American R&B singer-songwriter, Ne-Yo releases a proper full-length album titled ‘Self Explanatory’ after dropping Good Man in 2018 which was met with rave reviews from fans and critics. Listening to Self-Explanatory, it’s quite evident that Ne-Yo has still got the spice that makes him one of the most revered R&B singers.
The 13-track album is his eighth studio album since his debut with, In My Own Words in 2006 which earned him a Grammy Award nomination in the Best Contemporary R&B Album category. He dropped an expanded version in 2021 to celebrate his 15 years anniversary.
Speaking on his new album, Ne-Yo told Jalen Rose: “What I want people to take from this album is just music to live life to, music to feel some emotion too. We got to a place in music where the emotion kinda died down a little bit. Everybody’s real tough, everybody’s really cool. People are afraid to be vulnerable. That vulnerability is what connects us, that ability to lock into another person’s heart.” According to an interview he had with Haute Living, he started working on the album in 2018 and got slowed down due to the pandemic.
Self Explanatory is a refreshing and feel-good album you can’t help but enjoy. It consists of his previously released songs: the Jeremih-assisted track: U 2 Luv which earned the number one spot on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart after 16 weeks. Other earlier released songs like What If; a song about the disappointment in an abrupt romance, Don’t Love Me; a thoughtful love note to save a partner from heartbreak, You Got The Body: a summer banger directed by Teyana Taylor, and Stay Down.
On the first track, Layin’ Low featuring Zae France, he sings about a new girl in the city who he showed around but has refused to acknowledge him. Handle Me Gently possesses a good feel as if it could be a Michael Jackson song from back in the day.
The album includes other guest appearances from Tripple Redd on Push Up and Yung Bleu on the love-professing Stay Down. Listen here.
