The Evolution of Ne-Yo

He used to live in the shadows, the young, unassuming dude who only distinguished himself from the wallpaper by his ability to turn plastic (as in CDs) into platinum (as in those shiny plaques that commemorate million-plus sales).

But nowadays, Ne-Yo is one of R&B's leading men, having gone from behind-the-scenes songwriter to two-time chart topper with his own record label.

The biggest challenge of it all?

Learning to care about stuff that he never gave a crap about before.

"I was the background guy for so long, I didn't really care about fashion and what the hot spots were and jewelry. I liked what I liked, and it was what it was," says the former Vegas resident, who attended Rancho High School at the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts.

"Now, I almost have to care about these things. I care where the suit came from. I care if it's a Paul Smith suit or if it's a Gucci suit. I care about where my jewelry comes from. It's part of my job. If you work at McDonald's, you have to care about how much salt you put on the fries. And this is part of the job."

Granted, it's not an occupation akin to toiling in a glue factory, but it does have its demands.

In the two years since issuing his first album, "In My Own Words," which debuted atop the Billboard charts after notching first-week sales of more than 300,000 copies, Ne-Yo has become tabloid fodder, accused of being a sex addict and having his sexual orientation called into question.

Basically, the guy's been a pinata of gossip.

"In the very beginning, when you first hear something negative about yourself in a tabloid or on the Internet, your natural response is to get upset, to go, 'Why? Where is this coming from?' " says Ne-Yo, whose given name is Shaffer Smith. "But you can't expect to come out and just be this squeaky clean guy who nobody is going to ever say anything negative about.

"In the beginning, I wanted to know who was saying it, why they were saying it and what I could do to change it," he continues. "If you fight it, they go, 'Oh look, he's getting defensive, it must be true.' But then if you don't fight it, they go, 'Oh look, he doesn't want to talk about it, it must be true.' So there's really nothing you can do about it."

And so it's been a bumpy road for the 28-year-old singer with the marble-smooth voice.

Still, Ne-Yo has kept impressively busy. In June, he's set to release his latest disc, "The Year of the Gentleman," his third album in as many years, a rapid-fire pace for a contemporary popster.

The disc is Ne-Yo's most diffuse yet, blending his trademark, bedroom-bound come-ons and Fonzie-slick R&B with traces of pop and alt-rock, with a beat-heavy, electronica-inspired lead single.

"With this new record, I definitely dabbled in some other genres," Ne-Yo says. "I think a person listening to this record expecting just an urban record is either going to be pleasantly surprised or disappointed, because I didn't keep it grounded solely in R&B music like I normally would.

"For example, the first single, 'Closer,' is a house record," he adds. "There's stuff on there that's inspired by alternative rock, there's stuff on there that's inspired by what the Beatles did, stuff that Billy Joel did. There's a bunch of different flavors on this record."

And that's a reflection of Ne-Yo's becoming more comfortable in his own skin.

With each album, he's revealed a bit more of himself, come off as a little less studied. If his music is becoming increasingly harder to define, the same could be said of the man making it.

"I always go back to the example of Andre 3000, from OutKast," Ne-Yo says. "Now, he might have been that weird and eclectic from the very beginning, but if you go back to the very first OutKast record, you'll see that he dressed very much like a regular guy. He understood that in order to truly be himself, he had to gradually feed it to the people.

"That's something that I've come to understand well," he continues. "That's not to say that you're going to see me in a short white wig any time soon. But just understand that the Ne-Yo you see today might not be the Ne-Yo that you see tomorrow."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.