He’s well-known for his many catchy anthems like ‘Sexy Love’, ‘Because of You’ and ‘Closer’ and he’s an established songwriter, having written megahits such as Rihanna’s ‘Take A Bow’ and Beyonce’s ‘Irreplaceable’ but Ne-Yo considers himself more a songwriter than a singer.

“I can sing but there are other people out there who can sing better than I can,” confides the 30-year-old who is dressed comfortably albeit stylishly in cargo pants, a blue and black plaid shirt over a white tank and a grey knitted golfing cap in a recent interview with hot. “And call me conceited if you want but I don’t think there are too many people on this planet who can write a song better than me.”

Another thing the charming and soft-spoken ‘Miss Independent’ singer is famous for is his penchant for hats. “I have thousands of hats. I just recently bought a new place in Atlanta and it came with four bedrooms but I transformed one of them into a closet [for my hats]. I have boxes of them and probably a thousand of them. And that’s just the hats I have in the house. It’s not counting the hats my mum is holding on to,” reveals the singer who was in Kuala Lumpur recently for the XPAX Ignites Ne-Yo Live in KL 2010, one of his two Asian concerts, the other being in the Philippines.

After speaking to the incredibly down-to-earth and articulate Ne-Yo, we certainly think he can charm the hats (and ahem, pants) off us any day.

Why did you call your album Year of the Gentleman?

Because I thought it was time. If you took a look at the industry before, there was a lack of gentlemen. I thought music was very misogynistic at that point, even more so right now. I needed to remind people that you can do music without calling a woman a b**ch and it is possible to write a song that’s not all about sex and still have a following.

Would you say that you’re a gentleman and what would you say to those who think chivalry is dead?

I call myself a gentleman in training because as a gentleman you understand that life is about constantly learning. To say that I’m a gentleman right now is to say I’ve learnt everything there is to being a gentleman and I haven’t. There is so much to learn. To a woman who thinks chivalry is dead, she should get to know me [laughs].

Which part of you is a gentleman?

All of me, 100%. The whole thing from top to bottom [laughs].

You’ve had so many hits. Do you feel pressured to come up with hits all the time now?

That pressure is always there but if you focus on that, you will never write another hit. If I were to say ‘I need to write a song better than ‘Closer’, nothing in my mind will ever top it. Everything I do will suck in my mind and nothing will come out so I have to take myself out of the mindset that I have to create something better than it and just create and enjoy what it is in that moment. Whether it’s going to be better than ‘Closer’, I don’t know and I don’t really care but I love it right now and hopefully the world will too.

Your dressing is always immaculate. How do you know what to put on?

I wear whatever the day brings. I can’t take 100% credit for it because I do have a team of people who help me put looks together. It’s not all me. I have an incredible team behind me.

How many times a day are you complimented on your fashion?

A lot more now, actually. It’s funny because anybody who knew me before my first album came out would look at me now and go, ‘Wow, when did this happen?!’ I never really cared for fashion. I always dressed comfortably. Growing up, we didn’t have that much money. We weren’t poor but we didn’t have a lot of money so it wasn’t about having the freshest jeans. It was about taking care of what you had and keeping it clean. I was always neat but not stylish. So now when people go, ‘You’re so stylish’, I go, ‘Really? Thank you.’

Would you venture into fashion?

I’ve been thinking about it. I have a deal with Macys in the States to be the spokesperson for their line of suits and that’s the closest thing I’ve done to fashion. It’s a big responsibility trying to tell people how to dress!

Your songwriting, crooning and dancing skills have garnered you plenty of attention from the ladies. Is there a special someone in your life?

A gentleman never tells [laughs].

Do you have any advice for the gentlemen who are looking to impress the ladies in their lives?

One thing that has helped me throughout the years is learning to listen. The one thing that holds true with women, though they’re all so different, is that they love to talk and they love people to listen. So a man who can do that has one up from the rest.

What would you do and what song would you sing if you wanted to impress a lady?

I would ask her if she was a fan of my music. If she is, then I’d take it upon myself to serenade her with her favourite song. If she wasn’t, I’ll try and make her a fan of my music!

What kind of girls are you attracted to?

The odd thing is I don’t have a type anymore. I did at one point but I’ve come to a point where I realise that your looks are a shell and it’s only available for a very limited time. To be with someone based on their looks is just stupid. It’s like falling in love with a rose while it’s still alive and not realising that the rose will wither and eventually die. I love a woman who’s confident enough with who she is to be whoever the h*ll she is. That is so rare now. I’ve never had an industry girlfriend because to be honest with you, industry women are the ones with the most problems!

