Ne-Yo — who won Best Contemporary R&B Album for his Because of You LP — spoke with MTV News late last week in Los Angeles about writing for Usher, John Legend, Ciara, LeToya Luckett, and Janet Jackson.
Ne-Yo said he couldn't divulge too much information on his clients, citing artist/collaborator confidentiality, but he said he and Usher discussed ways to make the fleet-footed singers sound more mature. "He's not the 'Yeah!' guy anymore. He's matured a little bit," Ne-Yo said. "So we have to find a way to balance his maturity with his fanbase, which goes from the youngest to the oldest."
Although Ne-Yo has his hands more than full, the Def Jam artist said he's quietly gearing up to start work on his third album, the follow-up to last year's Because of You. No solid foundation has been set so far for the project, which is still untitled at this point.
"I'm just figuring out where I want to go," Ne-Yo said. "Me being an artist, I can't do the same [thing] two, three and four times. I have to find the next thing. That's the current battle: trying to figure where to go now. I know I want to do R&B, but at the same time, I want to be the kind of artist that can do a duet with a John Mayer and [have] it makes sense."
"I have no idea [how it's going to sound]," Ne-Yo added. "But figuring it out is gonna be fun."