Ne-Yo: In His Own Words

He's only 23 and he's written hit songs for Mary J. Blige, B2K, Faith Evans and Musiq among others. Handsome Ne-Yo, real name Shaffer Smith, was given his new stage name by producer Big D because he thinks the artist "sees music the way that Neo sees The Matrix". Whatever that really means, it's a catchy name and the young dynamo is poised for the big launch of his first album "In My Own Words" on Feb. 28th.

His singles "Stay" and "So Sick" are riding the charts and the young R&B sensation is currently writing the soundtrack for Save the Last Dance 2. He has a small part in the film as well. Ne-Yo has come a long way, undergone disappointments that have made him stronger and is friendly and open enough to talk candidly and even admit that his very first song...as a small child was about...mustard! Get to know this up and comer.

TeenMusic: Ne-Yo is a version of the Keanu Reeves character Neo from the Matrix films. Had you seen the films?

Ne-Yo: Yes, love 'um. Well, I loved the first one, liked the second one and I hated the third one.

TeenMusic: Do you consider yourself more R&B than Rap?

Ne-Yo: R&B, all the way R&B.

TeenMusic: Your song "So Sick" is about missing a relationship. You can't get over a girl. Was that based on your own experience?

Ne-Yo: Absolutely a true story about the first girl I ever fell in love with. I was 18 and when you're 18, your friends tend to rule your life without you wanting it to happen. Peer pressure and all, 'oh, I can't do that. My friends will make fun of me'. That whole thing. I was the only guy in my clique of friends who even had a girlfriend which automatically makes her public enemy number one. I can admit now that I did this. I basically allowed them to convince me to cheat on her. I'm human and it happens. I told her, confessed and she declared that she hated me and left and, at the time, it was the most pain that I had ever felt.

TeenMusic: Hey, at least you were honest with her. I like the little black and white outfit from the "Stay" video. Are you starting a clothing line?

Ne-Yo: I am. You'll see the first signs of it in September. It's called Chimere Urban Couture.

TeenMusic: Why was the record you made for Columbia a couple of years ago never released? Was that heartbreaking?

Ne-Yo: Well their Urban division kind of bottomed out and left me up in the air. They shelved my project and I'm sittin' doin' nothin' for two years. So I went to them and asked them to release me [from my contract] and, of course, they didn't want to do that. It was a long dragged out thing. They finally said, 'we'll let you go but the album stays here'. So, at the time, I just wanted to be free so I said 'fine, keep it, whatever'. Then later on down the line I realized that they took my kids from me. That whole situation left a bad taste in my mouth. So, for a long time, I decided 'I'm just going to be a songwriter, not an artist'.

TeenMusic: What made you decide to take a chance and try being a performing artist again?

Ne-Yo: This whole Def-Jam situation, the way that it came about. The people involved were great. I looked at it as God telling me that it wasn't supposed to happen at Columbia. You weren't ready for it there. It's supposed to happen here, right now with these people so it was an offer I couldn't refuse.

TeenMusic: Is anyone else in your family musical?

Ne-Yo: Everybody in my family. My mom sings, my dad sings, my sisters sing. I really didn't have a choice in the matter as far as what I was going to do. Music all day long.

TeenMusic: What were your influences growing up?

Ne-Yo: When I was young Sammy Davis Junior, Prince and Stevie Wonder.

TeenMusic: Great group! You are writing songs for the soundtrack for Steppin' Up: Save the Last Dance 2?

Ne-Yo: Yeah, I'm doing a good majority if not the entire soundtrack. I also have a part in it.

TeenMusic: Do you want to do more acting and be a cross-over artist?

Ne-Yo: Yeah, at some point. This part is a baby step, a small part. I haven't exactly caught the acting bug yet but who knows what the future holds.

TeenMusic: What was the first song you wrote and what was it about?

Ne-Yo: I don't really remember but my mom says that before I could write the first song that I let her hear was one I made up about mustard. I made a big deal about it. I ran in the room and made her turn the TV off.

TeenMusic: Okay, the mustard song.. hummmm. You recorded tons of songs for "In My Own Words". Why so many? They can't all fit on the album.

Ne-Yo: The ones that don't go onto the album will go into the archives and either go to other people or I save them to go into other albums or soundtracks.

TeenMusic: Who picks the songs that do make it onto the new record?

Ne-Yo: It's a collective effort, it's me, the people from my production company Compound Entertainment, my management and Jay-Z and L.A. Reid of course and a couple of A&R people at Def-Jam. We all collectively decide which songs are the best ones.

