Anyone bought Ne-Yo's "The Year of the Gentleman" yet?

This boy deserves his own thread already.

it's definitely on the list of new releases i'm planning on picking up this week, probably tomorrow after work.

i love it.

loving this...

he sometimes mistakes chivalry for boot-licking but there really aren't that many queasy moments. 'mad', 'so you can cry' and 'fade into the background' are prob my favourites.

dear ne-yo, what kind of hat should i buy myself?

The last one disappointed me. Other than "Because of You" (one of my top five singles last year), the rest wasn't so much more-of-the-same as not-as-good-as-the-same.

This album is dull, his worst yet.

"So You Can Cry" is like the only standout besides "Miss Independent" and "Single"

I usually don't listen this kind of music too much, but heard this and not that bad at all, better than any mainstream r&b I can remember from the last few years.
"Stop This World" is a really good closing track.

uh if you dont listen to this kind of music much how are you able to tell that it's better than any mainstream r&b??

I really liked "Sex with my ex" on the last one

The main thing that strikes me about this, other than its general standard of quality, is that he's finally figured out how to make uptempo cuts work for him.

I must be the only one who thinks "Closer" is kinda stunning.

Lowpoint of the album: "Why Does She Stay"

I love "Closer."

yeah i think most of us all really like "closer"

OK, my mistake. The first two tracks on this album are fantastic to me. Then his sensitivity starts to get on my nerves.

"Closer" is one of my favorite singles of the year. Looking forward to picking this up tomorrow. I hope it's better than Because of You (Alfred OTM).

I'll admit 4/4 beats are sort of default on my annual lists of favorite singles. I'm sure Janet's "Feedback" will also place highly.

This album is EXTRAORDINARY. It's so inventive and playful, Ne-Yo is so likable in it, the production is loose and jittery, the songs are juggernauts, every line is a hook, the way the Nancy Sinatra sample suddenly jumps out at the end of Bang Bang is striking and original and it emerges from the great ooze of the bass sounding like a million bucks. Also, his voice is like honey, and well I don't really know what else, he's really arrived for me with this one (not that he hasn't had great singles, but pretty much everything here feels essential to me) Holy Shit Please don't fall in love!

I think "Closer" is great, too. Alfred said somewhere he was disappointed with it.

I'll admit 4/4 beats are sort of default on my annual lists of favorite singles

Not to be pedantic, but I think you mean four to the floor rather than 4/4 (which describes like 90% of popular music)?

haha i was JUST about to bitch about the misuse of "4/4" that's been so rampant lately. should i blame rich juzwiak?

Probably.

Juzwiak:
You needn't look further than the name of my blog to find that the 4/4 beat—that pummeling disco/house stomp that believes every measure should be equal—is close to my heart.

That's not even an accurate description of four to the floor: it's not that every measure is equal (again, this describes 90% of popular music, probably more) but that every beat is.

yeah i mean i love reading dude's stuff, but i always grind my teeth when he talks about that.

ha, yeah

Surely you can accept 4/4 as a colloquial shorthand for four to the floor, right?

4-2-4?

Fun fact, "Disco Juice" is in 7/4 4/4 4/4

Surely you can accept 4/4 as a colloquial shorthand for four to the floor, right?

lol, have you never discussed music with me before?

Surely you can accept 4/4 as a colloquial shorthand for four to the floor, right?

Not when it already has a widely accepted other meaning.

ha, i used to HATE that use of 4/4 but it doesn't bother me as much now.

wait, i think it still bothers me.

dude if you didn't hold shit down for drummer snobs around here I would officially lose my faith

couple of tracks i've listened to off this were great (only really know him through his singles, i haven't listened to his other albums)

OK, fine. I apologize. I promise to type out four. on. the. floor. from now on.

You could have typed 4ot4 and people would have eventually gotten it.

looks like aota ... aorta ... heartbeat, it makes me feel ...

Haven't bought this yet, and probably will this weekend, but the first two are such solid to unremarkable B+ affairs-plus-great-singles that I'm still skeptical.

You are still so rong about his first album, but anyway this is great, even if a couple of the ballads are on the treacly side. "Closer" is awesome of course. "Nobody" sounds like something from Justified, oddly enough. The stretch from "Fade Into the Background" to "Back to What You Know" is all brilliant.

My take on the whole "4/4" thing is that "four-to-the-floor" should be abbreviated as "4x4".

