There's a R&B movement.
The pendulum is swinging back towards music that feels like something again.
It definitely is.
With your Daniel Caesar's and your Sabrina Claudio's, and H.E.R., and just people like that.
I mean, there's a few others I can name but there's definitely a R&B movement that's happening
right now.
It hasn't so much hit the masses yet, but slowly but surely we're getting there.
What's up Geniuses?
Welcome back to our new talk show.
This is 'For the Record.'
I am Rob Markman and today's guest is one of the greatest songwriters ever.
He's penned classics for everybody from Beyoncè and Rihanna and the brother kept a couple
number ones for himself.
He has a new single out now called "Good Man" and it you know, reminds us of a time
when R&B was about love and we wanted to have him up here today to talk about it.
So, please welcome to 'For the Record' My man Ne-Yo.
Ne-Yo what's up?
Yes indeed.
Pleasure brother.
What's good man?
Chillin' man.
Happy to be here.
Man, happy to have you here, man.
We gotta talk about this "Good Man" record.
Because the record kinda reminds me a lot of this room that we're sitting in right now.
Yeah, a little nostalgic.
Yeah.
What sparked the record for you?
I feel like for you to have such a message on "Good Man" of just being good to your
woman is not something that we're hearing a lot in music today.
Yeah.
And that's why.
That's the reason that I - Well, that's part of the reason.
Another part of the reason is that it's just a good record.
I felt really, really - what's the word I'm looking for - fulfilled when I was done with
this record.
A lot of times as an artist, you have a specific vision for something and you go through whatever
it is you gotta go through to try to get that vision out and by the time it's done it's
maybe not exactly what you envisioned, but it's good enough and you move.
With this, this song came out exactly the way I heard it in my head, exactly the way
I envisioned it.
So, I am super-duper proud of the record.
On top of it just being the right climate for the record.
We've got rape charge this and sexual harassment case that and it's like in this climate
where yet again we as men have forgotten what it is we're supposed to do in reference to
these women.
A song like this is just a friendly reminder of this is how it's supposed to look.
This is what it's supposed to feel like. This is what it's supposed to sound like.
You ruffled a few feathers.
I think you made men take a look at themselves when you made a post on Instagram.
And we'll get into that in a second.
But this is nothing new for Ne-Yo.
I feel like you told us this ten years ago when you dropped 'Year of the Gentleman.'
So are you telling me that in the ten years between 'Year of the Gentleman' and "Good
Man" that brothers can't - we can't get it right still?
We're not there yet?
I mean, and present company included, yeah, we can't.
We have not got it right.
We have not got it right.
Even in the realm of 'Year of the Gentleman' and what 'Year of the Gentleman' was and
what it was talking about we all fall short of the glory because ain't none of us perfect.
So, with that being said, it's one thing to be a gentleman. You can be a gentleman and
be a womanizer still.
A gentleman knows the power of looking the part and he's charming and he's charismatic,
but those powers could be used for evil.
And I will sit here and say that I definitely did, I used those powers for evil.
I was definitely a gentleman, but I was not a good man so to speak because it wasn't
about genuinely doing right by somebody.
It was about, "Let me give her the image of doing right by her and then do my little
dirt on the side, and as long as I don't ever get caught, it's all good."
And that's not the way it's supposed to go.
The unfortunate truth for all the fellas out there that ain't the way it's supposed
to go and I don't care how slick you are, I don't care how slick you think you are - you
will get caught.
She's smarter than you bruh. Just accept it.
She's smarter than you. She's gonna catch you.
You're gonna get comfortable and you're gonna leave something in the DM's or you're gonna
leave a text message somewhere or she's gonna just find your phone randomly and decide to
go through it.
She knows your code, and yeah.
You're gonna get caught.
That's just what it is.
It's smarter and it's just easier to just go ahead and do it the right way or just
not do it at all.
If you ain't ready to be with one, then don't be with one.
Don't tell her, "Hey, I want you to be my girl."
Don't say that to her because for her that means you want just her.
And if you don't want just her and she catches you with anybody other than her, now you've
got problems.
So, of course it's a lot easier said than done and it definitely took some maturing
and some growth and some experience to get to this point.
But, what I'm saying is. This is the point that we all need to get to because the only
other option is to hurt somebody or get hurt your damn self.
And I think it's cool and I applaud you for hearing you speak about it not as condemnation,
but you're not taking yourself out of the equation as much of a self-reflection as it is.
