Tag: Afro House

Check Out Our Updated Songs of Summer Predictions (Complete With Five New Wild Card Picks)

Last month, Spotify’s annual Songs of Summer predictions made their return, and fans have rallied around the anthems they can’t get enough of. Some have been working late (…’cuz they’re a singer), while plenty have been feeling so Julia. Meanwhile, others have been looking for someone to match their freak

Now, for the first time ever, we’re giving you a midsummer update that reveals the top 15 songs from our original list, along with five new “wild card” songs. These updated predictions reflect our final contenders for the Song of Summer as we approach the end of the season.

Backed by Spotify data and cultural buzz, and hand-picked by our global team of editors, our wild cards were either released after we made our initial predictions, or they’ve experienced a recent spike in global streams. Wild card track “360” by Charli xcx, for example, has experienced an 80% increase in U.S. streams in the past month, while streams of “HOT TO GO!” by Chappell Roan have spiked 110% globally on Spotify. 

Spotify’s updated Songs of Summer list 

(Listed alphabetically by artist first name; wild card picks in italics

Over the last year, we’ve seen increased popularity of dance and Afro house globally, and summer is the perfect time for these songs to cross over into the mainstream.

“‘Move’ has been an undeniable hit this summer and an obvious choice for our editors as one of our wild card additions,” said Luisa Kristen, Senior Editor, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland at Spotify. “The song features the perfect recipe of beautiful Afro house production, earwormy melody, and pop lyricism—sounds that tend to thrive with listeners in warmer weather globally.”

Luisa also noted that in the last few weeks, the song has charted all around the world across many parts of Europe, the U.K., and the U.S. It drove record streams for the German group globally on its release day and was recently added to Today’s Top Hits—a monumental achievement for German artists and the Afro house genre overall. 

“Stumblin’ In,” which was released in November 2023, is also a strong example of how a song can have an extensive lifespan, cross borders, and experience a cultural resurgence during different moments of the year. It highlights the power of Spotify—our editors have tested it in various playlists, and since its release, it has grown and reached new listeners around the world. 

Tinashe’s “Nasty” also surged during the first two weeks of the Songs of Summer predictions reveal, both globally and in the U.S. Since then, the song has seen over a 110% increase in streams globally and in the U.S.

Celebrating 2024’s Songs of Summer

To continue the summer fun, we hosted our 2024 Songs of Summer event in Brooklyn this week, featuring electric performances from two of our contenders, Tinashe and Tommy Richman.

Spotify’s New London HQ Opens Doors with Performances from Dermot Kennedy and Joy Crookes

In the spectacular Adelphi Building, just off the Strand in the very heart of London, is Spotify’s newest expansion: a state-of-the-art HQ for the U.K. and Ireland. The office, with its new work spaces, production studios, and listening rooms specifically dedicated to artists, podcasters and creators, also houses our R&D team in the U.K., marking our first major tech center outside of the U.S. and Sweden. This expansion is a great example of our ongoing growth and investment in content and talent—so last night, we invited U.K. and Irish media to a housewarming in the new space to celebrate. 

Our open house gave U.K. and Irish media the chance to get to know us a little better, see where we work, and check out the spaces we have created to energize and inspire all the creative minds who come through our doors. At the event, we introduced our current U.K. and Ireland leads, our new Head of Comms in the U.K. and Ireland, and our Global Head of Comms, in addition to offering office tours of the new production studios, listening rooms, green rooms, Artists Lounge, and more. Our leads shared how the new office space puts us in the best place to continue growing Spotify’s leadership position as the most popular audio-streaming platform.

 

Charting the Meteoric Rise of South Africa’s AmaPiano

During the early days of its popularity in 2016, AmaPiano, the uniquely South African take on house music, circulated via low-quality file shares on messaging apps and online forums. Developed by bedroom producers with limited resources, the music spread from phone to phone faster than anyone expected; by early 2019, you couldn’t walk through the streets of South Africa without hearing AmaPiano’s sunny melodies seeping into the air from car windows and phone speakers

“If you put one hundred guys in a room and you asked them where [AmaPiano] started, you’ll get one hundred answers and some very heated debates,” said Siphiwe Ngwenya, cofounder of Born in Soweto, a homegrown label that’s backed AmaPiano since its early days. 

Indeed, tracing the AmaPiano sound back to a single artist (or 10 for that matter) is almost impossible. The list of producers attached to AmaPiano reads like a small town’s phone directory, a byproduct of a movement that developed in the annals of the internet. Still, in the three years the genre’s been around, artists like Kabza de Small and Mfr Souls have emerged as key players, inspiring a new crop of DIY beatmakers and DJs. 

The genre’s popularity with bedroom producers may also have something to do with its well-established sonic lineage. AmaPiano’s sound is somewhat, though not entirely, influenced by kwaitoa midtempo, lyrically rich brew of R&B, hip-hop, and house that emerged from Gaunteng in the ’90s. Both genres combine the drum patterns and basslines of their 4/4 cousins, but AmaPiano carries a cheery brightnesscharacterized by jazz-inflected keys, eager vocal cuts, and organ licks constructed over a laid-back 115 bpm frameworkthat kwaito lacks. 

South African DJ and radio host DJ Da Kruk attributes the success of AmaPiano to a wider DJ culture. “The AmaPiano movement has a huge mixtape culture attached to it, which I think was a vehicle to move new music from one ear to the next while promoting your DJ skills and mixing capabilities.” Da Kruk has been on the scene for years and hosts his own radio show dedicated to AmaPiano. He’s watched it balloon into a movement, as has Miz Dee—a DJ and one of the leading female figures in South Africa’s dance community. Throughout her career, she’s witnessed the trends in dance music change from the early days of Afro house to the more recent techno-leaning gqom. 

“AmaPiano is now by far the most talked about and the most relevant house music genre in South Africa,” Miz Dee told For the Record. “It’s a culture of its own.” And the genre isn’t contained within the borders of one country anymore. Its influence is spreading like ink in water to Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. 

Now, it doesn’t matter what city you’re in or club you’re going to. Everyone seemingly responds to AmaPiano’s shimmering sound, and Da Kruk believes in its inclusivity. “I was fortunate to see the impact of kwaito music and what it meant for the then-young democracy that South Africa was. It became the voice of local youth to push for systematic change and fight the exclusion of the marginalized. I can’t help but think that AmaPiano is doing just that so far for this generation of young South Africans, and I can’t wait to see how many more boundaries it’ll break.”

Maybe it was the unique yet accessible sound of AmaPiano that drew throngs to its beats, or the influence of social media. Maybe it was the sheer output of new songs—a veritable deluge—that never allowed attention to falter. Whatever the reason, AmaPiano isn’t going anywhere. It has transformed into a culture with its own festivals, club nights, and (specifically in Mznasi) its own form of dance.

Check out AmaPiano Grooves—Spotify’s recently launched playlist—for a celebratory crash course in South Africa’s homegrown brand of house.