldsen) — — — — — — — — — — "Be Somebody" (with Nicky Romero featuring Kiiara) — 30 — — — — — — — — "Hoovela" (with Twiig) — — — — — — — — — — "Waste It on Me" (featuring BTS) 89 6 61 — — 64 — 98 — 57 MC: Gold "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
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References