The goal is to least attempt to do something that’s gonna outlive us. I know that sounds cliche and middle-of-the-road but that’s the truth. Ne-Yo: For me it’s about trying to do something great. THR: You’ve been a featured artist on so many songs - from Pitbull’s “Give Me Everything” to Young Jeezy’s “Leave You Alone” - how do you choose which guest appearances to say yes to? PHOTOS: Note Perfect: The 15 Best Portrayals of Musicians in Movies
Things happen because they’re supposed to. I don’t believe in coincidence or accidents. THR: Your first hit was Mario’s “Let Me Love You” in 2004 and now you have your own song with the same name? That’s not to say that Motown is going to dabble in EDM but it’s finding that common thread between R&B lovers, dance lovers, whatever the case may be - that common thread that ties everybody together into “Oh my God, I just love this song.” That’s what I’m trying to bring to Motown. And I guess Barry and the guys over there felt that’s kind of the line that I tow in that I can do an R&B song or I can do a song with a hard core rapper and then turn around and do a song with an EDM DJ and all those songs make sense on the same album. Motown was that name which was known for quality music - not necessarily soul music or black music or white music.
He thought my input would be instrumental in doing so. Ne-Yo: Barry Weiss, who took LA Reid‘s place over at Def Jam, came to me and started talking about the revitalization of Motown. THR: Who first approached you for the gig? Everybody’s helping and giving it our best to add something to the Motown legacy. So I am highly appreciative of the team - and just the fact that it is a team, it’s not a bunch of crabs in a bucket trying to claw over each other to get to the top. I have to give props to the Motown team - the A&R people over there who have been doing it much longer than I have and are accepting of me and willing to show me the ropes. Ne-Yo: It would if it was a job that I had to do by myself. Does that further complicate deciding which songs go where? Like there’s simple and then there’s stupid. So the songs being made are super-duper dumb and simple. From the point of view as songwriters and artists, it seems the consumer is getting dumber. The thought-provoking lyric is few and far between nowadays. … Sia comes from that school that makes you think a little bit - in a way that triggers something in you as opposed to flat out saying it. And because of scheduling, it just didn’t permit it. I was trying to work with her for a long time before this happened. I don’t normally do a lot of co-writes but I have huge respect for Sia as an artist - she has a voice that’s super soulful - as well as a songwriter. So I just came behind her and wrote the verses and the rest of it and then that’s how it came to be. Ne-Yo: Sia somehow met up with Stargate and they put together a track. THR: “Let Me Love You,” your most recent hit, you wrote with Sia. PHOTOS: 55th Annual Grammy Awards Nominees: The Black Keys, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Mumford & Sons, Kanye West Another way it happens is if I’m in the studio working for the sheer joy of doing what I do and I come up with something that sounds great but doesn’t necessarily fit me, that’s when I have the luxury of calling certain artists, “Yo, I just did something that would be dope for you.” If it does fit me, then I keep it for myself. If an artist comes to me and asks me to be a part of their project and then pays for studio time, within that time, whatever song is produced, by law it’s supposed to go to that artist. Ne-Yo: There are a couple of different ways. THR: How do you decide whether to keep a song or to give it to another artist? Says Ne-Yo: “Think about Psy’s ‘Gangnam Style’ - that song isn’t even in English! But there’s something about it that makes you get up and want to do the damn dance! The way a song makes you feel is what makes a hit.” “Clearly somebody in heaven thought she and I were supposed to write together and ‘Let Me Love You’ was the end result.” Indeed, for Ne-Yo, it’s all about gut reaction when it comes to launching a hit - from his decision whether to hold onto a song or give it to another artist (“The song kind of picks its own owner,” Ne-Yo says with Zen-like clarity, admitting it also comes down to who’s paying for studio time) to coming up with that undeniable hook. “I don’t believe in coincidence or accidents,” he says.
Curiously, his career started with a song of the same name, which spent nine weeks at No.