Is it really so hard to just type what you mean???

No I agree with Alfred, but it does not apply to this YOTG because it is clearly great.

Reverend is OTM - "4X4" is widely accepted and understood, and gets a lot of use in discussions of dance music where this stuff comes up the most e.g. in UK Garage people will refer to "4X4 Garage" etc.

"uh if you dont listen to this kind of music much how are you able to tell that it's better than any mainstream r&b??

― t_g, 2008. szeptember 19. 15:27 (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink"

It doesn't mean that I never listen this kind of music, just not my cup of tea.

Say It Fast is incredible, his singing is so great, he really messes around with pretty strange effects and melodies, this album came out of nowhere for me.

Interesting. I honestly didn't expect such a positive reaction. After getting really excited by him after the first album, the second one kinda stopped all his momentum (except for the title track which may be my favorite of his songs). Stuff like "Do You" and "Can We Chill" just really don't sit well with me. Too smooth and lightweight. Plus the fact that he seems like such a cheese bag that sometimes the honeyed vocals and the personality and the total package just turn me off (I realize my feelings about his personality could ideally be separated from my analysis of his music but it just can't be). I definitely wasn't excited by "Miss Independent" and its stuttery pixel-dust synths (enough of those already). But "Closer" is definitely more appealing. Maybe I'll give it a chance.

Oh and another thing that has soured me on him is this whole "the savior of R&B lyric writing" thing that always comes up regarding him. I mean sure he's written some huge hits, but nothing about his songs scream "genius" to me so much as "effective lyric writer with not much competition in the current landscape."

This took about three plays to sink in fully, a good sign, and I play it all the time even after writing about it, which is a great sign. This will almost certainly make my Top 5 this year. As Maura pointed out to me, there's really an early-'90s vibe (and not just because of NKOTB), the point where pop and R&B and the emergent Latin invasion were commingling on Top 40. "Stop This World" just totally kills me. So does "Fade Into the Background" and "Mad" and "Lie to Me" and especially "Why Does She Stay." The best Babyface album since Waiting to Exhale.

Alan Jackson needs to cover "So You Can Cry" so fucking bad.

He's had an early-90s (or at least mid-90s, which I prefer, actually) vibe all along!

Yeah, but it seems more pronounced now, like I think its more overt, you can see it in the cover art and everything.

Right: I didn't say the '90s vibe was new, just that it felt more pronounced.

Rockin! We're all on the same level then!

closer = R&B single of the year.

Michael Jackson needs "Nobody," pronto.

(and it's almost as good as Keith Sweat's "Nobody")

It's just sick how many great songs didn't make this though...

Yup. The copy I downloaded is almost entirely different.

Me too, I was really confused for ages, but some of the best songs (Bang Bang, Say it fast) aren't on the actual album.

OK, uncle: this is mostly terrific. I'll never come around to "Closer," and I'm cooler than Matos on "Stop This World." But the rest! "Single" is like some beautiful marriage between the chords from Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" and a Debarge song. "Fade Into the Background," "Miss Independent," "Back To What You Know" – excellent, excellent.

yeah the pulse on "Single" is really so unlike anything you hear on urban radio these days, even the dancier stuff, that it's pretty refreshing. I hadn't thought of it being the same tempo as "Time After Time" but it kind of fits.

i got this last night and agree with mostly everything. my favorites are "nobody", "closer" and "miss independent"

the melody of the verses on "single" remind me of "viva la vida" and "back to what you know" is very reminiscent of the studio remix of "2 hearts"

I thought "Single" straight-up sampled "Time After Time"?

This is great! What a huge improvement over his last album. "Nobody", "Fade Into the Background" and "Back to What You Know" are immediate favorites and I'm quickly warming up to the rest. At first I thought there were too many slower songs (I do wish there was another track or 2 like "Nobody"), but now I'm starting to think it's paced quite nicely.

Also curious to hear the other tracks mentioned upthread that aren't included on the actual album.

My reaction's sort of the opposite of Alfred's. I like "Closer" a TON, a few others quite a bit, but most of the album slid off my back.

it's a v positive sign with this album that when i listen to it i skip 'closer' (which was my early morning jam all summer) and have a different favourite each time. today, 'single'.

holy shit have motherfuckers heard the "Miss Independent" remix with Jamie Foxx?

holy... mad is awesome!!

holy shit is there a motherfucker that thinks the boring "Miss Independent" remix has anything on the original?

holy shit this changes everything

I'm not that hot on the original tho. Love the remix.

