''Year of the Gentleman'' is the third
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by American singer and songwriter
Ne-Yo
Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit " Let Me Love You ...
. It was released by Compound Entertainment and
Def Jam Recordings
Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop.
The ...
on September 16, 2008 in the United States. As with his previous albums ''
In My Own Words
''In My Own Words'' is the debut studio album of American singer-songwriter Ne-Yo. It was released by Def Jam Recordings on February 28, 2006. Conceived following his songwriting breakthrough with " Let Me Love You" for fellow R&B singer Mario ...
'' (2006) and ''
Because of You'' (2007), Ne-Yo worked with
Stargate
''Stargate'' (often stylized in all caps) is a military science fiction media franchise based on the Stargate (film), film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien E ...
,
Reggie "Syience" Perry, and
Shea Taylor
Robert "Shea" Taylor is a songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist based in New York City. He established an early successful songwriting partnership with Def Jam's R&B singer-songwriter phenom Ne-Yo, and has also worked with Rihanna, Beyoncé ...
on much of the album, but also consulted new collaborators, including
Chuck Harmony
Charles T. Harmon (born 1979),Gerrick D. Kennedy''Los Angeles Times'', February 24, 2015. better known as Chuck Harmony, is an American music producer, musician, songwriter and entrepreneur, based in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a three-time Gram ...
,
Polow da Don
Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977, or 1978), professionally known as Polow da Don, is an American record producer and rapper.
Jones has produced a variety of singles for a multitude of artists including "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj (2014 ...
,
The Stereotypes
The Stereotypes are a production team created in 2003, comprising Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves and Ray Charles McCullough II. In June 2010, they were listed among the "Top 10 Songwriters and Producers to Watch" in ''Billboard'' magazi ...
, Butter Beats, and Shomari "Sho" Wilson.
The album was a commercial success, charting in the top-10 in several countries. ''Year of the Gentleman'' reached number two on the
US Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...
and was eventually certified
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA), for shipments of one million copies in the United States, making it his third platinum-selling album as well as his third consecutive top ten album following ''Because of You''. It has also been certified double platinum by the
British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with th ...
(BPI), for shipments of 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom. It was also certified in Canada, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia.
Released to favorable reviews from music critics, ''Year of the Gentleman'' earned Ne-Yo six
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
nominations, including
Album of the Year and
Best Contemporary R&B Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the contemporary ...
at the
51st award ceremony. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 33 on its list of the 50 Best albums of 2008. In support of the album, Def Jam released four singles, including international hit singles "
Closer" and "
Miss Independent", as well as "
Mad" and "Part of the List".
Background
''Year of the Gentleman'' was named in honor of Ne-Yo's artistic influences.
Ne-Yo
Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit " Let Me Love You ...
cited the 1960s
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
group
Rat Pack
The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers, the second iteration of which ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business frie ...
, particularly members
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
and
Sammy Davis, Jr. as influences, whose style inspired his clothes and music.
Explaining the album's title, he said he was "trying to take it back to where you couldn't walk out of the house unless you looked your best".
Commenting on the likes of the Rat Pack and Nat King Cole he commented that "they're suited and everything is right from top to bottom. Not saying it has to be a suit, 'cause clothes don't make the man — it's the attitude and person. The
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
needs to personify that.".
No featurings are present on the album, as previously announced, though "
Single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
" also features as a version with
New Kids on the Block
New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB) is an American boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts. The band consists of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. New Kids on the Block enjoy ...
on their album, ''
The Block''.
Although Ne-Yo has claimed that he wanted to "take a different direction" on the album by enlarge his R&B sounds. According to ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' magazine, "it seems he still has a heavy—yet welcome—case of the (rhythm and) blues on the finished product". The scene in the background for the cover was shot at the million mansion, known as Pink Palace, in the
Buckhead
Buckhead is the uptown commercial and residential district of the city of Atlanta, Georgia, comprising approximately the northernmost fifth of the city. Buckhead is the third largest business district within the Atlanta city limits, behind Downt ...
district of
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
.
Release and promotion
The first single, "
Closer", was released on April 15. The song debuted at number twenty-two on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, and later reached number one. On Billboard's Hot 100, the song peaked at number seven, while it has reached number one on the Hot 100 Airplay chart. The second single was supposed to be "Stop This World", but was replaced by "
Miss Independent", which was released on August 11.
[New Ne-Yo Music - "Miss Independent"]
The album released September 1 in UK according to Amazon.co.uk and September 16 for the USA! The physical release will be accompanied by a video which premiered on August 21 on ''
Access Granted
''Access Granted'' is an American television series that features an in depth look at the planning, filming and production of R&B and hip hop music videos. Each week a different artist and their new music video are featured, with the video pre ...
