Top 45 Ne-Yo Quotes

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.

I’ve always been the person to look at any turmoil as temporary. I recall times where my mom was working five and six jobs, and there’s still no food in the house.

The Auto-Tune makes everybody sound the same and takes away all of the emotion because you’re singing through this machine, and of course your taking all of this emotion out of your voice for the most part.

Michael Jackson believed in making music that made people feel good.

I’m a rather multifaceted person – or at least I like to fashion myself as such – so my dreams are multifaceted. For example, I had a dream of winning a Grammy, right? I’ve done that three times over.

I’ve never been the guy to go for the celebrity girl. I’ve always liked regular girls, regular people, because I’ve always viewed myself as a regular person who just happens to be gifted in music.

There’s no recreating what Michael Jackson and Diana Ross did in ‘The Wiz’. We’re trying to figure out who these characters are in 2015. How would these times change their motives, change the things they would say and do?

I feel like my music is for everybody. As long as the music is good, I can please everybody.

Hats have been my thing pretty much my whole life but finance has not. I would go to the corner store and buy really cheap baseball style caps and wear those to school.

I know the music industry is based on a lot of smoke and mirrors in a lot of cases, such as making things look like one thing versus what it actually is. I feel like I’ve been here long enough that I’ve surpassed the need for any of that.

There are different kinds of R&B happening today. There’s the traditional, more soulful R&B that doesn’t get the recognition that it deserves. Then there’s the more hip-hop oriented stuff. You got your boy Ty Dolla $ign, people like that, who are bringing more hip-hop elements to R&B, which is cool.

I probably wouldn’t be singing if not for Michael Jackson. When I started singing, I didn’t like my tone until my mom put me on to Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, so listening to the way they used their instrument helped me get more comfortable with my own.

I wrote a song that basically turned into a public service announcement for the fellas out there, like, ‘Should you run into this type of woman, run for your life!’ So the name of the song is ‘Run,’ featuring the rapper ScHoolboy Q. It’s one of the standouts on the album, in my personal opinion.

I feel, as an artist, that we don’t do enough to appreciate our fans. We are in this position because of the fans, and it’s really a blessing.

I feel like everything is inspired by something else. There is no 100 percent original thought.

I’m gonna be honest: I was never really a fan of techno music, dance music.

I needed to be sexier. I needed to be more hip. I needed to be more edgy and this and that. ‘No, don’t write that kind of song, write this type of song. No, don’t work with that producer, work with this producer. No, don’t wear those clothes, wear these clothes.’ And I didn’t want to be a puppet, you know?

Auto-tune is good to keep your notes intact, but it doesn’t do much for the feel of your voice.

‘Battle: Los Angeles’ – I’ve got to say this was easily one of the most physically trying things that I’ve ever done in my life because I play a Marine in the film, and they had us training with real live Marines for, like, three weeks. It gave me a whole new respect for just the armed forces, period.

For starters, I wanted to do an acting role in a movie that had nothing to do with the music business or in which I would play a singer or a songwriter. When I act, I don’t even want to be thought of as Ne-Yo.

Doing as much as you can for as long as you can – that’s the motto.

The story of ‘Libra Scale,’ the storyline was created first, and then the music was created around the story line.

We are in a good place. Her name is Crystal Renay. She has much promise. Yes, much promise. Quality.

I am blessed to be doing what I do. So if I have to be at a photo shoot, do an interview, or make a TV appearance, I am not going to sit around whining and complaining about how I don’t want to get up early or I don’t feel like talking.

Movies take a long time because movies take a long damn time to put work into. Whereas music, you don’t have as much time. I didn’t realize that.

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.

Me as an artist, I’m more notorious for writing songs that celebrate women, songs that are all about the positive element of the immensely confusing creature that is woman.

For the first few years of my life my mom used to cut my hair so there were a lot of bowl-cut hair styles.

As an artist, you know as a person in the public eye, period, you kind of have a responsibility to the younger kids that are watching and emulating what you do.

For my prom, I wore a white suit with a burgundy shirt, tie and cummerbund, along with white shoes, a white trilby and a cane. I was extra fly that day.

Me and Drake gonna be neighbors if Donald Trump becomes president.

It’s really rare that an entire genre of music allows an artist from a different genre to come and live there.

Now that I have kids, I want my kids to appreciate my music, but at the same time, I don’t want to teach them anything that they shouldn’t know just yet.

Of course, there are some things you keep personal and private because you’re a human being. But on the other side of it, I ain’t got time to be hiding nothing and all that. It is what it is.

I’ve never viewed myself as above anybody else or anything like that. I’m a regular guy at the end of the day. I like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and The Powerpuff Girls.

Temptation is just that – she’s the girl you claim you don’t want, but in the moment, you have more drinks than you should in the club. One thing leads to another, and suddenly you’ve done something really stupid. You’ve jeopardized what could’ve potentially been a really great relationship, all due to temptation.

‘Let Me Love You’ is about being brave enough to let a person get close enough to you to teach you how to love yourself, to teach you the importance of loving yourself.

I have my diehard R&B fans on one side of the spectrum and my diehard pop and dance fans on the other side of the spectrum.

I’ve been a huge Adele fan since I heard her album ’19.’

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.’

I’ve never done this from a standpoint of, ‘I want to be famous.’ I sing because I love singing. I perform because I love performing.

I’m good but not great at ‘Madden’. I have friends that their whole life is based around this video game.

I pride myself on being the type of artist who can work half in the R&B world and half in the pop world.

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.

The unfortunate thing about this planet is that we are in no shortage of ignorance.