NE-YO: Friday Jams Sessions
An interview by Sarah Kidd.
Every so often an artist comes along who can command a stage from the moment he steps out onto it. Ne-Yo is one such artist. With a style that is uniquely his own this tour de force of the RnB world is also a revered songwriter, penning many a popular tune -‘Irreplaceable’ by Beyoncé , ‘Unfaithful’ by Rihanna and ‘Hollywood’ by Jay-Z to name but a few – for his fellow big name artists.
But Ne-Yo is a man of many talents having also been noted for his abilities in the fields of record producing, dancing and acting. Since the release of his debut album In My Own Words in 2006, a mere eleven years ago, Ne-Yo has gone on to release a further five studio albums with his seventh entitled ‘Good Man’ scheduled for release later this year.
Appearing for the first time in New Zealand as part of the Friday Jams line-up it was with much anticipation that I awaited Ne-Yos’ arrival for the interview. With a smile that could light up the darkest of days, and a sense of humour to match, Ne-Yo walked into the room and immediately rejected my proffered handshake; instead outstretching his arms and with a grin a mile wide gesturing that I should embrace him instead. After complimenting him on how good he smelled, Ne-Yo’s humour made an appearance as with a serious face he exclaimed
“The aim is to not stink. That’s one of them, you know, get a good meal in, don’t be a jerk, don’t stink! Yeah … “
Getting ourselves comfortable we began the interview…
I have been asking some of the other acts who their favourite is out of the line-up and your name comes up quite a lot…
“Ahh. I’ll take it, I’ll take it.” [grins]
You have remained a relevant and much sought after artist by many other big name artists. What’s the secret?
“Ignoring trend I think. I don’t really pay much attention to trend and what’s hot right now, because if you think about it, just that phrase itself ‘Hot right now’ that tells you right there! Should you put all your eggs in this basket … you will leave when that trend leaves, you will be done once that trend is done. I go in the studio and I approach music like I wanna do something that’s super melodic, something that’s super relatable, something that is gonna outlive me you know?
So it just really warms my heart when I get on stage and I sing ‘So Sick’, which is easily twelve years old now and people rock with it like it came out yesterday! And it’s because it’s not a song that is about anything specifically trendy, it’s a love song; love songs never go out of style because love never goes out of style you know? So it’s about doing something with some substance and you know, you should be around – keep your nose clean I try to stay out of the press, try not to you know the bloggers and all that. I try to stay away from that stuff and yeah I think that’s the secret of my success I guess.”
Well you are actually well known as a gentleman – it’s a term that is frequently associated with your name!
“Oh really..? Well thank you …”
Now recently you changed to veganism…
“Yes! Yes, it’s been about four, roughly four months now, something like that … yeah almost four months. I gotta say I watched the ‘What the Health’ documentary, that’s the thing that kinda put the nail in the coffin for me. It’s not as hard as I thought it was gonna be; the hardest part about it is the inconvenience of it. You know we keep really, really late hours, three o’clock, four o’clock in the morning; you’re not gonna find a vegan restaurant that’s open, so it’s a lot of French fries and stuff like that. But I will say I’ve lost a lot of weight, I feel better than I have in a long time, my knees don’t hurt anymore, you know it’s working for me! Yeah I dig it, I dig it a lot!”
And do you think it is a lifestyle that as a father you will instill in your kids?
“I’m trying, uh you know it’s kinda hard to tell a six year old they can’t have chicken nuggets anymore [grins] that’s a fight, that’s a literal fist fight, my daughter actually took me here [points to his chin] she did! We’re gradually getting them into it …”
Now latest single ‘Another Love Song’ – loving the video!
“Yes – thank you!”
Inspiration?
“Honestly … well the inspiration for the song came from my lovely wife [who Ne-Yo had referred to earlier in the day as “his Queen”] we have been married a year and some change and she definitely came along and made me realise that love songs aren’t that bad! The inspiration for the video just came from … I have a lot of single friends and you know what, they come to me with is; you know they’re comin’ across a lot of these very superficial, self-absorbed women!
