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The title of Ne-Yo's eighth LP is misleading in a sense. While there's no mistaking Self Explanatory for the work of anyone else, one wouldn't know without following news reports or the singer's concurrent interviews that it's a pandemic album of sorts. There are no references or even allusions to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was under lockdown in 2020 that Ne-Yo's home became a pressure cooker. He and his wife split, considered divorce, and eventually reconciled, remarrying three months before the 2022 release of Self Explanatory. Coming off his least successful album, Good Man, Ne-Yo opted to no longer concern himself with where he fits within the context of commercial R&B, and used his personal circumstances as a source of lyrical inspiration. The sadder songs are most obviously written from immediate first-hand experience. In "Handle Me Gently," rhythmically a plush new jack swing throwback, Ne-Yo admits his faults and desire to make things right. "Don't Love Me" follows it with subtle trap-styled flourishes, but at its core, it's an aching and repentant weeper (with some fine falsetto) that only the artist behind "So Sick" and "Fade into the Background" could have written. Despite the sonic contrast between those unequivocally R&B ballads, they could easily be country songs with different production choices. A fair portion of the album alternates between uncertainty, affirmation, and wistful reminiscence. The last of those feelings is most intense on the post-breakup "What If," the only song that hits the dancefloor, but not until after an intro where Ne-Yo delivers one of his highly specific couplets: "Fast forward two years and we were over/Ubered to the airport when I know I shoulda drove you." In a couple other songs -- the spare, winding "After Party" and gently knocking "Call Me Up" -- Ne-Yo flips the script to write from the perspective of a potential homewrecker. There's a surplus of swagger in those tracks, and in the somewhat displaced slow jam "You Got the Body." The likely unintended alternate meaning of "I got the bag, you got the body" make it ripe for a slasher film. A major soundtrack placement wouldn't prevent this from being considered Ne-Yo's most biographical album yet.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo
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Gene Grimaldi, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - Kevin "KD" Davis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Ne-Yo, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Remo, Producer, Music Production, AssociatedPerformer - Remo Green, ComposerLyricist - Avery Segers, ComposerLyricist - Calvin Hay, ComposerLyricist - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - Anthony Nixon, ComposerLyricist - Asha Solai, A&R Coordinator - Zae France, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Aquil Jackson, ComposerLyricist - Gelareh "G" Rouzbehani, A&R - Xavier France, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2022 Shaffer Smith
Gene Grimaldi, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - Kevin "KD" Davis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Engineer, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Ne-Yo, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - The Aristocrats, Producer - Roccstar, Producer, Programming, AssociatedPerformer - Orlando Williamson, ComposerLyricist - Chaz Jackson, ComposerLyricist - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - Leon Youngblood Jr., ComposerLyricist - Gelareh "G" Rouzbehani, A&R - Brent Vikaden Montgomery, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2022 Shaffer Smith
Larry Troutman, ComposerLyricist - Christian Ward, ComposerLyricist - Jaycen Joshua, Mixer, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - ROGER TROUTMAN, ComposerLyricist - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Ne-Yo, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Shirley Murdock, ComposerLyricist - Cardiak, Producer, Programming, AssociatedPerformer - Carl McCormick, ComposerLyricist - Paul cabbin, Producer, Programming, AssociatedPerformer - Hitmaka, Producer, Programming, AssociatedPerformer - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R - Lerron Carson, ComposerLyricist - Jacob Richards, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Mike Seaberg, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - DJ Riggins, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Asha Solai, A&R - Corey Crowe, ComposerLyricist - Gabrielle “Goldie” Nowelle, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2020 Shaffer Smith
Gene Grimaldi, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - Kevin "KD" Davis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Ne-Yo, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Digi, Producer, Music Production, AssociatedPerformer - John Perkins, ComposerLyricist - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R - Jamil George Chammas, ComposerLyricist - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - Asha Solai, A&R Coordinator - Corey Crowe, ComposerLyricist - Gelareh "G" Rouzbehani, A&R
℗ 2022 Shaffer Smith
Gene Grimaldi, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - Kevin "KD" Davis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Ne-Yo, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Mally Mall, Producer, Music Production, AssociatedPerformer - Jamal Rashid, ComposerLyricist - G Koop, Producer - Robert Mandell, ComposerLyricist - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - Asha Solai, A&R Coordinator - Gelareh "G" Rouzbehani, A&R - Tarnita Woodard, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2022 Shaffer Smith
Larry Troutman, ComposerLyricist - Gene Grimaldi, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - ROGER TROUTMAN, ComposerLyricist - Kevin "KD" Davis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Engineer, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Ne-Yo, Vocals, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - James Mtume, ComposerLyricist - Jeremih, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Shirley Murdock, ComposerLyricist - Teddy Pena, ComposerLyricist - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R - Retro Future, Producer, Programming, AssociatedPerformer - Jeremy Phillip Felton, ComposerLyricist - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - Leon Youngblood Jr., ComposerLyricist
℗ 2020 Shaffer Smith