Really?

Think about it. If you’re known for being gorgeous, do you know how much pressure it is to stay gorgeous? You get a pimple and you’ll kill yourself trying to figure out how to get rid of it! They’re the ones with the most insecurities and I don’t deal with insecurities because I’m not an insecure person myself. I know I have flaws and I’ve accepted them and I like my women to feel the same way.

What do you consider as your biggest flaw?

[Laughs] As I got old enough to shave, this area here [gestures to his chin and neck] became a major insecurity for me. I lived with a bunch of women and was never really taught how to shave. By the time I learnt, it was already too late and it is what it is. If this is the reason why you don’t want to be my friend or be involved with me romantically, then you’re missing out because there’s so much more to me than just this.

How difficult is it to maintain a relationship when you’re on the road so often?

Difficult is an understatement. Any woman who is involved with me has to understand who I am, what I am and what I do. On the outside looking in, all you see is the leisure time, the parties and videos but what you don’t see are the parts which are the most time consuming – the time I spend in the studio and on the road. These are the things that become the most stressful on a relationship. When I’m in the studio, I can’t have a girlfriend around because my focus is on the studio. If I did have one around, she would feel very neglected because I wouldn’t be able to give her any attention. I don’t want to do that. A woman has to be very secure with herself. Women throw themselves at me all day long. If you’re going to be walking somewhere with me and a woman comes running up to me and throws her arms around me, she’s got to be secure enough to say ‘Okay’ and that’s difficult for a woman.

What is it about music and songwriting that you love?

I just love it. I can say things in a song that I would never have the guts to say in real life. That’s weird because I’ve been in relationships that I didn’t want to be in anymore but I didn’t have the guts to say it isn’t working out so I’d write songs and play it to them and they go ‘Is this meant for me?’

How many hearts have you broken with a song?

Loads. [Laughs] I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise to everyone whom I’ve broken up with a song! As time has progressed and I’m now 30, it’s a lot easier to speak my mind.

sigh, i just love the man.

Labels: i'm falling in love all over again

He’s well-known for his many catchy anthems like ‘Sexy Love’, ‘Because of You’ and ‘Closer’ and he’s an established songwriter, having written megahits such as Rihanna’s ‘Take A Bow’ and Beyonce’s ‘Irreplaceable’ but Ne-Yo considers himself more a songwriter than a singer.

“I can sing but there are other people out there who can sing better than I can,” confides the 30-year-old who is dressed comfortably albeit stylishly in cargo pants, a blue and black plaid shirt over a white tank and a grey knitted golfing cap in a recent interview with hot. “And call me conceited if you want but I don’t think there are too many people on this planet who can write a song better than me.”

Another thing the charming and soft-spoken ‘Miss Independent’ singer is famous for is his penchant for hats. “I have thousands of hats. I just recently bought a new place in Atlanta and it came with four bedrooms but I transformed one of them into a closet [for my hats]. I have boxes of them and probably a thousand of them. And that’s just the hats I have in the house. It’s not counting the hats my mum is holding on to,” reveals the singer who was in Kuala Lumpur recently for the XPAX Ignites Ne-Yo Live in KL 2010, one of his two Asian concerts, the other being in the Philippines.

After speaking to the incredibly down-to-earth and articulate Ne-Yo, we certainly think he can charm the hats (and ahem, pants) off us any day.

Why did you call your album Year of the Gentleman?

Because I thought it was time. If you took a look at the industry before, there was a lack of gentlemen. I thought music was very misogynistic at that point, even more so right now. I needed to remind people that you can do music without calling a woman a b**ch and it is possible to write a song that’s not all about sex and still have a following.

Would you say that you’re a gentleman and what would you say to those who think chivalry is dead?

I call myself a gentleman in training because as a gentleman you understand that life is about constantly learning. To say that I’m a gentleman right now is to say I’ve learnt everything there is to being a gentleman and I haven’t. There is so much to learn. To a woman who thinks chivalry is dead, she should get to know me [laughs].

Which part of you is a gentleman?

All of me, 100%. The whole thing from top to bottom [laughs].

You’ve had so many hits. Do you feel pressured to come up with hits all the time now?

