Ne-Yo Up Close - There has to be something said for those artists that can still offer up their ‘goodies’ for their contemporaries. Writing for others is like a sixth sense for the Las Vegas native Ne-Yo. Having already penned chart topers for Mario and Beyonce to name but a few, he is now working with some of music’s finest female vocalists, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. Riding the waves of success from his first album which went platinum, In My Own Words, he will be back on the shelves again in April and his fans just can’t wait. His sophomore album Know Me has the man that brought us So Sexy allowing us a deeper peek into his ‘make-up.’ With the lead off single from the album Because of You showing a distinct funk fusion that we didn’t really see much of on the first album, it is obvious; the album is going to be just as successful as the first. Talking exclusively with femalefirst.co.uk Ne-Yo talked about his sacrifices, aiding a woman who has been out of the spotlight for quite a while and he also helped clear up any mix ups about writing credits on the Beyonce track Irreplaceable.

The album is coming out on the 24th; do you have a title for the album yet
I am calling the album ‘Know Me’. ‘In my Own Words’ was the introduction of Ne-Yo, not so much as Ne-Yo the person, as the first album I definitely wrote from personal experiences, but in this one I delve even deeper into my personality.
Is there a lot of soul searching in this album
Maybe a little bit as I am pretty aware of whom I am, just my own personal knowledge of myself, of who I am and what is going on with me. It is just a matter of slowly letting everyone into my world; as if I jump in feet first I might scare some people. But I am playing it safe.
Obviously with how successful In My Own Words was, do you feel any personal pressure
You know what, I was feeling that the first week of recording that album; like I was thinking ‘Oh man I have a sound now.’ In the beginning with the first album, it is like you are starting off with a clean slate, nobody knows who you are and nobody has any expectations of what you should sound like as you have nothing out there. You put something out and get even a little bit of success it is like now people will expect So Sick every time, people will expect Sexy Love every time and that was messing with me for a second, but then I looked at it like ‘you know what, for a first album I went into the studio and did what I love to do which is make music. For the second album I went in and did the exact same thing and hopefully I get the same response if not a bigger response.
You have been writing songs before you were an artist yourself, similar to say Lauryn Hill. You have been writing for Celine Dion and Whitney Houston which has to be interesting. Do you actually sit with them and write songs? Is that how that process goes down
I haven’t had a chance to sit down with Celine Dion as of yet. I had a really good conversation with her over the phone just recently, talking about the direction she wants to go in.
Basically where she does want to go and where she doesn’t want to go with this next record as she had been gone for a little while. She was telling me she wants to do something new, but then she doesn’t want to be so current, you know as she said ‘I cant do a Beyonce thing as I am not her,’ and I completely understand that and I would never write a song for her in the same way that I would write for Beyonce.
That was nothing for her to worry about. That was the conversation we had and I think it is going to be, due to the fact that she is moving around so much and I am moving around so much, it will be a situation where I submit songs to her and just write the songs, send them to her and if she likes them she will run with it and if she doesn’t, then she doesn’t. there is a lot of people I am working with and I think that is how I am going to work with a lot of people as with the second album, the rollercoaster is about to start all over again. I have to do it how I can.
How do you find the time to write for other people when you have such a successful career yourself
Some things have to be sacrificed, proper sleep, eating, personal life, I look at it like I will sleep when I am dead; I will vacation in heaven.

Has it been easy for you to make those sacrifices, being that you are a young guy
I am living my dream. My job is not a job, this is like playing video games to me. You tell a kid, ‘take this TV, take this control and I am going to give you every video game you could ever play and I am going to pay you for this and I am going to pay you well,’ that is what this music is to me. I don’t really look at it as sacrifice. A kid can sit and play video games for hours and hours and act like he don’t need sleep, he don’t need none of that because he is so into the game; that is what this music is. I am so into it I am not tripping off being in the studio until five in the morning; it is whatever because I am doing what I love to do.

In terms of the controversy surrounding Beyonce’s track ‘Irreplaceable,’ was there any repercussions from that
No, no. people blew that all out of proportion. For her to say she wrote the song is not like she was saying I didn’t write the song. It was a co written song. I wrote the lyrics, she helped with the melodies and the harmonies and what not and that is what makes it a co-write. The song would not have become what it is had she not done what she did. She came in and put the beyonce twist on it and that is a co-write. It is just that at the time she didn’t mention my name and to be honest I don’t blame her, the spotlight was on her. I wasn’t tripping at all.

Melanie J Cornish

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