6/19/2023 0 Comments Neo singerJoin us for a music festival headlined by singer-songwriter Miranda Rae, who is on a journey to redefine the sound of neo-soul and R&B to fit her style. Most importantly, the musicians featured in the series are producing excellent, original and compelling work - right in Boston’s own backyard. Artists run the gamut from fresh faces new on the scene and experiencing a meteoric rise, to tried-and-true musicians who’ve been around for decades and are creating their most resonant work to date. It was hands down the favourite gig I’ve been to, fab performance.Sound On is a concert series highlighting rising local musicians. It’s incredible how long he can keep up his energy for whilst performing to such a high standard. The performance was listed as the headliner (Ne-Yo) lasting for only 90 minutes, but amazingly he was on stage for just over 2 hours. It actually made me feel a little wary to begin with as I thought that part of the style would be lost behind the live band, but if anything, it really added to the whole event and lifted the music to a whole new level. Bright strobe lights, different levels for him to perform on, and a full band behind which was actually a big surprise for me. On top of an incredible vocal performance, the lighting and set were incredible. The amount of hits he played was incredible and had the audience dancing on their feet and singing along for the whole evening. When you go to a concert there’s nothing worse than the artists only playing songs that people don’t know from their newer albums, but with Ne-Yo he is such a crowd pleaser and does the exact opposite. ![]() His biggest single 'Closer' sounds fresh almost ten years after its release but it is Ne-Yo's mature performance and confident attainment of the R & B and soul genres that are really conversation worthy. Older singles 'So Sick' and 'Miss Independent' are given a soulful re-interpretation from the singer and his band and the crowd sing along which makes Ne-Yo visibly pleased onstage. His duet with Rihanna, 'Hate That I Love You' is emotional and due to Ne-Yo's interaction with his audience it feels like a far more personal moment in the setlist as opposed to just rolling off another hit. The silky smooth 'Because of You' sounds so fantastic with supported bass guitar accompanied by that great vocal that made for such great pop formulae. Dismissed are the gimmicks of pyrotechnics and dancers and replaced are a slick instrumental band who emphasise the heavy soul influence of Ne-Yo's discography. The king of cool himself Shaffer Chimere Smith, better known as Ne-Yo continues to prove himself as a musician as opposed to a pop star with an engaging and sincere live show. Ne-Yo continues to write dance-pop tracks much like his collaboration with rapper Pitbull, “Give Me Everything”, whilst maintaining his strong connection to his R’n’B roots. Instead both albums, which were much more dance-pop inclined, spent a little time in the charts, the latter being his slowest selling album of all. His later works, “Libra Scale” released in 2010 and “R.E.D” released on label Motown in 2012, did not see Ne-Yo maintain his mainstream success. His most popular singles from the albums include “So Sick” (one of many collaborations with Stargate, a Norwegian production duo), “Because of You,” “Miss Independent” and “Closer.” ![]() ![]() Within just two years (2006-2008) Ne-Yo released three studio albums, “In My Own Words,” “Because of You,” and “Year of the Gentleman” all of which went platinum in the US and received global chart success. Ne-Yo’s solo work followed suit from his success on Mario’s single with a record deal from label Def Jam. The first big move to launch his successful song writing career certainly set the tone in terms of genre and chart success, as Ne-Yo co-wrote Mario’s hit single “Let Me Love You” released in late 2004 and named the eighth most successful single of the decade by Billboard. Most notably are the likes of hit track “Knock You Down,” with Kanye West and Keri Hilson, “Irreplaceable” with Beyoncé and “Take A Bow” and “Unfaithful” with Rihanna, but the list is extensive. Not only is Ne-Yo known for his smooth R’n’B, soul pop and hip-hop, but he is also an actor, producer and dancer with a wide range of all star collaborations to boast of. It is said that growing up in Vegas with only his Mother after his parents’ divorce helped him become the songwriter he is today as she encouraged him to keep a journal to help him work through his emotions and this became the inspiration for his song writing process. Originally from Camden, Arkansas, Ne-Yo grew up in and has worked in Las Vegas, Nevada.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |