Ne-Yo: The Way He Makes You Feel

Singer. Songwriter. All-around good guy. Ne-Yo is no doubt a triple threat. And with the recent release of his sophomore album, Because of You, GIANT caught up with the Las Vegas native to talk all things Ne-Yo — including his new album, gossip and Jennifer Hudson.

On recording In My Own Words:
“The funny thing is when I started recording this record; I went into the studio with this big bag. It was a big bag of what looked like trash, but in actuality they were songs. With the first record, my comfort zone was the studio. I had to be in the studio, pad in front of me, pen in hand, sitting at the console, listening to the track to write the music. Whereas now, with the success of In My Own Words, it had me moving around so much I had to develop a portable comfort zone—meaning that if I was in a restaurant in London and inspiration struck, I had to get it right there on a napkin. So, some songs were written in London, some songs were written in Japan, Germany, Paris, different states within the United States—everywhere.”

On gossip:
“As far as rumors and accusations, my whole thing is you can be the nicest person on the face of the planet [but] it is these people’s jobs to come up with some kind of dirt on you. And if they can’t find something, they will make something up.”

On breaking genre barriers:
“I’m about to do some stuff with Celine Dion, that’s going to be a stretch from what I normally do, but it’s going to be good. I honestly feel like I am the type of writer, the type of singer that can do a song with Reba McEntire, and then turn around and do a song with Pretty Ricky. I have that in me to where I can do more than one thing, and that’s what I want people to know about me. Don’t come at me with just pop stuff, don’t come at me with just R&B stuff because I have more than that.”

On “Leaving Tonight,” his duet with Jennifer Hudson:
“When I wrote that song, I knew I wanted it to be a duet but I didn’t exactly know with who. I have a pretty good relationship with the people over at J, so somebody put the idea in my head to let Jennifer Hudson hear it. ‘Alright, cool.’ I let her hear it, she loved it, she came it and cut it. It took us about an hour to do. She’s still very real people. I pray that she keeps that because, you know, this business does have the tendency to change people. So, I pray that she stays who she is and how she is for as long as she can.”

Recreating hit records like “Irreplaceable” and “Let Me Love You” for other artists:
“Nobody realizes that ‘Let Me Love You’ was a moment. It was a moment that happened, it passed, it’s over with. You create new moments. You don’t go back to the old ones. Same thing with ‘Irreplaceable,’ so when people ask for another ‘Let Me Love You,’ it’s like, ‘Yo, I can do another ‘Let Me Love You.’ I can do a new song, you know, that may be as good as ‘Let Me Love You’ and go to where ‘Let Me Love You Went’ but as far as ‘Let Me Love You,’ I can’t do that over.’ And I let that be known to people when they ask me to write songs. Like, ‘Yo, I need that ‘Irreplaceable’… No, no, no. ‘Irreplaceable’ was a moment, it happened. I can give you something else that will do the same thing, but it’s not going to be that.”

For more Ne-Yo, click here to check out his exclusive GIANT photo gallery!