Post by david g. on Feb 27, 2006 17:44:37 GMT -5
Ne-Yo
"In My Own Words"
(Island Def Jam)
"In My Own Words" by Ne-Yo.
"If Only You Were Lonely" by Hawthorne Heights.
The debut album from the freshly minted R&B star Ne-Yo is called "In My Own Words," and just in case anyone misses the point, the booklet is full of scribbled lyrics. Get it? He's not just a smooth crooner. He's also a smooth songwriter.
Already this year, new albums by Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige and Jaheim have topped the charts. Ne-Yo's album has a chance to join them. He also helped write the Mario smash "Let Me Love You." And now he has a hit of his own with "So Sick," a melancholy slow jam about a heartbroken man who can't stop listening to — you guessed it — melancholy slow jams.
Not everything on this CD is that brilliant, or that shameless, but Ne-Yo is a deft and appealing player in the game of modern-day R&B. These days, the toughest R&B songs on the radio are usually sung by women (like Ms. Blige or Keyshia Cole), while men (like Jaheim and Chris Brown) are expected to be more docile. And so Ne-Yo sounds polite and friendly, even when his lyrics hint at lechery or treachery. In "It Just Ain't Right," he uses a sample of DeBarge to tell an old girlfriend why he's having trouble with his new one: "I'll be sexing her and I call your name/ And it just ain't right." (That's putting it mildly.)
Ne-Yo helped write all of these songs, and perhaps that's why they take so many detours en route to the bedroom. The jazz-influenced vocal lines and unexpected ad-libs show the influence of [glow=red,2,300]Michael Jackson[/glow], who is a much more adventurous singer than most of his young admirers realize. In hopes, perhaps, of making sophisticated soul music (instead of allegedly disposable pop), he sometimes gives these songs more twists and turns than they need.
Despite the writer-centric packaging, many of the disc's best moments are collaborations. "So Sick" was written with the Norwegian hit-making team known as Stargate, which also worked on three other songs. The Philadelphia rapper Peedi Peedi (formerly Peedi Crakk) enlivens "Stay." And Ghostface Killah makes a memorable, unadvertised appearance at the end, on a remix of "Get Down Like That." Because he's a rapper, not a crooner, Ghostface can turn Ne-Yo's formula upside down: he makes his friendly lyrics sound treacherous. KELEFA SANNEH
"In My Own Words"
(Island Def Jam)
"In My Own Words" by Ne-Yo.
"If Only You Were Lonely" by Hawthorne Heights.
The debut album from the freshly minted R&B star Ne-Yo is called "In My Own Words," and just in case anyone misses the point, the booklet is full of scribbled lyrics. Get it? He's not just a smooth crooner. He's also a smooth songwriter.
Already this year, new albums by Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige and Jaheim have topped the charts. Ne-Yo's album has a chance to join them. He also helped write the Mario smash "Let Me Love You." And now he has a hit of his own with "So Sick," a melancholy slow jam about a heartbroken man who can't stop listening to — you guessed it — melancholy slow jams.
Not everything on this CD is that brilliant, or that shameless, but Ne-Yo is a deft and appealing player in the game of modern-day R&B. These days, the toughest R&B songs on the radio are usually sung by women (like Ms. Blige or Keyshia Cole), while men (like Jaheim and Chris Brown) are expected to be more docile. And so Ne-Yo sounds polite and friendly, even when his lyrics hint at lechery or treachery. In "It Just Ain't Right," he uses a sample of DeBarge to tell an old girlfriend why he's having trouble with his new one: "I'll be sexing her and I call your name/ And it just ain't right." (That's putting it mildly.)
Ne-Yo helped write all of these songs, and perhaps that's why they take so many detours en route to the bedroom. The jazz-influenced vocal lines and unexpected ad-libs show the influence of [glow=red,2,300]Michael Jackson[/glow], who is a much more adventurous singer than most of his young admirers realize. In hopes, perhaps, of making sophisticated soul music (instead of allegedly disposable pop), he sometimes gives these songs more twists and turns than they need.
Despite the writer-centric packaging, many of the disc's best moments are collaborations. "So Sick" was written with the Norwegian hit-making team known as Stargate, which also worked on three other songs. The Philadelphia rapper Peedi Peedi (formerly Peedi Crakk) enlivens "Stay." And Ghostface Killah makes a memorable, unadvertised appearance at the end, on a remix of "Get Down Like That." Because he's a rapper, not a crooner, Ghostface can turn Ne-Yo's formula upside down: he makes his friendly lyrics sound treacherous. KELEFA SANNEH
