Ne-Yo continues to charm with Year of the Gentleman
Published Oct. 3, 2008
When Ne-Yo's spectacular "So Sick" slithered its way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2005, you could've been forgiven for thinking that a guy who took his name from "The Matrix" character and stumbled over pop gold would probably be out of our collective consciousness just as quickly as he had entered.
After all, "So Sick" is almost startlingly low-key for a smash song that ended up launching the career of one of the decade's most successful and eponymous R&B singers. With its gently plucked acoustic guitars, muted piano and clomping handclaps, it sounds like it was recorded inside a Starbucks during business hours.
But the simple instrumentation belied the fact that "So Sick" was a genuinely interesting and unique breakup song. With the song's emphasis placed on the lyrics, Ne-Yo managed to strike chords that are instantly relatable but not trite. On the first verse he sings of only hearing his ex's voice on her answering machine, and the chorus ("I'm so sick of love songs/So sad and slow/So why can't I turn off the radio?") is a sentiment that is universal but somehow overlooked.
Ne-Yo cut his teeth writing hits just as unique and personal for artists like Mario and Marques Houston (most recently: "Irreplaceable" and "Take a Bow") so, in retrospect, his rise to superstardom was probably unjustly overdue.
Since "So Sick" he, along with frequent collaborators Stargate, has been slowly widening his palate to include elements of dance music, like house's stomping 4x4 beat and disco's liquid guitar tones. The first single off his last album, "Because of You," was a shimmering, upbeat piece of radio-ready R&B, but the following single, "Do You," was a stately lounge ballad.
On Year of the Gentleman, his consistently very good third album, Ne-Yo doesn't change up his formula, namely because he has yet to run out of satisfying, comforting songs. He pulls from both sides of his songwriting personality, mixing club-ready Michael Jackson bites with the type of sunny, breezy near-adult contemporary pop that topped charts in the late '90s.
The album's two fantastic singles, "Closer" and "Miss Independent," are basically outliers. The former, which alternates between Spanish guitar-accented verses and a pulsating, propulsive chorus, is one of the year's best thrill-rides. The latter employs ultra-modern synths and a snare that almost sounds like someone is smacking a plastic gallon-drum. On both songs, Ne-Yo is the gentlemanly wooer, singing about a woman who shines brighter than every club light on "Closer" and one who walks and talks "like a boss" on "Miss Independent."
Those female-first themes continue throughout, whether Ne-Yo is in constant pursuit of a woman or comforting one he's already landed. On "Mad" he wants to resolve issues before bed and on "Back To What You Know" he implores a girl to go back to the man she still loves. None of these sentiments are revolutionary, obviously, but between his silky voice, abundance of sneakily memorable choruses and distinctive couplets (rhyming "pity party" with "calamari"), Ne-Yo manages to keep things just fresh enough.
The album's only fault is that, at times, its instrumentation can be repetitive and conservative. But, by the same token, it can also be remarkably warm and soothing and, since it's called Year of the Gentleman, that probably means his charms are working.