''.
Both of these songs are produced and co-written by Stargate. The album was re-released on December 3, 2008 in Japan, featuring the original Japanese bonus tracks, "What's The Matter" and "She Got Her Own" (featuring Fabolous & Jamie Foxx), as well as two remixes of "Closer" and an exclusive US iTunes track "In The Way" (track list on hmv.co.jp)
The third single is confirmed to be "
Mad" and goes for adds on Urban/Rhythmic on October 14, 2008. A video has been made for song "She Got Her Own" and is the official international single. On May 21, 2008—months before the album's release—Ne-Yo performed the ballad "Stop This World" on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
soap opera ''
All My Children
''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 20 ...
''. Appearing as himself, Ne-Yo sang the song during the lavish wedding ceremony of supercouple
Jesse and Angie Hubbard.
The fourth single is confirmed to be "
Part of the List". The music video is shot in Prague on March 22. Director is TAJ of the Popular Kid. Video produced by Andrew Listermann of ''Riveting Entertainment''.
Critical response
''Year of the Gentleman'' became his most well received album by critics at the time. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 79, which indicates "generally favorable" reviews, based on 12 reviews.
In her review for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', Caryn Ganz stated that "the 28-year-old singer-songwriter says his latest collection of heartfelt love songs is a tribute to the
Rat Pack
The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers, the second iteration of which ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business frie ...
's pressed-suit style, but it's actually a superb concept album about what a great boyfriend he can be."
''
Vibe
''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down productio ...
''s Brad Wete wrote that Ne-Yo "is a stronger, more confident man than the one many remember licking his wounds" on his previous work.
''
Newsday
''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...
'' writer Glenn Gamboa gave it an A− rating and wrote "for the bulk of the album, Ne-Yo has simply honed his hit-making skills, churning out one memorable melody after another, building an album that finally lives up to the potential he only hinted at on his first two releases, both lyrically and vocally."
Amy Linden of ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' said that the album "reconfigures 'grown and sexy' by detailing relationships with an often uneasy mix of heartache, reflection, wit, lust, and resignation."
[Linden, Amy (2008-09-17)]
"Ne-Yo's Fantastic R&B Finds Strength in Vulnerability"
''The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
''. Retrieved on 2009-11-19. Steve Jones from ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' found that "considering how many hit songs he generates for other artists, it's a testament to his attention to storytelling detail that he has so much good material for himself
..To his credit, he keeps his disc guest star-free, despite his A-list outside collaborations. In just over two years, he has shown significant growth through three worthy albums, hinting that he may only be scratching the surface of his potential."
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...
gave the album a rating of honorable mention (),
[Christgau, Robert.]
CG: Ne-Yo
. MSN Music
''MSN Music'' was a part of MSN's web services. It delivered music news, music videos, spotlights on new music, artist information, and live performances of artists. The website also served as a digital music store from 2004 to 2008.
History
I ...
: January 2009. Archived fro
the original
on 2009-11-19. indicating a "likable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well enjoy". However,
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...
's Eric Henderson found it "musically uneven and ballad-heavy,"
while Nathan Rabin, writer for ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'', noted that Ne-Yo's "winning groove devolves into a rut, and his quiet storm gets awfully sleepy."
Commercial performance
''Year of the Gentleman'' debuted at number two on the
''Billboard'' 200 with 250,000 copies sold making his first album not to debut at number one on the chart.
[Katie Hasty (September 24, 2008)]
Metallica Edges Ne-Yo, Nelly To Remain No. 1
''Billboard''. Accessed September 24, 2008. The album debuted at number two on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
, giving Ne-Yo his highest-charting album in the UK, beating ''Because of You,'' which debuted at number six in 2007. In Japan, the album debuted at number one and has thus far sold over 200,000 copies and in the UK 100,000 copies in its first week.
The album has since been certified platinum in the UK.
Track listing
;Notes
*
signifies a co-producer
*"She Got Her Own" contains portions of "My Baby Understands", as written and performed by
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...
.
Personnel
Credits for ''Year of a Gentleman'' adapted from
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
and album's liner notes.
*Kirven Arrington – producer and engineer
(track 1)
* Davis A. Barnett – viola
(track 12)
* Jesse Bond – guitar
(track 12)
* Jay Brown – A&R
* Chavez – assistant mix engineer
(tracks 9, 12)
* Jeff Chestek – string engineer
(track 12)
* Carol Corless – package production
* Ryan D – assistant mixing engineer
(tracks 1, 10)
* Kevin "KD" Davis – mixing
(tracks 1, 2, 6, 7, 9-12)
*
Mikkel S. Eriksen
Mikkel is a Danish and Norwegian masculine given name. It may refer to:
* Mikkel Ødelien (1893–1984), Norwegian soil researcher
* Mikkel Aaland (born 1952), award-winning American photographer
* Mikkel Andersen (disambiguation)
*Mikkel Bødker ...
