2010 was a class of ups and downs for Grammy Award-winning hitmaker Ne-Yo. The singer welcomed a girl and scored a #1 ace in the UK with `Beautiful Monster` but also had to endure lackluster sales with his most recent album, `Libra Scale`.
In an exclusive chat with That Grape Juice, Ne-Yo addressed several points including why his album stalled on the charts and the musical direction of his next studio effort.
The ever-opinionated artist also openly shared his thoughts on Usher`s upcoming "Revolutionary Pop" album, writing songs for Beyonce`s new projectas well as working withJennifer Hudson.
Additionally, Ne-Yo discussed his aversion for "lazy" singers who overuse auto-tune and his thoughts on Rihanna`s vocal ability in congress to that trend.
Check out the entire interview below: Ne-Yo Shouts Out That Grape Juice
Trent: Hey Ne-Yo, it`s capital to finally speak with you. How are you doing today?
Ne-Yo: I`m doing good! I`m in London right now and it is cold as hell! It`s coldness and raining, but that`s how London normally is when I get out here.
Trent: How are you finding your check in London generally?
Ne-Yo: Aside from the weather, yes I loving coming out here. It`s invariably a full time when I get out here. The masses are warmer than the conditions is so that`s a near thing.
Trent: That`s great to hear. Well, it has been a busy year for you musically as good as in your private life with the nativity of your daughter (congratulations by the way). How has it been adjusting to fatherhood?
Ne-Yo: To be totally honest with you, it`s not that difficult. It`s only a count of understanding what my priorities are now and she is utterly a priority. Making certain that she never needs for anything is a priority. So with that it`s crucial that I get out hither and do what I make to do to make certain that she`s okay.
On the former face of that, it makes it more hard to give the home because I desire to be there for the changes; I need to be there for everything but I can`t be. It`s a project of love but it`s love.
Trent: It`s fantastic to see that you`re so dedicated and involved. Now, on the music front, you mentioned last year that `Libra Scale` wasn`t your best shape and that your fans deserved better. Why did believe that the album wasn`t your best work?
Ne-Yo: It`s because I was doing things that I`ve never done before and I was learning how to do them in the work of doing them as opposed to actually taking the sentence to control the craft of what I was stressful to do.
What I should get done with this album was read the sentence to see how to save a script, how to conduct a television and how to get the chronicle to get together in the proper way as opposed to learning it as I went on and fashioning the mistakes that I was making and only letting it be that. I actually find that had I interpreted the clock to truly master these arts before I attempted them then the album would get turned out better; the whole thing would get turned out better.
The multitude that understood it loved it but for the mass that didn`t get it so it wasn`t their fault because I made it little more complicated than it needful to be which is why I`m in the studio as we speak putting together another album that`s back to the fundamentals for me. No complicated story to try to follow; no concepts to throw you; it`s only about listening to the music and vibing out and determining your own adventure the way you would with a regular Ne-Yo album.
Trent: Well speaking of that new album, as you only said you`re taking it "cover to basics" and so on, does this mean that we`re passing to get more of an R&B sound from you or are you going to proceed to experiment with House/Dance music like you did with `Closer` and more Pop-oriented songs?
I`m truly not sure. I look similar to a certain point I wish to (re-assert) my R&B roots just because I look like people are winning it too far with the House music now. People are taking it and turn it into this commercial crap. Everybody is stressful to do it now and I detest that. I hate when it becomes so popular that everybody thinks that they can do it. You play on the radio now and everybody has a Home or Techno sounding record and it`s getting boring because everybody is doing the like thing.
So this power be the album where I make it second to my traditional R&B roots and let those records to be expert enough for everybody to enjoy.
Trent: It`s curious that you spoke about everybody having a House or a Pop record because that leads us now to my next question. You previously declared that Usher`s `Confessions` album was one of the best R&B albums released in the final decade. However, he recently claimed that his future album would be on the lines of something that he calls "Revolutionary Pop".
What are you thoughts on Usher going into to Pop music now pass on?
Ne-Yo: I look like Usher is such a talented guy. He`s the form of guy that anything that he tackles and puts his whole heart, soul and head on is loss to be fantastic.
