Spring Break
It's Ne-Yo's 'Year' to shine
4/5 Stars
Stephen Ortiz
Issue date: 9/25/08 Section: Focus
There are two things you should know of right from the start that set R&B star Ne-Yo's newest album apart from the rest: First, that it features no guest artists - something that is very rare for the genre - and second, it's a solid showing from start to finish.
"Year of the Gentleman" is a call back to the 1960s, when a man could not leave his house without looking his best, but as they say, the clothes don't make the man. Instead, this ideal is represented by the attitude throughout the album - it's smooth, eccentric and, as Outkast would say, "so fresh and so clean."
If you've listened to the radio once since April, then you've probably heard the album's first single, "Closer," an instant hit as soon as it reached the airwaves. Instead of possessing the typical R&B sound, the song takes on an electro/pop style that is both addictive and unique. A word of warning, however, for those of you who may rush out to buy this album because of "Closer" - no other track on the album follows its style. Yes, the rest of "Year of the Gentleman" is worth checking out, but for Ne-Yo's R&B crooning rather than its Norwegian producers.
"Nobody" is a head-bobbing cut that takes a page out of Justin Timberlake's "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows" with a dash of Michael Jackson. In fact, the parallels between Ne-Yo's vocals and those of Jackson is his prime are almost uncanny - smooth on the choruses, breathing and other odd mouth sounds in the background and flawless on the verses, which is especially true when he sings, "She got the music pumping through her veins / The way she do it makes you wanna (get up and touch that body, ohhhhh!).
Ne-Yo gets all hot and bothered, yet in an incredibly tasteful manner (he is a gentleman, after all), on "Single." It's a synthesized slow jam accented by keys and the occasional drum machine deep in the background. This finds Ne-Yo preying on girls who couldn't get their real boyfriends to come out to the club with them, so he promises them that he'll be their "boyfriend till this song goes off." Tastefully.
"Mad," which at first sounds very similar to "Single," is your usual we're-bickering-how-bout-we-make-up R&B song in the very long vein of make-up R&B songs. "Miss Independent" also sounds similar to a previous track, this time "Nobody," and is about - you guessed it - a fly, independent woman. But regardless of how the songs tread on each other's feet, Ne-Yo's vocals are at their finest and are the real reason to buy and listen.
"Year of the Gentleman" does a lot right, combining the pure elements of modern R&B into an album that stands a head above its competitors. It surely is Ne-Yo's year.
"Year of the Gentleman" is a call back to the 1960s, when a man could not leave his house without looking his best, but as they say, the clothes don't make the man. Instead, this ideal is represented by the attitude throughout the album - it's smooth, eccentric and, as Outkast would say, "so fresh and so clean."
If you've listened to the radio once since April, then you've probably heard the album's first single, "Closer," an instant hit as soon as it reached the airwaves. Instead of possessing the typical R&B sound, the song takes on an electro/pop style that is both addictive and unique. A word of warning, however, for those of you who may rush out to buy this album because of "Closer" - no other track on the album follows its style. Yes, the rest of "Year of the Gentleman" is worth checking out, but for Ne-Yo's R&B crooning rather than its Norwegian producers.
"Nobody" is a head-bobbing cut that takes a page out of Justin Timberlake's "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows" with a dash of Michael Jackson. In fact, the parallels between Ne-Yo's vocals and those of Jackson is his prime are almost uncanny - smooth on the choruses, breathing and other odd mouth sounds in the background and flawless on the verses, which is especially true when he sings, "She got the music pumping through her veins / The way she do it makes you wanna (get up and touch that body, ohhhhh!).
Ne-Yo gets all hot and bothered, yet in an incredibly tasteful manner (he is a gentleman, after all), on "Single." It's a synthesized slow jam accented by keys and the occasional drum machine deep in the background. This finds Ne-Yo preying on girls who couldn't get their real boyfriends to come out to the club with them, so he promises them that he'll be their "boyfriend till this song goes off." Tastefully.
"Mad," which at first sounds very similar to "Single," is your usual we're-bickering-how-bout-we-make-up R&B song in the very long vein of make-up R&B songs. "Miss Independent" also sounds similar to a previous track, this time "Nobody," and is about - you guessed it - a fly, independent woman. But regardless of how the songs tread on each other's feet, Ne-Yo's vocals are at their finest and are the real reason to buy and listen.
"Year of the Gentleman" does a lot right, combining the pure elements of modern R&B into an album that stands a head above its competitors. It surely is Ne-Yo's year.
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