Re: Ne-Yo, Because Of You Full Album Zip
Antipas Zorn
But when he approached that sound on his fifth album, "R.E.D.," the 33-year-old Grammy winner said he took the time to craft lyrics that have meaning. He said the best example is "Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)," his current single and Top 10 Billboard pop hit.
"I told myself if I'm going to do this dance music or electronic or techno or whatever it is, I need to do it from a standpoint of making mine stand out from everybody else's, meaning a Ne-Yo dance record is going to have some kind of depth in the lyrics because the lyrics is who I am," he said.
Ne-Yo: She's getting all this recognition and attention now and she doesn't want to be an artist anymore. ... I don't blame her. Being an artist definitely has its pros and its cons. ... You can walk down the street and have the No. 1 song in the world and nobody bothers you.
Ne-Yo: It's changed the way that I write to a degree. I used to pride myself on how fast I can write a song, how many songs I can write in a small amount of time. Now it's definitely quality over quantity. ... It's that now because the better the song the more likely somebody's going to buy it; someone buys it that means I get money and I can take care of my kids.
Ne-Yo: There was almost an essence of me needing to prove something. ... My last album didn't perform as well as my previous three, and I felt with this one, I definitely needed to remind me this is what I do.
Ne-Yo: The approach going into "R.E.D." did have a little bit to do with "Libra Scale." In the realm of what "Libra Scale" was, there was a lot of things that I was trying to do that I had never done before and that I didn't take the time to gain the proper knowledge of before I attempted.
Ne-Yo: That was the one record I was a little afraid of. People are going to hear this and change the way they view me. ... It was easy because it's things that's always floating in the back of my head anyway. The difficulty came in with the honesty. Like, do I want to be this honest? Do I want to say to somebody, "I'm a man of my word, but only when I'm not lying"?
Ne-Yo: I actually ran into Tim McGraw's manager in London and ... when we played "She Is," I was like, "This is my take on a country song. Hopefully if all goes well, you'll see me performing this at the Country Music Awards with Tim McGraw or somebody." And Tim McGraw's manager happened to be in the audience and he was like, "We can make that happen."
Ne-Yo: 2 Chainz ... Elle Varner ... I've been singing Lana Del Rey's praises recently. ... Got to throw Frank (Ocean) in there. ... Superbrave cat to do what he did. (Earlier last year, Ocean revealed that his first love was a man.) When I heard about it, I honestly didn't think it was as big of a deal as everybody made (it). ... If you listen to his music, Frank is the kind of cat that's going to do what he wants to do. ... The dude references "Dragon Ball Z" in a R&B song ... so for him to come out and say what he said ... I'm like, "OK, that just makes perfect sense with who he is."
What was it like recording the new album? It was very challenging, because I had more control over this one. I had a say in who I wanted to collaborate with and which songs I wanted to record, so there's more pressure there. But it was also a lot of fun, because it's not like any of my previous albums. This one is very edgy.
How does it feel to be the new face of Cover Girl? Absolutely unreal. It's every girl's dream to be a Cover Girl! As someone who came from Barbados, the fact that this is happening is crazy to me. Plus, I can genuinely promote these products because I do love them!
You're starring in the ad campaign for Cover Girl's Wetslicks lipgloss. Do you have a favorite shade? I like to switch it up every few weeks. My favorite used to be Strawberry Splash, but now it's Raspberry Splash. I also like Lemon, too. And they taste good! I always end up licking it off my lips!
Are there any insider makeup tips you've learned from makeup artists you've worked with? I've always liked a nice pout. Once, I saw a makeup artist with great lips, and I pulled her aside and said, "Show me how to make my lips look like yours!" She taught me to always use lipliner, and now I'm addicted! To make my lips look fuller, I trace the line a little bit outside of my natural lip line.
If you're not familiar with the singer, you might be familar with his work, which goes well beyond his own albums. He's a talented writer who has written for a who's who list of the R&B music industry, and he's also made guest appearances on numerous artists' albums.
Born Shaffer C. Smith in Arkansas, Ne-Yo was raised in Las Vegas. He'll be celebrating his 25th birthday Thursday. So, if you're attending the concert, make sure to bring lots of Happy Birthday posters and gifts to throw onto the stage. And you never know what could happen. "I just might do something special. I could probably pull somethin' crazy outta the bag, but I'm not gonna tell you what I'm gonna do because I'm gonna let it be a surprise."