TeenMusic: What is the weirdest object you have ever written song lyrics down on when you don't have paper?

Ne-Yo: I remember tearing open a cereal box and writing on the inside of the cardboard.

TeenMusic: What besides singing, do you do really well and what do you do pretty badly?

Ne-Yo: I'm a pretty good painter, an artist and I'm a really bad liar. I'm a horrible liar. I sweat and shake and all of that. It's very easy to tell when I'm telling a lie.

TeenMusic: Humm, girls would be glad to hear that. What kind of art do you do?

Ne-Yo: I like pen and ink. I was a big comic book guy back in the day. I would take the comic book stuff and classical stuff and mix it together. Oil paints, pastels, whatever.

TeenMusic: What about designing your own album cover some day?

Ne-Yo: Some day, yeah. I actually wanted to for this first album but they were like 'we need to get a solid, real picture of you [on it] because people don't know who you are just yet. Maybe the next album cover or the one after that.

TeenMusic: Who would you like to collaborate on a record with?

Ne-Yo: Prince. I would love to do a song with Prince. That would be the ultimate.

TeenMusic: Are you going to tour with Mary J Blige?

Ne-Yo: As of right now, it's just talk. Nothing solid yet but it is a possibility yes.

TeenMusic: You did tour with John Legend. What do you do when you are not on stage to blow off steam? Visit towns you are in or just hang out in the bus?

Ne-Yo: I did 28 dates with him. There wasn't a lot of kick back time on that tour. We had a studio set up on the bus I was on so if I wasn't on stage, I was recording or writing songs for the soundtrack of Save the Last Dance 2.

TeenMusic: What is your weirdest fan experience so far and the most touching fan experience?

Ne-Yo: The most touching, and this would have to be before I even started doing the performing thing, a guy approached me in a restaurant and said to me that he proposed to his wife through the song "Let Me Love You" that I had written for Mario. That's the biggest compliment that you could ever pay me. I didn't even have words for him. I just said 'thank you'. And the weirdest fan thing, I was in Hooters, the food place, and the waitress, once she realized who I was, she like dropped the whole plate of wings and was shaking and crying. It was weird because it was the first time anything like that ever happened to me. I took a picture with her and signed an autograph. That was weird.

TeenMusic: What is your idea of ideal things to do on a first date and don't say Hooters!

Ne-Yo: You want to keep it kind of neutral because you don't want to give her the wrong idea so taking her to make-out point mountain is not a good idea. You want to go to the movies, go out to eat and somewhere neutral like maybe a food court at a mall, somewhere where you can talk and get to know each other.

TeenMusic: What qualities does a girl need to have to date you?

Ne-Yo: I've developed a whole new appreciation for a woman with some goals! In this business you meet so many beautiful women and I'm sorry to say it, but they're just dumb as rocks and they don't have any aspirations to do anything but music videos. That is the most depressing thing in the world to me. I hate it. I love the woman that realizes that she's cute but knows that the cute thing is going to fade away at some point. She needs to take time to get her mind right so she'll have something to fall back on when the cute thing fades. I look for her.

TeenMusic: Have all your childhood dreams come true or what is your current dream?

Ne-Yo: Well, after my son was born, it went from being a dream to a necessity. It's not about me anymore. It's about making sure that his future is secure, making sure there is food in his mouth whenever he screams for it. I'm grateful and happy that I'm doing what I'm doing but my reasons for doing it have changed. He is six months old today and his name is Chimere.

TeenMusic: Hey, happy six month birthday Chimere! Do you play any instruments?

Ne-Yo: Not yet. I want to learn how to play piano and I picked up a harmonica just recently and I want to delve into that a little deeper.

TeenMusic: What would you burn on a CD for a road trip?

Ne-Yo: Anything Stevie Wonder has ever done, anything Prince has ever done, "Suddenly" by Billy Ocean, "Hello" by Lionel Ritchie, "Black Hole Sun" by Sound Garden, Coldplay's entire second album. We can stop there. That's a pretty big CD.

TeenMusic: Good choices! Favorite junk food?

Ne-Yo: Probably French fries because they are so bad for me!

TeenMusic: What is your message for your fans out there?

Ne-Yo: Just ask for the return of traditional R&B. That's what my album is, it's quality R&B music and I just hope the world loves it as much as I enjoyed making it. I just want to thank everybody for the support they have given me thus far and if you continue to cheer me on, I'll continue trying to bring quality music to the world.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.