I don`t recognize what Revolutionary Pop is so I`m dying to discover what it sounds like but I experience that Show is a perfectionist. I recognise that he`s the case of guy who is leaving to remain on it until it`s ready so I`m looking ahead to hearing it.
Trent: On a like tone about Pop music, as you`ve said it`s everywhere and it`s playing on the radio at all times, but core R&B artists like Trey Songz, Monica and yet the big sellers like Mariah Carey are now struggling simply to get Gold albums.
What do you mean that R&B artists have to do to get support to the #1 position and betray the way that did in the early 2000s?
Ne-Yo: Nothing at all. I merely look like music is in a country of transition right now. In music we follow trends and so we get tired of them and go on to the next thing that we would follow for a spell before we get tired of that too and proceed on to the next thing.
I only find that R&B needs to be granted the chance to get back around. I`m not saying that anybody has do anything different; just keep to continue making quality R&B music and people will remember why they know and things will be okay again.
Trent: We saw you live O2 arena recently and you put on an amazing show. As a performer do you find you get the props you deserve (when compared to a Chris Brown or an Usher, for example)?
Ne-Yo: To be totally honest with you I don`t look like I do. I`m not going to sit here and cry about it because when it`s time for masses to greet me for what I am and what I do they will but until it`s time for that to pass then it won`t.
All I can do is make certain that every time I set foot on a point I give 200% and give it on the point and eventually people will read that. That`s my 2nd home; that`s where I live and that`s what I do. They`ll get it in time. I`m not going to following the world; I`ll let the world chase me.
Trent: I wish the way you put that one. Now, you released your debut album over 5 years ago yet little is known about you as a person. Is that debate on your end to make certain that the focus remains on your music or is that only a coincidence?
Ne-Yo: A short bit of both. I see that fame and renown are very trivial nowadays. You actually don`t get to do anything extra or spectacular to be famous anymore. Basically, all you have to do is be a train wreck and it`s sufficiency for masses to speak about and you`re famous.
I never wanted my fame or my credit to be that. I wanted people to know me for the character of my music. That`s all I wanted people worry about - recognition for the character of my music, the blood, sweat and crying that I put into my performances - that`s what I wanted people to pay attention to, not Ne-Yo is dating this celebrity girl or Ne-Yo got arrested for this.
I find that all that argument and dirt is gimmicky and I didn`t need my fame to be gimmicky. I wanted to be valid, I wanted to be really and I wanted respect as opposed to fame or recognition. I look similar to a degree that`s what I get and if I`m not as democratic as the guy who gets arrested 9 times in a class and is on the address of a magazine for it then so be it. I`m not tripping.
Trent: You`ve worked with many of the biggest artists in the game including Beyonce, Mariah & Jennifer Hudson. Who has been your favorite artist to bring with and why?
Ne-Yo: Wow_well out of everybody you just named it`s hard to pick favourite. Everybody has their own flag and there are just things about running with apiece of them.
With Beyonce, for example, I know how hands on she is with everything that she does. Not too long ago I did some sessions with her for her upcoming album that she`s putting together and she`s the form of artist that knows just what she wants.
She is not a `paper doll` artist and what I think by that is that a paper doll is inanimate and you do it up to get it just how you wish it to search and it`s just there wait for you to put something on it. That`s not who she is. She is decidedly in there like "I don`t suppose I would say that" or "I wish the strain to look like this" or any the face might be by leading the pen.
Even if she`s not writing the song herself or at least not all the time, she`s definitely leading the pen to get just what she wants so that it has that Beyonce stamp on it and I know that. I look like if I leave you a call and you talk it just the way I sang it so you might as well let me hold it. That doesn`t have any sense. I desire you to do something to do it yours and I never make that job with Beyonce.
Mary J. Blige is another one wish that. Jennifer Hudson is very hands on as well. She said she cherished this next album to be real personal so good about every song came from a conversation that she had with the writer. She`s talking about things that were leaving on in her life; things that were significant to her and therefore the songs were written from those conversations. I like those kinds of artists.