Yeah, listen, I could never point the finger at somebody else without pointing the finger
at myself first.
Nah, That's hypocritical.
A hypocrite is worst than a liar.
I can't do that.
You definitely made some people feel a way on IG about last week.
You posted, "We gotta make being faithful to one woman cool again like 90's R&B songs."
J-Lo responded, "Preach."
I'm still trying to figure out what it feels like to have J-Lo respond to your IG comments.
Maybe one day I'll get there.
T.I. agreed with you.
Lil Duval really was in his feelings, man.
I think people took that whole situation a bit - took it for more than it really was.
I knew that he was lightweight joking and I was lightweight joking with my response.
It wasn't, like I ain't got no beef with Lil Duval or nothing like that but I can
understand how a lot of dudes might feel the way Lil Duval felt in regards to that.
Breaking the guy code or whatever the case may be.
And, you know what?
What I say to that is, alright, it's all cool, fine and good.
I responded lightly. I said, "I can't break guy code because it's been broken."
It's the reason that we're in the spot we're in.
It's because guy code is broken.
Guy code is based on lies and deceit, and anything based on lies and deceit is eventually
going to fall.
That's just what it is.
Okay.
Let's get to the other part of that because actually the bigger question I have for you is...
Being faithful to one woman, making it cool again like 90's R&B songs.
What are some of these 90's R&B songs that you think of that make you feel this way?
When you think of love and being faithful to one woman, what are some of the records
that come to Ne-Yo's mind?
I just - I think about - just the perception of R&B cats today versus the perception of
R&B cats back in the day.
The perception of R&B music today versus the perception of R&B music back in the day.
And the people that always come to mind for me is Jodeci.
Think about who Jodeci was.
These cats was in the middle of the desert, in leather, with machetes, talking about:
I'll cry for you.
Talking about, "Do you believe in love and the power that it gives?"
Meanwhile, they're on stage at an award show in masks and machetes.
You cannot say that these cats wasn't hard.
You can't say that they wasn't cool.
They was absolutely all of that and yet every song was talking about love.
They were still singing love songs and it was cool.
It was alright for them to be singing love songs.
And that's what I'm talking about, man. Like I feel like nowadays, cats look at it as corny
or whatever the case may be and it's just because for whatever reason everybody on
the face of the planet suddenly just wants to be so hard.
And alright, you know, if that's what you want to do, then that's what you do.
But, here's the thing about love: It is just like air and water.
It's not something that - It's not a want, it's a need.
It's a necessity.
We need it and if we don't have it you see what happens.
Society falls and everything else.
It's a real, live thing.
It's a real, live necessity to just happy life and I just wish we could get to a place
where it was cool again to these particular kinds of people.
Because I mean there's people out there that have always understood the power of love,
and preached the power of love or whatever the case may be but I feel like there's a
lot of people pushing in the negative space, and not enough people pushing back in the
positive space. So I'm just trying to be one of the people pushing back in the positive
space.
And you always have been.
Jodeci - I actually made a tweet about them just last week about how their opening lyrics
were always so powerful like, "It's been an hour since you've been gone.."
"...And that's too long, so come back home."
Like, whoa, man.
So you're having my baby and it means so much to me.
They knew how to setup the song.
Exactly.
Yourself as well, your pen is golden my brother.
Thank you sir.
Appreciate it.
Are there any contemporary R&B artists that you feel, um ...
Oh yeah, absolutely.
There's a R&B movement.
The pendulum is swinging back towards music that feels like something again.
It definitely is.
Taking nothing from trap music and the whole nine. I love trap music myself - huge fan
of the Migos and a few of the cats out there, I love it.
I just feel like we need some diversity.
We need a little bit more of some other stuff to add with it.
So with that being said, with your Daniel Caesar's and your Sabrina Claudio's, and H.E.R.,
and just people like that - I mean, there's a few others I can name but there's definitely
a R&B movement that's happening right now.
It hasn't so much hit the masses yet but slowly but surely we're getting there.
We're definitely getting there.
But then, I mean even on the other side of that somebody today actually said to me that
you kinda can't really complain about anything because the way it's setup now. It's there.
You just gotta go look for it.
It's not wrapped up in a pretty bow and presented to you anymore, but it's definitely there.
You can find the R&B. It's out there. The good R&B is out there. You just gotta search
for it yourself now.
