New Pop: Ne-Yo’s "Because Of You”
Ne-Yo's First Single From His Second Album Is Out
He's got a hot new single out called Because Of You off his sophomore album of the same name, due out May 1. Ne-Yo is starting to carve out a rather distinct sound for h
Ne-Yo's first song to hit wasn't even one he sang on; it was Let Me Love You performed by Mario, which Ne-Yo co-wrote with super producer Scott Storch. But Ne-Yo had proved his songwriting chops with his promising vocal talent soon to follow in his own work. Besides Mario, Ne-Yo has also written hits (or is currently writing) for Musiq, B2K, Rihanna, Beyonce, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, and Faith Evans.
Ne-Yo's Singles
Ne-Yo's own material began with the hit So Sick followed by When You're Mad and Sexy Love off his debut album. When listening to any of his music, it is evident that his influences came from his favorite entertainers: Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Prince, and Frank Sinatra.
Ne-Yo's Trips to Awards Shows
So Sick received a Grammy nomination for Best Male R&B performance. He shared the category with one of the artists he has always admired - Prince, who was nominated for Black Sweat. Ultimately, Ne-Yo lost to John Legend for Heaven. He was also up for the Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album, but the award was given to Beyonce for B'Day - an album he had a role in as Irreplaceable was one of the songs he penned for her as a co-writer. Ne-Yo did not, however, come away empty handed from the 2006 Billboard Awards where he picked up Male R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year. He also won Best New Artist at the Soul Train Awards.
The New Single From Ne-Yo: Because Of You
Ne-Yo's latest single is the very fresh and full of springtime Because Of You, currently impacting radio play lists around the country. The combination of his vocals, the dance-worthy beat, and keyboard melody make three simple layers for this song about being addicted to the one's lover. All of his song writing makes simple layers of sound seem a bit more complicated than they are. This gives the impression that Ne-Yo makes it look easy. But it's not easy to make the kind of hits Ne-Yo puts out and he's known for putting in plenty of studio time. His work ethic comes out in songs that quickly climb each and every music chart around.
Def Jam Changes Strategy With So Sick
So Sick was a hot single in 2006, climbing the charts prior to the release of Ne-Yo's debut album In My Own Words. One would think Def Jam would want to the advance single on the hard drives and MP3 players of as many people as possible, but the record company took a different track. Def Jam prevented the release of the single until the entire album had been released. The decision garnered Ne-Yo record sales of 301,000 for the album in its first week of sales. Will Def Jam be repeating the sales-spiking trick with this sophomore album? So far there's no new Ne-Yo single available for purchase on iTunes at the time of this writing.
