Year of the Gentleman

Ne-Yo

Grammy-Award winner Ne-Yo, follows up his multi-platinum, chart topping debut, In My Own Words with his brand new album, Year of the Gentleman. Musically, the album is influenced by the Rat Pack as Ne-Yo explains, “For me, the sharpness of Sammy and Sinatra is the kind of style I strive for in clothes and music. Year of the Gentleman is named in honor of those guys.” Ne-Yo wrote the tracks on the album over the course of his travels through Europe last year.

Ne-Yo insists that Year of the Gentleman is an album that will appeal to all and doesn’t want to restrict himself to one genre of music, “As a songwriter as well as a singer, I think it’s important to cast my words wide. In other words, I am not trying to contain myself in some little box marked ‘urban.’ I have travelled the world, and I want to bring that across in the material. Forget about urban, pop or whatever, Year of the Gentleman is a worldly album.”

So what can we expect from the album? The first single, ‘Closer’ is a classy and funky track produced by Stargate. “I just love the beat on that record,” says Ne-Yo. “When I was hanging-out in clubs in London, everything had energy. I wanted to merge that sound with American soul music, and ‘Closer’ is the end result.” Other tracks to add to your ipod playlist are the heartfelt words of ‘So You Can Cry’ and the passionate ‘Stop This World’.

What inspires Ne-Yo’s lyrics? “I don’t know what puts certain ideas in my head when I’m writing,” explains Ne-Yo. “Sometimes I see a picture in a magazine, a painting in a museum or a word on a page, and that’s all I need to trigger the thoughts.” It’s not just his own tunes where Ne-Yo flexes his writing muscles, he has also penned lyrics for Rihanna, Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige and Celine Dion as well as the chart topping, record breaking, Grammy nominated song “Irreplaceable” for Beyonce.

For more information on Ne-Yo’s latest release, check out: www.yearofthegentleman.com

Ne-Yo’s UK dates are:

11th July - O2 Arena, London
13th July - SECC, Glasgow
14th July - MEN Arena, Manchester
15th July - NEC Arena, Birmingham
17th July - Liverpool Arena, Liverpool
18th July - Metro Arena, Newcastle
19th July - O2 Arena, London