That pressure is always there but if you focus on that, you will never write another hit. If I were to say ‘I need to write a song better than ‘Closer’, nothing in my mind will ever top it. Everything I do will suck in my mind and nothing will come out so I have to take myself out of the mindset that I have to create something better than it and just create and enjoy what it is in that moment. Whether it’s going to be better than ‘Closer’, I don’t know and I don’t really care but I love it right now and hopefully the world will too.

Your dressing is always immaculate. How do you know what to put on?

I wear whatever the day brings. I can’t take 100% credit for it because I do have a team of people who help me put looks together. It’s not all me. I have an incredible team behind me.

How many times a day are you complimented on your fashion?

A lot more now, actually. It’s funny because anybody who knew me before my first album came out would look at me now and go, ‘Wow, when did this happen?!’ I never really cared for fashion. I always dressed comfortably. Growing up, we didn’t have that much money. We weren’t poor but we didn’t have a lot of money so it wasn’t about having the freshest jeans. It was about taking care of what you had and keeping it clean. I was always neat but not stylish. So now when people go, ‘You’re so stylish’, I go, ‘Really? Thank you.’

Would you venture into fashion?

I’ve been thinking about it. I have a deal with Macys in the States to be the spokesperson for their line of suits and that’s the closest thing I’ve done to fashion. It’s a big responsibility trying to tell people how to dress!

Your songwriting, crooning and dancing skills have garnered you plenty of attention from the ladies. Is there a special someone in your life?

A gentleman never tells [laughs].

Do you have any advice for the gentlemen who are looking to impress the ladies in their lives?

One thing that has helped me throughout the years is learning to listen. The one thing that holds true with women, though they’re all so different, is that they love to talk and they love people to listen. So a man who can do that has one up from the rest.

What would you do and what song would you sing if you wanted to impress a lady?

I would ask her if she was a fan of my music. If she is, then I’d take it upon myself to serenade her with her favourite song. If she wasn’t, I’ll try and make her a fan of my music!

What kind of girls are you attracted to?

The odd thing is I don’t have a type anymore. I did at one point but I’ve come to a point where I realise that your looks are a shell and it’s only available for a very limited time. To be with someone based on their looks is just stupid. It’s like falling in love with a rose while it’s still alive and not realising that the rose will wither and eventually die. I love a woman who’s confident enough with who she is to be whoever the h*ll she is. That is so rare now. I’ve never had an industry girlfriend because to be honest with you, industry women are the ones with the most problems!

Really?

Think about it. If you’re known for being gorgeous, do you know how much pressure it is to stay gorgeous? You get a pimple and you’ll kill yourself trying to figure out how to get rid of it! They’re the ones with the most insecurities and I don’t deal with insecurities because I’m not an insecure person myself. I know I have flaws and I’ve accepted them and I like my women to feel the same way.

What do you consider as your biggest flaw?

[Laughs] As I got old enough to shave, this area here [gestures to his chin and neck] became a major insecurity for me. I lived with a bunch of women and was never really taught how to shave. By the time I learnt, it was already too late and it is what it is. If this is the reason why you don’t want to be my friend or be involved with me romantically, then you’re missing out because there’s so much more to me than just this.

How difficult is it to maintain a relationship when you’re on the road so often?

Difficult is an understatement. Any woman who is involved with me has to understand who I am, what I am and what I do. On the outside looking in, all you see is the leisure time, the parties and videos but what you don’t see are the parts which are the most time consuming – the time I spend in the studio and on the road. These are the things that become the most stressful on a relationship. When I’m in the studio, I can’t have a girlfriend around because my focus is on the studio. If I did have one around, she would feel very neglected because I wouldn’t be able to give her any attention. I don’t want to do that. A woman has to be very secure with herself. Women throw themselves at me all day long. If you’re going to be walking somewhere with me and a woman comes running up to me and throws her arms around me, she’s got to be secure enough to say ‘Okay’ and that’s difficult for a woman.

What is it about music and songwriting that you love?

I just love it. I can say things in a song that I would never have the guts to say in real life. That’s weird because I’ve been in relationships that I didn’t want to be in anymore but I didn’t have the guts to say it isn’t working out so I’d write songs and play it to them and they go ‘Is this meant for me?’

How many hearts have you broken with a song?

Loads. [Laughs] I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise to everyone whom I’ve broken up with a song! As time has progressed and I’m now 30, it’s a lot easier to speak my mind.

sigh, i just love the man.

Labels: i'm falling in love all over again