Ne-Yo Quotes

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Ne-Yo

Profession : Musician

Birth : October 18, 1982

Temptation is just that - she's the girl you claim you don't want, but in the moment, you have more drinks than you should in the club. One thing leads to another, and suddenly you've done something really stupid. You've jeopardized what could've potentially been a really great relationship, all due to temptation.

Ne-Yo

My mom was the picture of the blue-collar mom: Two and three and four jobs to make sure that me and my sister never needed, that was her thing.

Ne-Yo

Michael Jackson believed in making music that made people feel good.

Ne-Yo

I feel like everything is inspired by something else. There is no 100 percent original thought.

Ne-Yo

Every song I've ever written has been based in reality, based in fact, things that happen to me.

Ne-Yo

Prince is the ultimate performer. Prince is that dude that's going to get on stage by himself, if he need to, but hold you in the palm of his hand. Like, you can't take your eyes off the man when he's on stage, and he could just be sitting there playing his guitar.

Ne-Yo

I probably wouldn't be singing if not for Michael Jackson. When I started singing, I didn't like my tone until my mom put me on to Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, so listening to the way they used their instrument helped me get more comfortable with my own.

Ne-Yo

My style is mainly about comfort. It has to be comfortable, it has to lay right on me, know what I mean?

Ne-Yo

I pride myself on being the type of artist who can work half in the R&B world and half in the pop world.

Ne-Yo

I have my diehard R&B fans on one side of the spectrum and my diehard pop and dance fans on the other side of the spectrum.

Ne-Yo

For the first few years of my life my mom used to cut my hair so there were a lot of bowl-cut hair styles.

Ne-Yo

Now that I have kids, I want my kids to appreciate my music, but at the same time, I don't want to teach them anything that they shouldn't know just yet.

Ne-Yo

I know the music industry is based on a lot of smoke and mirrors in a lot of cases, such as making things look like one thing versus what it actually is. I feel like I've been here long enough that I've surpassed the need for any of that.

Ne-Yo

I never really created a difference between Shaffer Smith, my actual name, and Ne-Yo. They are kind of one in the same. It's been a bit of a gift and a curse. As far as Shaffer Smith is concerned, I've never viewed myself as a celebrity.

Ne-Yo

I've never viewed myself as above anybody else or anything like that. I'm a regular guy at the end of the day. I like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and The Powerpuff Girls.

Ne-Yo

Via social media, I reached out, asking about relationships, dreams, hopes, fears, the whole gambit, and the stories that really resonated with me, I wrote songs about.

Ne-Yo

Me as an artist, I'm more notorious for writing songs that celebrate women, songs that are all about the positive element of the immensely confusing creature that is woman.

Ne-Yo

I wrote a song that basically turned into a public service announcement for the fellas out there, like, 'Should you run into this type of woman, run for your life!' So the name of the song is 'Run,' featuring the rapper ScHoolboy Q. It's one of the standouts on the album, in my personal opinion.

Ne-Yo

I always tell the story of 'Irreplaceable.' I initially wrote 'Irreplaceable' with myself in mind, with plans of it being my record. I love that record; however, what I realised about that record was that though given the circumstances of that situation - men and women are not that different - when you sing about it, it changes things, you know?

Ne-Yo

There are different kinds of R&B happening today. There's the traditional, more soulful R&B that doesn't get the recognition that it deserves. Then there's the more hip-hop oriented stuff. You got your boy Ty Dolla $ign, people like that, who are bringing more hip-hop elements to R&B, which is cool.

Ne-Yo