And everything right now is streaming is at our fingertips. It might not be on the
front page when you open Spotify or Apple or Tidal, but if you just hit that search
bar ...
Yeah, your local radio station might not be playing it, but it's out there.
It's out there and you just gotta take it upon yourself to go get it.
There was another topic that I wanted to get your take on because we actually had Next
in here last week and we were just actually talking about this off camera, but Bruno
Mars, man.
There's been a lot being said about him. I don't want to get this wrong. Grapevine TV,
they have tons of conversation on their YouTube channel, and it went viral when they put out
this video and asked if Bruno Mars was culturally appropriating black music.
And they made the point that a black artist making the same music wouldn't receive the
same rewards and accolades.
I don't know if that's true.
I just wanted to get your thoughts on that because you've played in the... R&B is
black music.
Most pop music is black music if you really look at it if you go from hip-hop to reggae,
to rock.
I mean if you go into the origins, yeah definitely so.
But your thoughts on that and what it means to be a black artist in today's climate?
And actually getting the accolades and where does Bruno Mars fall into that.
As far as Bruno Mars is concerned, Bruno Mars is ridiculously talented and the songs that
everybody's talking about are just that damn good to where I don't honestly feel like
it would matter who else was singing them.
If you were singing them the way he's singing them, and giving the character and charisma,
and personality to them that he's giving them, then I feel like they would be just as successful.
I don't think it has anything to do with black music, white music, Bruno, whatever nationality
he is. I still don't know to be honest with you.
He's mixed actually.
Puerto Rican, Filipino, born in Hawaii.
Bruno, I don't know what you are.
Bruno grew up being inspired by these amazing artists and his music reflects that.
I feel like it's as simple as that.
If somebody asked Stevie Wonder the same question, he'd say the same thing.
It's not - people take music and put this ownership on it like can't nobody else touch it.
And that's not how it's supposed to go, man. Music is supposed to be for everybody.
Music is from the soul and it's about the love and appreciation of. Not "Well this
is ours and if you don't look like me, you can't do it."
That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard in my life.
That's stupid.
I remember there was a point in your career where you transitioned.
You just gave us like, really the quintessential R&B and I remember it was a bit of a departure
when like "Closer" might have been the first record, like four-to-the-floor, dance,
like EDM inspired.
And I remember that being a big deal at the time.
Like Oh, is Ne-Yo switching up his sound?
And through the years you've really still been able to deliver the same R&B, the same
songwriting, the same love that we're used to hearing with a different beat under it.
What was that transition like for you?
You really broadened yourself musically at that point.
That transition just came from me stepping outside of America and realizing that the
world is bigger than America.
I had been spending a lot of time in the UK, and just overseas period.
And that four-on-the-floor, that driving beat, is kinda what music is over there.
So I just figured let me come back to the states and bring some of that energy back
over here, but actually put a lyric to it.
In most cases with that music, it's just the beat and maybe one or two words repeated
over and over again.
So I was like let me try to do something with that same beat, but give it some meaning - give
it words that mean something.
And it worked.
I feel like if you were blessed with a multitude of talents or if you were blessed with the
opportunity and ability to do more than one thing, then you're doing yourself a disservice
to just do one thing because you are afraid of what the world is gonna say about it.
That's not how it's supposed to go.
R&B is where I started, but music itself is a mansion.
It's a big ass mansion with a bunch of rooms in it.
Who, in their right mind, goes into any big ass mansion and stay they ass in one room?
Who does that?
Nobody.
Why would you?
Why?
For what?
Now if you're in that room and you've mastered that room and the doors on the other rooms
are locked to you, alright, well then rock out in the room that you got.
But as far as I'm concerned, God put music in me.
Music.
Not R&B music, not dance music, not pop music, but music.
I could turn around and do a country record if I felt like it.
This is who I am. This is what I am.
And I'm not gonna downplay that because a few black people is mad because I ain't doing
just R&B no more.
I'm not gonna do that.
The world is bigger than that and I do it for the world and well, I do it for myself
and hope that the world enjoys but that's what it's about.
It's not about putting yourself in a box.
I refuse.
I refuse.
Well put man, and I think we feel it. I think it translates through the music, because we
still hear you no matter what the beat is.
A Ne-Yo record is a Ne-Yo record.
Yeah.
Yeah at the end of the day that's what it's about.
