When the artist at number one is a world-class talent, there’s never any shame in being number two. That’s especially true if you’re number two in a faraway place that you’ve never visited. This is the exact situation that the members of the Juno Award-winning Halifax, Canada alternative pop duo Neon Dreams found themselves in: “Life Without Fantasies,” their radiant 2019 single, became a smash hit in South Africa on the strength of its irresistible melody and its energetic performance. Singer Frank Kadillac and multi-instrumentalist Adrian Morris got right on a plane, played a series of sold-out shows, secured a platinum designation for “Fantasies,” and became legitimate stars on the other side of the globe. But they couldn’t leapfrog past Mthandazo Gatya, the man who held the top spot for weeks with the sensational Ubuntu anthem “Senzeni.” So they did the next best thing: they joined forces.

About “Say It Out Loud”

“Say It Out Loud,” the heartfelt new single from Neon Dreams, combines two of modern pop’s most remarkable voices. Here’s Kadillac, effortless and electrifying, hopeful, bright and beautiful, and Gatya, soulful and direct, pained and impassioned, equal parts beautiful and wounded, singing together in an international dialogue designed to resonate with everybody who believes in self-expression. Their performances are perfectly complementary — they sound like they’ve been singing together for a lifetime, which, in a way, they have. They’ve worked on different projects, and there’s an ocean between them, but they’re aflame with the same desire to communicate, the same optimism, the same hope for a better future.