From R&B to Rodeo: Ne-Yo’s Country Era Is Here

Following the footsteps of Post Malone and Beyoncé, Ne-Yo is the latest artist to step into his country era. The R&B icon is officially embracing country music, and he’s doing it properly by coming to Nashville.

In a recent interview, the 46-year-old singer-songwriter shared the “tales of caution” he received before heading over to Music City. “It came with all these warnings and all this fear that people were trying to put on me. ‘They’re not real accepting of anything outside of what they do over there. It’s cliquey, and if you don’t know this person or haven’t done this…’ I hate to admit it, but I came out here kind of expecting something like that,” he said honestly.

The warnings were understandable, after all, the genre has long had its share of traditionalists and purists eager to keep country music in a box. Thankfully, more artists are pushing past that, experimenting with genre-blending and collaborating across musical lines.

Ne-Yo said his experience had been the complete opposite, and everyone’s been welcoming. “Everybody’s interested and intrigued about how I’m going to take what I do and what country music is and fuse them together. And everybody’s just been real receptive. So I’m waiting to meet whoever the hell it is that is going to be the bane of my Nashville experience,” he joked.

Despite working on a country music album, the “Miss Independent” singer clarified that he does not consider himself a country artist. “I'm not a country artist. Given that this is my first official attempt at trying to naturally transition into creating something in the country lane, it's disrespectful to call myself a country artist. My music, more than anything, is country-inspired."