“Ne-Yo goes country” is a relative term here, as “She Is” mostly adds a little bit more acoustic guitar and a guest vocal from Tim McGraw to what is otherwise a standard Ne-Yo ballad. Teasing the four-on-the-floor bangers that close out the album, “Be The One” is a synth-drenched StarGate jam that keeps the listener waiting for the tempo to take off but is all the more dramatic for keeping things at a medium pace.Īnother turn-the-lights-off love ballad, “Stress Reliever” shows an exceptionally intimate, hushed side of Ne-Yo that would fit right at home sonically on Miguel’s futuristic sex opus “Kaleidoscope Dream” while still keeping the lyrics decidedly PG. Putting a more hip-hop inflected spin on the same kind of tribute to classy girls that made “Miss Independent” such a big hit in 2008, “Don’t Make Em Like You” boasts a guest rap from Wiz Khalifa and a sing-along “hey-ey” chorus reminiscent of Andy Grammer’s “Keep Your Head Up.” Though “R.E.D.” is already four singles deep out the gate, don’t be surprised if this sumptuous song sees a proper release in the near future.Ħ.”Don’t Make Em Like You” (Feat. The kind of catchy, Michael Jackson-channeling midtempo cut that Ne-Yo could write in his sleep, “Jealous” finds Ne-Yo envious of “everything that gets to know” his lady. Who is “Miss Right” to Ne-Yo? “The kind that makes you want to put your games away / thinkin’ ’bout the future but first I’ll say hello / good evening,” the ever-gentlemanly Ne-Yo croons on this mellow StarGate-produced cut. The song’s uplifting self-worth message (not to mention soul clap-heaven bridge, “for every heart that beats / for every heart that beats”) make this one of 2012’s standout dance-pop cuts in a year filled with far more innocuous entries. The song that re-established Ne-Yo’s top 40 appeal is also further proof that co-writer Sia Furler (David Guetta’s “Titanium,” Flo Rida’s “Wild Ones”) is the crème de la crème of emotive dancefloor ballads. Released back in May, “Lazy Love” may not have been the best track to set the tone for “R.E.D.,” but this sexy, bedroom-ready ballad is worthy of its place next to other Ne-Yo love-making hits like “When You’re Mad” and “Sexy Love.”ģ.”Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)” Though the biggest revelations turn out to be Ne-Yo’s penchant for spending “40K in three hours,” trying hard to be faithful to his fiancée, and being a natural competitor (“I say I’m not a hater / but I hate to see you shine”), the Shea Taylor-produced track is a welcome stroke of honesty for Ne-Yo. Perfect” nevertheless finds him taking a chisel to his own clean-cut image to establish a more confessional dynamic with his fans. Originally intended to be the title track for the album before Ne-Yo settled on “R.E.D.,” “Mr. Which are the best tracks on “R.E.D.” (which stands for “Realizing Every Dream”)? Read on for Billboard’s track-by-track review of Ne-Yo’s latest album. There’s a reason that soaring EDM-pop single “Let Me Love You” is his first top 10 hit as a lead artist since 2008’s more R&B-leaning “Miss Independent” - no matter what the genre, Ne-Yo finds a way to inject soul into everything he sings. Perhaps that’s because he led or shared songwriting duties on the majority of the album, all with a refreshing lack of Auto-Tune on the vocals to boot. Unlike new releases from Usher and Chris Brown, where the people-pleasing shifts from pop to dance to R&B felt a little arbitrary at times, Ne-Yo sounds right at home on all 13 of “R.E.D.”‘s tracks.
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