Where have the years gone. R&B singer, Ne-yo is up to his sixth full length studio album, releasing his latest, Non- Fiction on January 27th. Ne-yo has been known to make themed albums in the past, notably his Libra Scale album, which didn’t go over too well. This time however he creates a pretty impressive album that is filled with “a group of true stories,” thus the title, Non-Fiction.
As we’ve come to expect with Ne-yo, the fourteen track set is filled with ballads about love, love lost and empowerment songs dedicated to the ladies. The first single, “Money Can’t Buy” is an example of the latter. It’s a bit more for the ‘ride or die’ type of woman since Jezzy provides a less than a R&B smooth feel to the track.
The second single, “She Knows” features Juicy J and seems to glorify those ladies with a hint of ratchet in them. As the video suggests, the song is quite strip club friendly. Juicy J is the perfect artist to ride the beat. “She Knows” is the most Hip-Hop friendly track on the album, while “Time of Our Lives” with Pitbull is the album’s most uptempo track. It’s a feel good, party anthem about real life hard times and struggles.
“One More” is one of the album’s highlights. T.I. joins Ne-yo to toast to hardworking ladies. The slow grooves have always favored Ne-yo’s vocal talents. No more than the right amount of bass leaves the song for the taking for him as he’s done so often in the past. The same style of track helps him shine on “Integrity,” “Good Morning” and my personal favorite “Religious.”
Ne-yo does a great job following up R.E.D. with this new work. The deluxe album is worth the investment to hear the whole story play out, while getting up to 6 additional songs.
Non-Fiction receives a PARL
Stream the album below:
