Exclusive!!! Ne-Yo’s new album Libra Scale – a sneak-preview!

Ne-Yo

Last night I was invited along to posho members’ club The Hospital in London town’s trendy Covent Garden, to listen to bits of Ne-Yo‘s upcoming album Libra Scale (to be released in September – the 21st, i do believe) and watch him do the very same while sat on a stylish leather desk-chair.

Oh and in case you were wondering what exactly an album playback entails, it goes a little like this: we are sat in rows, with Ne-Yo on the stage in front of us telling us stuff about each song before we’re played it back while he sits with his into-the-music eyes closed, just taking it in; chilling. And so on, for half of the album’s tracks – or thereabouts, it’s unclear.

And then after the tracks are played, there is somewhat of a Q+A session, where I choose to interject and splutter into a microphone with a voice unable to project and certainly unused to hearing itself that loud, that SOFT. But more on that later, for it is not your main reason for being here. Alas…

I took a notepad and was going to make my report rather pretty by doing some more research and doing proper sentences and that sort of thing, but instead, I will merely transfer the scrawls to a more intelligible and computerised font, so that you can read it, oh readers.

Now, the album, first up, is based on a short story written before the music; it’s based on three binmen in a city becoming superheroes called “The Gentlemen”. They get It All: money, women and power. But they’re not allowed to have girlfriends or wives… only groupies. HOW DAFT. They take over the city, and crime rates go down – essentially, it’s a Massive Yes for the American Dream.

I will now dictate to you the exact scrawlings from my notepad, on the tracks themselves.

(1) ‘Champagne Life’

• key lyric: “in this champagne life/ everything’s OK”
• the song has strong breaks and sounds quite “lithe”
• ooh, Ne-Yo just poured himself a glass of wine – bet he’s wishing it was champagne
• he is clearly very happy with this song
• look at him nodding and clicking and moving to this in front of an audience – is he real?
• there is a cameo from someone – is it Fabolous?

(2) ‘One In A Million’

• The Gentlemen’s names are Clyde, Jerome and Leroy – and at this stage in the story, they’re “living the life”
• Clyde meets a “simple” woman by the name of Pretty St. Clair (Ne-Yo, you mentalist) – she’s different to the other girls, ’cause she is headstrong
• he talks about the song in a super-rehearsed fashion – it’s quite freaky
• the song itself has some very smooth harmonies and and some deep-sounding bass [<- you'll notice a resort to music-journalism clichés throughout - do excuse this]
• ooh there’s an ace fade-out at the end

(3) ‘She Is’

• the story: one of The Gentlemen (I think it’s Jerome though don’t trust me on this) breaks the rule on being a Gentleman (not sure how, right here) and Pretty St. Clair doesn’t fancy him anymore – sad-face
• some of the rules, according to, er, Ne-Yo, are that no marriage is allowed, and The Gentlemen aren’t allowed to spend longer than two days and two nights with a Lay-Dee [<- OH GOSH]
• this song is of conflict
• Q: how much hip-hopera has Ne-Yo been watching recently?
• it mightn’t be possible to guess the narrative if hearing each track on its own but hey, what does that matter anyway?
• the song is a ballad, with just acoustic guitar and a drumbeat and three vocals – it’s actually quite a beaut
• key lyric: “and all because of she” [<- THIS DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE]

(4) ‘Cause I Said So’

• uh-oh, Jerome and Pretty St. Clair are in love – he broke the rules but he loved her so much he decided he didn’t care
• but DISASTER!!! do you know what this means? They had sex and he turned her eyes into diamonds (the album artwork has a lady with diamond eyes) by, well, not using a condom, and she went mental! [<- Ne-Yo describes her as being "mentally insane" - this is annotated by me with a quick sketch of a LOLcano]
• Clair morphs into Diamoni [sp?] [<- Ne-Yo describes this new character as "Lil' Kim with super-powers]
• there is a delicious slap bass here, but it seems that the mix is too light on his shiny, shiny vocals
• I feel the need to take him on a holiday out of America at this point – he is starting to explain this in-context-of-major-label-release-BONKERSNESS-but-in-real-life-actually-pretty-sheltered concept in rather too much detail

(5) ‘Beautiful Monster’

• Diamoni has three powers: strength, speed and control – and she’s irresistible to men
• the song is rather Euro-poppy
• there’s a ravey beat in the background – it sounds a little like The Shamen
• [just a note: he is wearing sunglasses atop his beanie]
• the song has a “killer” chorus with a “massive smack on every beat” [<- my words]
• this is a good one – my favourite so far

(6) ‘What Have I Done?’

• story: Jerome is sad – it’s two years later now, and everyone in the city works for Diamoni all ’cause he did a bad thing and slept with her – whoops
• she hates him now too and wants to destroy him – and so does the whole city
• Jerome is now drinking lots but he’s not an alcoholic ’cause he’s a superhero and can drink a lot
• is Ne-Yo Jerome? I am confused… where is all of this coming from?!
• the bassline is “thick” [<-my words, again]
• it’s a lushly-produced slowie, with some delish added 9ths and something extremely mournful about it
• another fade-out!

CONCLUSION: the songs aren’t very strong here apart from two, but then again this is just half of the album (or so – I think). The narrative is a bit bonkers.

THE Q+A: THE ‘A’

• Ne-Yo would choose the love of his life over the love of life – and this is the libra scale, goddit?
• he has done a concept album ’cause he got bored and wanted to show his talent and be an all-round entertainer like Michael Jackson
• he really loved MJ: “I’ll make sure that what he stood for… will never ever die”
• he was inspired by Euro-pop by being in the UK, and ’cause he thinks it’s an “art-form”
• “the characters are just characters – it’s the millennium of the gentleman” – this is to prove that the story is just a story, and of course NOT what Ne-Yo believes to be true; he is a proper non-misogynist
• “the stories behind the songs will be told in 6-10 minute videos”
• he said there’s been no good music for the past five years! he’s been too busy locked away with Stevie Wonder, Garth Brooks, MJ etc [<- oh dear]
• he’s considering releasing/publishing a graphic novel to accompany the album
• he’s singing as Jerome
• the superpower theme is a metaphor for celebrity – OOOOH
• “there are elements of this business that ignore what it is to love” – DOUBLE OOOOH
• “soul is the driver and your body is the car” [<- context: unknown]
• he hates autotune when overused – he admits to using it but has “spent years honing my ability” and is “gutted” people lip-sync; it’s like a “slap in the face”
• the album is split into Act I, Act II and Act III
• he hasn’t yet worked out how to incorporate Libra Scale into arena or stadium shows – he wants them to be massive though and said they need to figure that out still [<- I asked this question! Clever me!]

That is your lot. Thank you and good-bye.

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