– producer, engineer, and instrumentation
(tracks 1, 4, 5, 10)
* Larry Gold – string arranger and conductor
(track 12)
* Jaymz Hardy-Martin III – engineer
(tracks 7, 11), vocal engineer and mixing
(track 8)
*
Chuck Harmony
Charles T. Harmon (born 1979),Gerrick D. Kennedy''Los Angeles Times'', February 24, 2015. better known as Chuck Harmony, is an American music producer, musician, songwriter and entrepreneur, based in Nashville, Tennessee. He is a three-time Gram ...
– producer
(tracks 9, 12), string arrangement
(track 12)
* Reynell "Tango" Hay – A&R
*
Tor Erik Hermansen
Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to:
Places
* Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain
* Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city
* Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano
* Tor Bay, Devon, England
* Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia
Sc ...
– producer and instrumentation
(tracks 1, 4, 5, 10)
* Josh Houghkirk – additional engineering
(tracks 3-5), assistant mix engineer
(track 9)
* Nicole Jackson – A&R
* Terese Joseph – A&R
* Olga Konopelsky – violin
(track 12)
* Emma Kummrow – violin
(track 12)
* Daniele Laporte – tracking
(track 11)
* Alexandra Leem – viola
(track 12)
* Jennie Lorenzo – cello
(track 12)
* Rob Martin – violin
(track 12)
* Micayle "The Mack" McKinney – keyboards
(track 6)
*
Ne-Yo
Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit " Let Me Love You ...
– vocals
(all tracks), co-producer
(tracks 1, 4, 5, 10), executive producer
* Charles Parker – violin
(track 12)
*
Polow da Don
Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977, or 1978), professionally known as Polow da Don, is an American record producer and rapper.
Jones has produced a variety of singles for a multitude of artists including "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj (2014 ...
– producer
(track 3)
* Herb Powers – mastering
* Geno Regist – engineer
(tracks 6, 9, 12)
*
L.A. Reid
Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid (born June 7, 1956) is an American record executive, A&R representative, and record producer. He is the founder and served as co-chairman of Hitco Entertainment. He also previously served as the chairman and CEO of Ep ...
– executive producer
* Montez Roberts – assistant engineer
(track 12)
* J. Peter Robinson – art direction, design
* John Stahl – assistant engineer
(track 12)
* Chris Stanford – photography
*
The Stereotypes
The Stereotypes are a production team created in 2003, comprising Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves and Ray Charles McCullough II. In June 2010, they were listed among the "Top 10 Songwriters and Producers to Watch" in ''Billboard'' magazi ...
– producers
(track 6)
* Bernt Rune Stray – guitar
(tracks 1, 10)
*
Syience
Reginald "Reggie" Perry, better known as Syience, is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, record producer and musician from Flint, Michigan. He has worked with a number of recognizable and respected artists, including Beyoncé, Cheryl Col ...
– producer and instrumentation
(track 8)
* Igor Szwec – violin
(track 12)
*
Phil Tan Phil Tan is a Malaysian-American music and audio engineer.
Early life and education
Tan was born in Malaysia. He attended Full Sail University in Florida in the U.S., where he attained a degree in Recording Arts in 1990. Afterwards he moved to Atla ...
– mixing
(tracks 3-5, 9)
*
Shea Taylor
Robert "Shea" Taylor is a songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist based in New York City. He established an early successful songwriting partnership with Def Jam's R&B singer-songwriter phenom Ne-Yo, and has also worked with Rihanna, Beyoncé ...
– producer, guitar, drum programming, piano, strings, bass and synths
(track 11)
* Gregory Teperman – violin
(track 12)
* Tony Terrebonne – engineer
(track 3)
* Brandon Thomas – guitar
(track 9)
* Shomari "Sho" Wilson – producer and instrumentation
(track 7)
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
External links
*
Year of the Gentleman' at
Discogs
Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...
*
Ne-Yo in His Own Words— ''
Blues & Soul
''Blues & Soul'' is a British music magazine, established in 1967 by John Abbey. ''The Independent'' has noted ''Blues & Soul'' as being the equal of magazines such as ''NME'' and '' Q''. ''Billboard'' magazine has called ''Blues & Soul'' "a r ...
''
{{Authority control
2008 albums
Def Jam Recordings albums
Albums produced by Polow da Don
Albums produced by J. R. Rotem
Albums produced by Stargate
Albums produced by Ne-Yo
Albums produced by Chuck Harmony
Ne-Yo albums