On his recent trip to London ahead of the release of hisnew album, R.E.D., Arkansas born Grammy winning R&B star Ne-Yo sat down with SoulCulture TV
to discuss his views on bringing soul and substance to Dance music, his
appreciation for Country music and storytelling, and experiencing
unconditional love in a new way through fatherhood.
Having first dived into the dance market with the 2008 multi-platinum hit “Closer,” from his Year of the Gentleman
LP, Ne-Yo observes, “the thing that attracts people to the music is the
music – not so much the singer on the song, or even the lyric… but the
music part…”
“So with that being said, of course more attention would be paid to
making sure the rollercoaster of the music is right as opposed to
putting some meaning into the lyric,” he explains. “My thing is, if I
can take this music that has all of this depth and excitement and
emotion in it and put a lyric with the same depth and meaning and
emotion on top of that, it’s win/win.”
Maintaining lyrical substance whilst crossing into the beat-driven
dance arena is important for Ne-Yo, but he concedes, “I can understand
why another person probably wouldn’t take the time, because like I said
the average person listening to dance music isn’t listening to the
lyrics anyway; they’re just waiting on an opportunity to do this” –
pumping his fists into the air.
“But with me, it doesn’t make sense to me to do a song that doesn’t
mean anything. Even a song about sex needs to mean something – there’s
gotta be some kind of depth to the record somewhere.”
The depth Ne-Yo admires is often to be found in Country music, where
relatable stories are in abundance – and having collaborated with
Louisiana hailing country star Tim McGraw on his Emotional Traffic album earlier this year, McGraw returns the favour appearing on R.E.D.‘s Country-leaning duet “She Is.”
“It’s one of the last genres of music where storytelling is kind of
staple,” Ne-Yo reflects. “I feel like that’s one of the things people
dig about my music; there’s always a story being told – a beginning, a
middle, an end.
“I love Country music because it’s not taboo to bare your soul, it’s
not taboo to not be the coolest dude, to not be the guy with all the
girls, to not be the guy with all the money – it’s ok for you to be a
‘regular person’.
He reasons that Country’s down-to-earth approach keeps consumers
genuinely interested; “I feel like that’s the reason when this whole
downloading stuff was taking money out of everybody’s pockets, the
country music industry didn’t budge. They’re still going out and buying a
record, they’re still going to the store and buying a CD, they’re not
stealing nothing. There’s just more love over there, because they’ve
made it ok for you to not be what the world describes as beautiful or
perfect. You can just be you, and it’s cool that you’re you.”
“Whereas in R&B, we have a tendency to be a little judgemental of
people that don’t look the way that we want them to look, or sound the
way we want them to sound, or have the amount of money we want them to
have or whatever the case may be. It makes it to where, I feel like, as a
consumer, ‘hell no I ain’t gonna buy it if I don’t got to – you clearly
don’t give a damn about me, all you care about is a watch on your
wrist. Why should I spend my money on you, you clearly got enough,’ –
unintentionally I think that’s what we do to our consumers, which
honestly completely validates them stealing it.”
Watch our interview below:
Courtesy Of SoulCulture
Nice interview he is a great artist now he getting that exec money. That cd ok my girl like it. NHHM
ReplyDeleteI don't like Neyo but he is talented and I can't hate on his success, love a black man moving forward
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