I`ve actually only worked with Mariah once for that remix album that she was putting out on the song we did together called `Angels Cry`. It was easy. She was really slow to bring with which I can honestly say I did not expect. She is rumoured to be this difficult diva but I didn`t get that. We were in the studio and everything was easygoing; everything was high and she introduced me to her dog {laughs}. It was cool. I look ahead to working with her again at some point.
Trent: Which 3 artists are you most eager to play with in the close future?
Ne-Yo: Only 3? Damn! Well, I`m near to go into the studio with Fabolous and we`re about to put together a `scoop of both worlds` type of office so I`m really anxious to get into it with that. We`re passing to have Ryan Leslie doing a lot of the production. That`s going to be truly good.
I possess an artist of my own called Loren Allred and I`m in studio with her as we speak. She has one of the most amazing voices that I`ve ever worked with and it`s just exciting that`s she`s my artist and I`m going to be the one to read the universe what this girl can do.
As for #3, I`m excited to get support in the studio and open the earth another album. I`m excited to prompt people of why they know me in the foremost target and that`s because I save the songs that most can remember. I save the songs that put you endorse in that dear order or rent you game to that bad situation for a minute and build it ok to cry about it or any the subject may be. That`s who I am and that`s what I`m about to have the man again with this next album.
Trent: Now the obvious question that I remember the fans will strangle me for if I don`t ask it is this: we know you`re currently running on Beyonce`s new album and we recognize that she has sworn you to silence but can you assure us around the album? Is she working on mid-tempos, uptempos, breakup songs, love songs or what?
Ne-Yo: I have been told that Beyonce has ninjas following me. I cannot see them and I cannot see them but if I say anything about her project they will start out and scratch my throat. In order to maintain my lifetime and my singing ability I`m going to get to say nothing. {laughs}
Trent: {Laughs} Moving on_.You recently commented that singers who use auto-tune need to quit being lazy and lead off their training wheels. Were talking about anyone in detail or was it a general statement?
Ne-Yo: I was talk about anybody who says that they are a `vocalist` and lets auto-tune do the heavy lifting. I look like if you`re doing this for the aim of a style then you`re cheating! It`s cheating! I look like if you`re a singer then sing.
Take a T-Pain for example. T-Pain is my homeboy and I don`t mind the way he uses auto-tune because it`s a stylised thing. The way Kanye West did it for `808s & Heartbreak` was a stylised thing. The way that [Lil] Wayne used it for `The Carter III` was a stylised thing.However, if you`re a person calling yourself `an R&B singer`, singer, then your`re supposed to sing.
Mind you, auto-tune and melodyne these are tools that are alleged to help build your music better. I ever use the language of it being a safety net. Singing is like walking a tightrope and auto-tune and melodyne are alleged to be used only in typeface you fall. You`re not alleged to put on your auto-tune wings and start off the drop and fly around! That`s not how you`re supposed to do it.
A lot of cats are getting lazy to the signal that they`ll sing it merely as well as it has to be and let auto-tune do the rest. I look like if that`s what you`re going to do so you should stop singing and make a golem who will do it for you all the way across the table because it`s not you anymore. Auto-tune takes all the case out of your representative and now you go like everybody else. Why would you do that to yourself?
Trent:Now, there is one singer to whom you`re very close who on her final album, and throughout her career, used a lot of studio tricks and she hasn`t always been capable to meet those vocals live. Of course, I`m talking about Rihanna.
What are your thoughts regarding her as a vocalist compared to some of her contemporaries such as Beyonce and others?
I look like Rihanna has definitely get a long way from when I first met her. She has grown as an artist and she has grown into a beautiful young woman. She is a very talented artist. I feel like there is room for improvement in everybody including myself. And Rihanna is no exception.
I look like every call that she does and every album that she does she`s going to prevent getting better and better. She is however very often a scholar of this art and that`s how I know she`s going to be around for a while. She`s not a person walking around as though she knows it all already. She knows she has room for improvement and that`s what gives you longevity - understanding that even if you`re the better you can ever get better; there is ever something else to learn. She`s in the work of learning.
Trent: Thank you very often for your time Ne-Yo. We`ll definitely be looking out for everything you have planned for this year. This was really an informative interview and we desire to speak to you again soon!
Ne:Yo: Not a problem! Thank you very much! What do you mean of the interview?
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