Before becoming a success himself, Ne-Yo contributed his writing skills to numerous very lovely ladies. He co-wrote Beyonc's "Irreplaceable" and wrote Rihanna's "Unfaithful." He also helped out Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, B2K and Ruben Studdard. "I've been writing since I was a kid kid, before double digits. I got hooked-up writing for Beyonc mainly through Jay (Jay-Z). I knew B was putting a record out, and Jay respected my ability as a writer and he said I should put something together for her, and I was honored. As for Rihanna, she's a label mate and I met her and we clicked instantly, ya know; that's my little sister. So, I just went ahead and put some stuff together for her, too.
His first album, "In My Own Words," was released in 2006 and featured the hit "So Sick," which reached No. 1 on the Top-40 chart. Another single, "Sexy Love," made it to the top 10 as well as "When You're Mad." The album was certified platinum. "I had hoped it was gonna be successful, but no one ever knows for certain, as fickle as the game is today. Nobody knows what's gonna move and what's not. I will say that it was definitely a huge sigh of relief when it did work. It gave me hope for the future and I was prayin' that I wasn't gonna have to be something that I wasn't in order to be in this game. I did an album that represented who I am and, by the grace of God, people accepted it."
His sophomore album, "Because of You," hit stores May 1, but the self-titled single made it to the Top 40 in March. "Everybody's been tellin' me that they really like it. It's a little different from the first one, so it took a minute for people to catch on to some songs, but, for the most part, everybody's tellin' me they really enjoy it."
Ne-Yo guested on Rihanna's LP "Good Girl Gone Bad" on the song "Hate That I Love You" (which hit the Top 40) and he also appeared on Jay-Z's album "Kingdom Come" on the track "Minority Report." He helped out Fabolous on the single "Make Me Better" off the rapper's record "From Nothin' to Somethin'," and that also reached the Top 40. The singer also has acting cred, which can be seen in the movie "Stomp the Yard." "It's a beautiful thing, again, it's a sigh of relief. Again, it gives me hope."
Ne-Yo won a Soul Train Music Award for Best New Artist in 2007 and was nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist in 2006. He was also nominated for two Grammy awards for Best R&B Vocal Performance for "So Sick" and Best Contemporary R&B Album for "In My Own Words." "It felt good. Any recognition for what I'm doin' feels great. Man, I'm a little speechless, because I don't do that. This is new for me. Ya know, I'm the background guy. It was a great feeling. It was surreal."
He's currently in the studio working with Lionel Richie. "Well, he's gearin' up to put another album out, and I ran into him at the Essence Festival in New Orleans and we set it up there. I'm writing on his album, but I'm not sure when it's comin' out."
I thought about reviving this the other day because I finally listened to Because of You and Ne-Yo is the shit and his next album will no doubt be a total game-changer for the entire world, like Thriller meets 1999, and I was wondering if Hawthorne Heights still existed. And now I see that they do.
Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit "Let Me Love You". The single's successful release prompted a meeting between Ne-Yo and Def Jam's then-president Jay-Z, resulting in a long-tenured recording contract.
Because of You (2007), Ne-Yo's second studio album, was the second number one platinum-selling album debuted on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, and received the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 50th Grammy Awards. His third studio album, Year of the Gentleman (2008), saw continued success and further Grammy Award nominations for Best Contemporary R&B Album as well as Album of the Year. Its singles "Closer" and "Miss Independent" were also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, and Best R&B Song. Year of the Gentleman has been certified platinum twice in the US, selling two million copies, also platinum three times in the UK and once in Japan.
Shaffer Chimere Smith was born in Camden, Arkansas. His father is of African American and Chinese descent, while his mother is African American. Both of his parents were musicians. As a young child, he was raised by his mother after she separated from his father. His mother then relocated the family to Las Vegas, Nevada.
While in the Las Vegas Academy, Smith adopted the stage name GoGo and joined an R&B group called Envy, who appeared during amateur night on Showtime at the Apollo and on the short lived MTV series The Cut (hosted by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC). The group disbanded in 2000, and Smith continued to write songs for other artists before starting his solo career. The stage name Ne-Yo was coined by Big D Evans, a producer with whom Ne-Yo once worked, because Evans claimed that Ne-Yo sees music like the character Neo sees the Matrix.
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