Ne-Yo Confirms November Release For New Album 'Libra Scale'
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Written by Jon Stickler
He’s a Grammy award winning singer, a songwriter, composer, and producer, one of music’s most talented and prolific artists and a man who needs only one name: Ne-Yo.
In less than five years, Ne-Yo has produced three Number One albums, sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and collaborated with everyone from Michael Jackson to Tim McGraw. After taking a few years off to work on several films, Ne-Yo’s now back with his fourth project, 'Libra Scale', a stellar effort which is the R&B star's latest bid to race up the charts and launch himself to greater heights.
'Libra Scale' is a concept album that tells the story of the rise of R&B’s first superhero squad, The Gentleman, a trio of garbage men who are granted all that they’ve ever wanted--special powers, money, fame, women-- after encountering a mysterious figure. The only catch? The men must use their powers to fight crime in their city and must never ever fall in love. Not a problem until Jerome (Ne-Yo) meets Pretti Sinclair, a vivacious, no-nonsense beauty. He quickly captures her heart. But all goes awry when after a night of passion, Pretti Sinclair contracts a strain of Jerome’s superpowers and suffers an adverse reaction that effectively drives her crazy.
Soon Pretti Sinclair morphs into ‘Diamond Eye,’ a stunning, but diabolical monster intent on destroying Jerome and the city he has sworn to protect. Plagued with guilt, Jerome nurses his broken heart at the local bar, while Diamond Eye terrorizes the city. At this point the mysterious figure who initially gave him his superpowers reappears with an ultimatum: let Diamond Eye/Pretti Sinclair both die and the city is saved or allow Pretti Sinclair to live and reverse all the damage Diamond Eye has done, but Jerome must die. Will he choose “the love of his life” or his own “love of life?” This dilemma fuels 'LibraScale'.
“Every one of my albums has had a point, some kind of message,” Ne-Yo explains. “The underlying question on this album is money, power and fame vs. love. Weigh it out on the Libra scale. Which will you choose? It’s really a question of morality. I want people to question how they live their lives. I’m showing them the pros and cons of both sides.”
It took Ne-Yo three months to write Libra Scale’s intricate back story, which draws heavily from the world of comic books and science fiction. “I’m a huge comic book nerd,” he says proudly. “I have been since I was kid Spider Man, Japanimation. I love all of that. I also felt that with the emergence and success of movies like Iron Man and Wolverine the climate was right to take this type of chance with this project.”
Once the story was complete, the songs poured out easily. In less than four months he wrote and recorded 60 songs, 12 of which ultimately made the album.
'Libra Scale' is the follow up to the multi-platinum ‘Year of the Gentleman’ and features the Number One single ‘Beautiful Monster’ and the new single ‘One in a Million’. The album is set for release on November 1st.
Track-listing:
1. Champagne Life
2. Makin’ A Movie
3. Know Your Name
4. Telekinesis
5. Crazy Love feat. Fabolous
6. One In A Million
7. Genuine Only
8. Cause I Said So
9. Beautiful Monster
10. What Have I Done?
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
