"Toto" is a song by New Zealand band

Drax Project Drax Project are a New Zealand pop and R&B band that formed in Te Aro, Wellington in 2014. Recording a mix of jazz, R&B and pop music, the band came to prominence in 2017 with the single "Woke Up Late", which was certified triple platinum by RI ...

. Inspired by vocalist Shaan Singh quitting their full-time jobs to pursue music, "Toto" was released as the second single from the ''

Noon Noon (also known as noontime or midday) is 12 o'clock in the daytime. It is written as 12 noon, 12:00 m. (for '' meridiem'', literally 12:00 midday), 12 p.m. (for ''post meridiem'', literally "after midday"), 12 pm, or 12:00 (using a 24-hour cl ...

'' EP in August 2018. The song was a commercial success, becoming platinum certified in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Background and composition

The song was written by the band the day after the band members quit their full-time jobs to pursue music. While not directly inspired by the 1982 song "

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

" by Toto, the band references "Africa" in the song's lyrics, and wanted to recreate the same joyfulness present in "Africa". The first stanza of the song's lyrics are a direct quote by vocalist Shaan Singh, who was describing his day to a friend. The band performed the song live before deciding on a finished version of the song's lyrics. Due to a fan's strong response to the song, the band were convinced to leave the song as it was, and release the song on the ''Noon'' EP.

Release

The song was first unveiled as a track on the ''

'' EP, which was released on 8 June 2018. A month later on 13 August, the song was announced as the band's next single. "Toto" was later featured in the band's debut album ''

''. A music video was produced for the song, a dance rehearsal video made in collaboration with

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

, that does not feature members of the band. The single climbed the charts in October 2018, and was certified platinum in 2019 and double platinum in 2021.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. *Devin Abrams – producer *Matt Beachen – drums, songwriter *Simon Gooding – engineer *Stuart Hawkes – mastering engineer *Ben O'Leary – bass guitar, songwriter *Sam Thomson – bass (vocal), songwriter *Shaan Singh – vocals, songwriting

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2018 singles 2018 songs Drax Project songs New Zealand songs