Guest
Ne-Yo - 2 Million Secrets. An exclusive live performance for Vevo. Any retrospective on ’00s R&B is incomplete without Ne-Yo. Born Shaffer Chimere Smith, the esteemed singer made a huge splash with his 2006 debut ‘In My Own Words.’ The project arrived at a moment when R&B and pop were one in the same, as the latter had adopted the former’s polished production and electronic instrumentation. A few weeks after ‘IMOW’ dropped, “So Sick” topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Like much of Ne-Yo's work, the track’s Scandinavian engineering was sleek enough for mainstream radio, sexy enough for the adults, and PG enough for DJs to play as the lone slow song at middle school dances. If it felt similar to Mario’s undeniable 2004 jam “Let Me Love You,” it's because Ne-Yo also wrote that gem. Yep, his pen game was as strong as his voice was cool; that’s why Jay-Z ushered him onto the Def Jam team. Accolades and hits were repeated over the next few years. 2008’s ‘Year of the Gentleman’ got an Album of
