''Neon Future III'' is the fifth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American DJ and producer

Steve Aoki Steven Hiroyuki Aoki ( , ; born November 30, 1977) is an American DJ and record producer. In 2012, Pollstar designated Aoki as the highest-grossing electronic dance music artist in North America from tours. In 2024, Gold House recognized him as ...

. It was released on November 9, 2018, through

Ultra Records Ultra Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, which is a subsidiary of Sony Music Group. Company history Established in 1995 in New York City by Patrick Moxey, a former executive of PolyGram and Virgin Records ...

and

Dim Mak Records Dim Mak Records is an independent, Los Angeles–based record label, events company, and lifestyle brand founded by Steve Aoki in 1996. The label has released music under the genres of punk, indie rock, hardcore, hip hop, and electronic dance m ...

, 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 Nick Rotteveel (; born 6 January 1989), professionally known as Nicky Romero or Monocule, is a Dutch DJ, record producer and remixer from Amerongen, Utrecht Province. He has worked with, and received support from DJs, such as Tiësto, Fedde l ...

Play-N-Skillz Play-N-Skillz are a Latin/American record production/DJ group duo from Dallas, Texas, consisting of brothers Juan "Play" Salinas and Oscar "Skillz" Salinas. Their production has won several Grammys including the Grammy Award for Best Rap Perfor ...

, TWIIG,

Don Diablo Don Pepijn Schipper (; born 27 February 1980), better known by his stage name Don Diablo, is a Dutch DJ, digital artist, record producer, musician and songwriter of electronic dance music. He is one of the pioneers of the future house genre and ...

and Lush & Simon.

Content

Prior to the album's release, Aoki revealed the meaning of each track in an interview with ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' 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 William Sanford Nye (; born November 27, 1955) is an American science communicator, television presenter, and former mechanical engineer. He is best known as the host of the science education television show '' Bill Nye the Science Guy'' (1 ...

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 *

– spoken word in "Noble Gas" *

Matt Skiba Matthew Thomas Skiba (born February 24, 1976) is an American musician. He is best known as the vocalist and guitarist of the punk rock band Alkaline Trio, and served as the co-lead vocalist and guitarist of Blink-182 from 2015 to 2022. Skiba's ...

– vocals and guitar in "Why Are We So Broken" *

Mark Hoppus Mark Allan Hoppus (born March 15, 1972) is an American musician and record producer. He is the co-lead vocalist, co-founder, and bassist for the rock band Blink-182 and the only member to appear on every album. Hoppus became interested in ska ...

– 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 Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to super ...

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

* Jamie Stuart – art direction, design * Brian Ziff –

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

Charts

Album

Singles

Notes

References

2018 albums Steve Aoki albums Electronic dance music albums by American artists Albums produced by Mac & Phil Long stubs with short prose {{2010s-electronic-album-stub