Joeboy’s “Pretty Girls” has been out since November 6, and it wears its source openly. The video description on his YouTube channel says the song was “inspired by the ever popular diwali rhythm,” and the Apple Music credits list Steven Michael Marsden as a composer and a producer. Marsden is the Jamaican producer behind the Diwali riddim, the 2002 instrumental that carried Sean Paul’s “Get Busy,” Wayne Wonder’s “No Letting Go” and Lumidee’s “Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh).”
The same credits name BeatsByKO and Anthony Kelly as producers alongside Marsden, with Joeboy, under his given name Joseph Akinwale Akinfenwa-Donus, and Derick Junior Obuobie as the other composers. There is no guest feature. BeatsByKO has history here: he co-produced “Normally,” the opener of his 2023 album Body & Soul.
Joeboy built the rollout on X over nine days. On October 28 he wrote “Pretty gyal dem, next one is for you,” and on November 4 he shared a teaser clip with the release date. The evening before, he told fans it would land at midnight, and shortly after midnight Lagos time he posted “Pretty girls, I made this one for you, enjoy!” By the next morning he was calling it a “special dedication to all the pretty girls worldwide,” and the official video followed that evening.
The 30-second Apple preview starts on the hook. Joeboy opens with a “to all the pretty girls” refrain and runs it twice inside the first 20 seconds, with an “again, again” call between the passes, the same words BeatsByKO used when he quoted the teaser. The energy barely shifts across the clip. The groove sits at an easy mid tempo, the percussion holds steady under his voice, and the last third moves into a verse aimed at one person, with Joeboy asking her to come closer.
“Pretty Girls” is track three of Lavida Boy, a five-song EP that Apple lists for November 20 on his Young Legend imprint with Hi-Way 89 Entertainment. It is the only song from the EP streaming so far, and his X display name now reads LAVIDA BOY. The EP title echoes Viva Lavida, his 13-track album from March 2025. His 2026 run has moved fast since: Agaba Romantic, a seven-track project with Wizard Chan, in March, “YBTM” in June, which already carried the Hi-Way 89 credit, and “Perspe” with Fxrtune in August.
Listen on Apple Music: music.apple.com/ng/album/pretty-girls/6821044267
Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/track/59DqgKpSKsyCc2VE8h1SvD