Throughout the whole date she’s here [gestures to his phone] lookin at Twitter, or Instagram, and takin selfies and it’s like ‘Hey, hey … ah … how about you tell me about yourself, about something’ you know so that’s where it came from. You’d be shocked how many women are that way now, not just women, just people period you know …”
It’s the disconnection of humanity…
“It really is! Somebody asked me just a second ago ‘So do you have any dating advice for anybody out there’, I was like ‘Well one piece that I can give you … put your damn phone down!’, That might help out a little bit, put your phone away, actually listen to the person sitting across from you, maybe look them in the eye … it’s the small things that matter”
That’s the first thing that struck me about the video – when she starts playing with her phone, you addressed that disconnection.
“If you’re not that person you know somebody like that. You’re probably that person and don’t realise you’re that person because you’re that self-absorbed!”
Now your new album ‘Good Man’ – you’re going to play some new tracks from that tonight I believe?
“Yes! Yeah we’ve been running a few of the new tracks on stage, just getting people’s opinion of it. I figure the best way to figure out what my fans want is to just ask them directly and the new songs have been getting a really good response! We just recently shot a video for the next single which is a song called ‘Push Back’ – it’s featuring Bebe Rexha and Stefflon Don so be looking out for that soon. I perform it on stage, of course Bebe and Stefflon are not here but ah yeah it’s another one that’s been getting a really, really good response.
I almost kinda am a new artist in just how much the industry has changed you know, so it’s exciting but scary at the same time, because though I feel like a new artist I am NOT a new artist [laughs] you know so it’s trying to figure out my place and just what music is right now and that’s the journey … that’s the journey”
So I must ask then, what is RnB music to you?
“Oh yeah. RnB music was my first love, the first thing I ever genuinely loved, like felt like I could not live without you know? But also RnB was … it was a stepping stone to other stuff. Like now for me it’s not just RnB, it’s music, its melody, it’s lyric, it’s rhythm, it’s not just this genre of music you know what I mean?
But I have to give all of the credit and props to RnB because without RnB I would have never … I would have never; you know hit the springboard and got into all these other lovely genres of music. Like RnB was the founder, it’s the foundation that this house of music is built on top of.”
Who is your favourite artist?
“On this line-up? Who I am most impressed by … mind you everybody is amazing, but who I am most impressed by is Kelly Rowland! Kelly Rowland, for one she’s ageless – it’s ridiculous, she has not aged a day since the ‘No, No, No’ video [Destiny’s Child] her hair’s gotten a little longer, but other than that she is the exact same person! And you know what I really love about Kelly -aside from she is amazing on stage, she definitely is amazing to watch when she does what she does – but aside from that … in this business you very rarely meet a lot of genuine people, people that are who they are regardless of whether they’re on stage or in private or whatever the case may be, and she is definitely one of those people.
You know she’s not a diva in any way, shape, form or fashion; she’s a person that will ask you if you want something to drink and get up and go get it for you, like she’s that person! And I know that doesn’t seem like much, but in this business … that’s the world! You know because there are people who … there are people who genuinely … ok if you wanted to have an ego the size of Texas, what you’ve done and who you are it could be valid … but she is just not one of those people. It just makes it even more cool when you come across people that have no right to have this kind of ego but they do and it’s like ‘Really ..? Are you serious ..? Kelly Rowland just got me a glass of water, you can go to hell’ … you know it’s that. But yeah Kelly Rowland definitely.”
Recently Auckland’s Spark Arena was host to the absolutely massive ‘Friday Jams’ Festival (you can check out our review of the day here). Sarah Kidd was there backstage to chat with a few of the artists, which we will be rolling out this short work week to get you hyped for Friday all over again! Be sure to tune in to ZM every Friday between 9am & 3pm for ZM’s Friday Jams to kick off that weekend party feeling…