If you rock with me, then you rock with music.
Not just R&B music, not just dance music.
You rock with music period if you are a Ne-Yo fan, and I appreciate you for it.
Before we get out of here, new album coming?
Yes!
New album on the way June 8th.
June 8th, the 'Good Man' album will be available everywhere that music is streamed
and bought and the whole nine.
Go get it the way you get it.
The sound of the record.. The album is about the journey of a good man.
No man is born a good man.
You have to go through some stuff, break some hearts, get your heart broken in order to
get to the point where you make the decision to be a good man.
And the album kinda follows that journey.
It's not just my story. I feel like it's kinda every man that's made that decision. It's
every man's story.
So with that being the subject matter, the sound is predominantly R&B, but as I just
said I have all kinds of music in me, so I'm definitely celebrating the fact that my
fans have allowed me to jump genre as many times as I have.
But yeah, the sound of the album is predominantly R&B.
I'm trying to drop a single every month up to the month of June.
"Good Man" is the single that's out right now.
I've got one coming this month actually called "Push Back" featuring Bebe Rexha,
Stefflon Don.
Yeah man, we're just gonna keep cranking them out.
People that still rock with Ne-Yo, you'll definitely find something on there that you
love and are familiar with and people that are new to Ne-Yo, I feel like this is a good
place to start.
Start here and work your way back to 'In My Own Words.'
You won't be disappointed.
Not at all.
Before you go I want to play one quick game with you called "Record Break."
This is 'For the Record.'
This is rapid fire questions. I'ma throw it at you.
And you just get into it.
We're gonna get into your business, into your musical business.
Okay.
The first record Ne-Yo ever bought.
The Pharcyde - 'Bizarre Ride.'
Yeah.
That's a good album.
Yeah, man.
What's the greatest record you ever wrote?
Damn.
Better question for a Ne-Yo fan than me myself.
You're asking me to choose between my kids.
I'm really not sure, probably Beyonce's "Irreplaceable."
Yeah, that was a good one.
That's a damn good record.
Your favorite record of all time?
Of all time - damn.
Another good question.
Probably Michael Jackson's "Lady In My Life."
Another damn good record.
What's a record you love that most people wouldn't expect?
That most people wouldn't expect.
The soundtrack to The 'Phantom of the Opera.'
Yeah, yeah.
I listen to that when I get writer's block and can't figure out where to go.
I gotta step away and just listen to something completely off of what it is I'm doing.
I'll turn that on.
Alright man.
Inspiring songwriters man, you know.
Yeah, yeah.
Check that out.
Step outside your comfort zone, it helps.
What record do you play when you want to get in your feelings?
When I want to get in my feelings...
It normally don't take a record for me to get in my feelings.
I'm pretty in touch with them.
We chat regularly.
But probably something slow and moody.
Drake is always good for getting in your feelings.
Drake works for getting in your feelings.
But as does Stevie Wonder, as does Prince, some records, as does Mike, some records.
It just depends on what mood I'm in.
Alright man.
And yes, I did just put Drake in the same thing with Mike and Stevie and all of them.
He's one of the greats. Y'all don't know yet. He's gonna be.
Confirmation, you heard it here.
If he ain't there yet, he's gonna be.
He is.
What's your favorite karaoke record?
Your go-to karaoke record?
Go-to karaoke record... Frankie, Beverly, and Maze.
Yeah, that's the one.
Ne-Yo, Coming to a cookout near you.
Yeah, man.
And what's the best R&B record out right now, besides your own?
Besides my own.
Um.
So, "Good Man" is number one so we're really asking for the number two record right now.
Damn.
There's a lot of good ones out right now.
I love H.E.R. There's a few on that one that I just really, really enjoy.
I think "Focus" is the single right now. That's a really, really good one.
The boy Daniel Caesar. What's the one?
I love that record.
That's such a smart, classy, intelligent record.
Yeah, shout out to the boy Daniel Caesar. Keep doing your thing.
Shout out Daniel Caesar, but more importantly right now, shout out Ne-Yo.
New album 'The Good Man.'
June 8th, we said?
June 8th.
Be looking for it in stores or I don't know if it's gonna be in stores. Do they
put albums in stores anymore?
Wherever you get music.
Wherever you get your music at, it'll be there.
There we go man.
I'm Rob Markman. This is Ne-Yo. You've been watching 'For the Record.'
Catch you next time.
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