• Tommy Richman, Million Dollar Baby (R&B/Rap)- Your reigning champion from the March 24, 2024 playlist reappears.  

  
  

  Currently, the #1 most streamed song in world, the funky “Million Dollar Baby” has been called a possible 2024 “Song of the Summer” by both Billboard and Complex.  One Album of the Year community member posted, “ this is some top tier funky shit- im gonna keep listening to it til my ears pop”.  I couldn’t have said it any better.

• Billie Eilish, Lunch (Pop/Alternative)- While it seems like the multi-Grammy award-winning Eilish has been around forever, she is just 22 years old. Admittedly I wasn’t originally a fan, as Billie’s teen angst orientation was a bit, well……too teen angsty for me, but her most recent LP “Hit Me Hard and Soft” shows a continuing maturity.  “Lunch” was named the Consequence of Sound new song of this week and its taut bassline and sapphic lyrics put an exclamation point on Eilish’s coming out in late 2023.  

• Nemo, The Code (Pop?)- I imagine that the 2024 Eurovision winner, “The Code” by non-binary artist Nemo, would be what would result if “Bohemian Rhapsody” was interpreted in an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical opera with some breakbeats thrown in for good measure- impressively all crammed within Eurovision's 3 minute limit.  Therefore, on your first (and possibly all) listening(s) of “The Code” you may say to yourself, “wtf did I just hear?"

• Benjamin Ingrosso & Purple Disco Machine (feat. Nile Rodgers and Shenseea), Honey Boy (Dance)- This dance earworm was quite a collaboration. Written and sung by the Swedish Benjamin Ingrosso, it was given a disco sheen by the German DJ, Purple Disco Machine and former leader of Chic, Nile Rodgers' guitar, with backing vocals from the Jamaican dancehall queen, Shenseea.  I’d recommend viewing the song video, which shows the metamorphosis of the ugly and sticky honey-covered Honey Boy into a slick dancing clubster. 

• Dua Lipa, These Walls (Pop)- Ms. Lipa’s Radical Optimism LP was so full of potential hits, I’ve added another here, the sophisticatedly poppy, “These Walls”.  This selection was inspired by one of last week’s Neuphorians, while voting for Dua Lipa #1, said that they were surprised Dua’s latest single, “These Walls” wasn’t included as that was their preferred song on the album.

• London Grammar, Kind of Man (Alternative)- The UK’s, London Grammar hopes that their forthcoming LP, “The Greatest Love” continues its streak of successive #1 UK (and Europe top 5) albums.  “Kind of Man’ is the 2nd single and features the angelic voice of Hannah Reid singing about the entertainment industry paradox of attracting men due to her perceived glamour, rather than who her authentic self. 

  
  
  
  

• beabadoobee, Take a Bite (Alternative)- beabadoobee is the pseudonym of the 23-year-old Philippine born, UK indie artist, Beatrice Laus. After having her first two LP’s land in the Top 5 in the UK, “Take a Bite” is the 1st single of her upcoming LP, “This is How Tomorrow Moves”.  The single is   produced by the legendary Rick Rubin with beaba’s fragile, but confident voice singing about her cycle of self-destructive behaviors over a 90’s indie rock sound. 

• Angelina Mango, La noia (Latin/Italian)- “La noia” (“Boredom” in Italian) was Italy’s entry to 2024 Eurovision, and while it didn’t win, it seems to have more staying power than many of the other Eurovision songs already reaching #1 in Italy and charting in many other countries.  Oddly for a Eurovision entry, “La noia” borrows heavily on influences from other countries, including Cumbia (Colombia) and Flamenco (Spain)- and the pulsing instrumentals and beat conjure anything but “boredom”.

  
  

  Note that both Mango’s parents are also famous Italian singers.

• El Alfa, La Leche Materna (Latin)- “La Leche Materna” (“Mother’s Milk” in Spanish) is a good example of the increasingly hot genre “Dembow” from the Dominican Republic, that I was turned onto by Neuphorian David V- a talented Miami-based latin percussionist.  The minimalist beats and distant vocal sample of “La Leche Materna” provide a hypnotic platform for El Alfa’s (“The Alpha/Leader” in Spanish) distinctive machine gun style staccato rapping.

• Tiwa Savage, Reason (Amapiano)- “Reason” is from the soundtrack to the recent movie “Water & Garri”, about an African woman (played by Tiwa Savage- and influenced by her true story) returning back to Nigeria after 10 years in the US and the conflict between the warmth of returning to familiar relationships- and finding them to now be overtaken by a violent gang culture.  While Ms. Savage is considered the Queen of Afrobeats, the beats and instrumentals in this song are instead South African Amapiano style, influenced by its Saffa producer, Reekado Banks.

• Ayra Starr & Seyi Vibez, Bad Vibes (AfroBeats)- The 21-year-old Nigerian beauty Ayra Starr seems to be everywhere at once.  She is on 3 newly released songs this week that are moving up the charts in different continents; “Bad Vibes” debuted at #2 in Africa, “Santa” (a collab with Rvssian and Rauw Alejandro) is the hottest new release on the Latin charts and “Gara” is the single  from the “Water & Garri” soundtrack.

  
  

  Ms. Starr partners with the 23-year-old sensation, Seyi Vibez on “Bad Vibes”, who sings on 5 of the present Top 10 most streamed songs in Nigeria.  Meg, April and I can’t wait to see Starr and others in Detroit at the 2nd Annual US AfroNation (the Coachella for African and Caribbean music) this August- definitely a recommended show for Neuphorians!!

• Post Malone (feat. Morgan Wallen), I Had Some Help (Country)- Fresh from collabs with Taylor Swift and Beyonce, Post Malone debuts at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, with the radio-friendly “I Had Some Help”.  This partnership with the Country badboy mega-star Wallen displays an effortless genre transition to Country by Post, with a lyric featuring the standard fare of heartbreak and misbehavior. 

• Charley Crockett, $10 Cowboy (Country)- With his 3rd appearance on Neuphoria playlists, I’ll spare you the background on Crockett again.  Interestingly, “$10 Cowboy’s” references to the bullrider, Billy McClain are derived from a character in Marty Robbins’ 1963 song “Old Red”.  Much thanks to Neuphorian Jeff C for that obscure fact!   

Happy listening!  

D