I never really created a difference between Shaffer Smith, my actual name, and Ne-Yo. They are kind of one in the same. It’s been a bit of a gift and a curse. As far as Shaffer Smith is concerned, I’ve never viewed myself as a celebrity. Ne-Yo Read Quote
I feel like everything is inspired by something else. There is no 100 percent original thought. Ne-Yo Read Quote
I like to learn through doing. Let me make a mistake, and then critique me on what I did so that I learn that way. Ne-Yo Read Quote
I know everyone says attention spans are shorter now, and if you can’t get them in the first 20 seconds, you lost them. But I honestly believe if you give someone something worth slowing down to really pay attention to, they will. Ne-Yo Read Quote
My ‘Slide Some Oil’ ain’t gon’ be Nipsey Russell’s ‘Slide Some Oil.’ Elijah Kelley’s ‘You Can’t Win’ ain’t gon’ be Michael Jackson’s ‘You Can’t Win.’ Ne-Yo Read Quote
Via social media, I reached out, asking about relationships, dreams, hopes, fears, the whole gambit, and the stories that really resonated with me, I wrote songs about. Ne-Yo Read Quote
Back in the day, Motown was on the pulse of young America. It wasn’t about just dope contemporary. It was pop, it was R&B, it was all of that. Ne-Yo Read Quote
You kinda don’t know what’s going to make a good song. You’ve got to shoot around in the dark for a little while. Ne-Yo Read Quote
I’ve spoken before on how the art of storytelling has been lost a bit. I definitely feel ‘Empire’ is helping to reprogram us back to that place where we pay attention and invest emotionally in the records and the artists. Ne-Yo Read Quote