Gene Grimaldi, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - Kevin "KD" Davis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Ne-Yo, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R - Trippie Redd, Rap Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Michael Lamar White II, ComposerLyricist - Igor Mamet, ComposerLyricist - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - Asha Solai, A&R Coordinator - FRANKIEONTHEGUITAR, Producer, Music Production, AssociatedPerformer - Gelareh "G" Rouzbehani, A&R - Francisco Baptista, ComposerLyricist - William "Fuzzy" West, A&R
℗ 2022 Shaffer Smith
Gene Grimaldi, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - Kevin "KD" Davis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Ne-Yo, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Remo, Producer, Music Production, AssociatedPerformer - Remo Green, ComposerLyricist - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - Asha Solai, A&R Coordinator - Chauncey Alexander Hollis Jr, ComposerLyricist - Corey Crowe, ComposerLyricist - Gelareh "G" Rouzbehani, A&R
℗ 2022 Shaffer Smith
Gene Grimaldi, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - Kevin "KD" Davis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel, Vocal Programming - Ne-Yo, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Ebenezer, Producer, Programming, AssociatedPerformer - Ebenezer Fabiyi, ComposerLyricist - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R, ComposerLyricist - Magnus Klausen, Producer, Programming, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - Asha Solai, A&R Coordinator - Gelareh "G" Rouzbehani, A&R
℗ 2022 Shaffer Smith
Gene Grimaldi, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - Kevin "KD" Davis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel, Vocal Programming - Ne-Yo, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Ebenezer, Producer, Programming, AssociatedPerformer - Marlon Roudette, ComposerLyricist - Ebenezer Fabiyi, ComposerLyricist - Calvin Hay, ComposerLyricist - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R - Jae Stephens, ComposerLyricist - Magnus Klausen, Producer, Programming, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - Asha Solai, A&R Coordinator
℗ 2021 Shaffer Smith
Gene Grimaldi, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - Kevin "KD" Davis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Ne-Yo, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - DeCarlo, Producer, Music Production, AssociatedPerformer - Terence Coles, ComposerLyricist - Don Mills, Producer, Music Production, AssociatedPerformer - Milos Angelov, ComposerLyricist - Calvin Hay, ComposerLyricist - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - Asha Solai, A&R Coordinator - Gelareh "G" Rouzbehani, A&R
℗ 2022 Shaffer Smith
Gene Grimaldi, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - Kevin "KD" Davis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Ne-Yo, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Remo, Producer, Music Production, AssociatedPerformer - Remo Green, ComposerLyricist - Avery Segers, ComposerLyricist - Calvin Hay, ComposerLyricist - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - Anthony Nixon, ComposerLyricist - Asha Solai, A&R Coordinator - Corey Crowe, ComposerLyricist - Aquil Jackson, ComposerLyricist - Gelareh "G" Rouzbehani, A&R
℗ 2022 Shaffer Smith
Gene Grimaldi, Mastering Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Shaffer Smith, ComposerLyricist - Kevin "KD" Davis, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - CURTIS "SAUCE" WILSON, Vocal Producer, Recording Engineer, AssociatedPerformer, StudioPersonnel - Ne-Yo, Vocalist, MainArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Mally Mall, Producer, Music Production, AssociatedPerformer - Jamal Rashid, ComposerLyricist - Julia Lewis, Producer, Music Production, AssociatedPerformer - Benjamin Falik, ComposerLyricist - Calvin "Mister" Hay, A&R - Drew Banga, Producer, Music Production, AssociatedPerformer - Andrew Laquan Arnett, ComposerLyricist - Yung Bleu, Rap Vocalist, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Liz Isik, A&R Admin - Asha Solai, A&R Coordinator - Gelareh "G" Rouzbehani, A&R - Maurice "Kenoe" Jordan, A&R
℗ 2021 Shaffer Smith
Album review
The title of Ne-Yo's eighth LP is misleading in a sense. While there's no mistaking Self Explanatory for the work of anyone else, one wouldn't know without following news reports or the singer's concurrent interviews that it's a pandemic album of sorts. There are no references or even allusions to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was under lockdown in 2020 that Ne-Yo's home became a pressure cooker. He and his wife split, considered divorce, and eventually reconciled, remarrying three months before the 2022 release of Self Explanatory. Coming off his least successful album, Good Man, Ne-Yo opted to no longer concern himself with where he fits within the context of commercial R&B, and used his personal circumstances as a source of lyrical inspiration. The sadder songs are most obviously written from immediate first-hand experience. In "Handle Me Gently," rhythmically a plush new jack swing throwback, Ne-Yo admits his faults and desire to make things right. "Don't Love Me" follows it with subtle trap-styled flourishes, but at its core, it's an aching and repentant weeper (with some fine falsetto) that only the artist behind "So Sick" and "Fade into the Background" could have written. Despite the sonic contrast between those unequivocally R&B ballads, they could easily be country songs with different production choices. A fair portion of the album alternates between uncertainty, affirmation, and wistful reminiscence. The last of those feelings is most intense on the post-breakup "What If," the only song that hits the dancefloor, but not until after an intro where Ne-Yo delivers one of his highly specific couplets: "Fast forward two years and we were over/Ubered to the airport when I know I shoulda drove you." In a couple other songs -- the spare, winding "After Party" and gently knocking "Call Me Up" -- Ne-Yo flips the script to write from the perspective of a potential homewrecker. There's a surplus of swagger in those tracks, and in the somewhat displaced slow jam "You Got the Body." The likely unintended alternate meaning of "I got the bag, you got the body" make it ripe for a slasher film. A major soundtrack placement wouldn't prevent this from being considered Ne-Yo's most biographical album yet.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 13 track(s)
- Total length: 00:41:24
- Main artists: Ne-Yo
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Motown Records
- Genre: Soul/Funk/R&B R&B
© 2022 Shaffer Smith ℗ 2022 Shaffer Smith
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