TS: Closer vs Forever (Chris Brown)

Forever>Closer, but just about.

'closer'...compared to chris brown's other singles, 'forever' is kind of inessential.

All of Chris Brown's singles since (but not including) "Yo" have been kind of inessential.

Oh, my god there is so much disagreement on this thread!

- the video for 'mad' is amazing - i agree w/matos @ idolator about how its acuity and quality corresponds to what makes ne-yo's music special
- 'so you can cry': the narrator is so totally the gay best friend, not the new lover
- 'single' might well be the greatest song ever written right now

Also if dude wants to convince us he's not gay he should stop consuming rose and calimari.

"Single" may or may not be my favourite on the album (that or "Fade Into The Background" or "Mad" or etc. etc.) but it's such a perfect encapsulation of what makes him special.

I was thinking about this in the context of the The-Dream vs Ne-Yo thread. With The-Dream his songs are more affecting than they should be, like, it's pure impulse that encourages him to insert those awe-struck harmonies into "Shawty Is Da Shit", or the death-croak-autotune "always thinking of you" whisper into "Mama" (real talk: that song tears me up every single time), or the way he sings "you got your hair did - I'm about to mess that shit up!" so sensitively in "Purple Kisses". It's impossible to convey in print how affecting these moments are because in a weird way their emotional power doesn't make sense (or, at least, isn't called for) in the context of the song. This music sounds very generous to me: it gives more than it has to. The generosity of excess. Which is what The-Dream shares with Prince above and beyond direct musical quotes.

Whereas with Ne-Yo, you get the sense that he knows exactly what he's doing, and this is a good thing. There's a real sense of conscious generosity throughout the record which peaks with "Single", the way he directly addresses the fantasy of the considerate loverman in pop and literally offers himself up to be used in this manner, not in a sexual "use me" way (which you could see The-Dream doing) but in this much stronger metaphysical sense, "I only exist so as to exist in your head" perhaps.

It's also very clever, though not in an alienating way. In fact, one of the things I like with Ne-Yo is the sense that he is simultaneously a part of mainstream R&B discourse and also apart from it, or at least able to find a perspective where he can look back on it. Something like "What's The Matter" (is this on most people's versions of the album?) wouldn't make sense coming from The-Dream because it would puncture his own facade ("Nikki" is the closet he can get to this, and even here it's less puncturing the fantasy of high-life glamour than it is saying "my high-life glamour is better than his"). Conversely, when nu-soul singers try on something like "What's The Matter" it ends up sounding hamfisted and didactic. Whereas Ne-Yo is able to find a space between these points where he can reflect on the contradictions of the discourse he's part of. I'm tempted to come across all wanky and call this "immanent critique".

http://images.starcraftmazter.net/4chan/animals/tl;dr.jpg

"too long; didn't read"??

lol yeah, sorry. I did actually read it.

Also if dude wants to convince us he's not gay he should stop consuming rose and calimari

^^^^

Miccio wrote this the other day: "Quality songwriting aside (though some of the midi-synth flourishes are worthy of a video game about elves), his concept of a "gentleman" seems pretty damn sniveling."

The first clause does a lot to redeem Ne-Yo's masochism. Also, what Tim called his habit of inhabiting scenarios and observing them at the same time; he's like an R&B Neil Tennant -- the Neil Tennant pre-Very, of course. To me he only loses control on the "Heal The World" ballad that Matos likes a lot. In that song, he's a bit like bad Luther Vandross, so sincere about placing himself in the line of Great R&B Love Gods that the cracks show, and the sentiments turn into kitsch.

*The quality of Ne-Yo's songwriting (mentioned in Anthony's clause) does a lot to redeem Ne-Yo's masochism, that is.

Okay, Miccio pretty much nailed why I prefer In My Own Words. With the new album, I react to his moral infallibility with something akin to disgust.

Yeah, it's his eye and his sly remove that makes him not just bearable but worth rooting for. He's obviously working (esp. on the ballads) within a very wimpy lineage: Babyface back to Russell Thompkins Jr. He's a pushover soul man, that's the role, but on this album he's about the most nuanced pushover soul man I've ever heard.

Yes, he falls more gracefully than anyone else.

the way he directly addresses the fantasy of the considerate loverman in pop and literally offers himself up to be used in this manner

yeah, generosity is exactly the word which sprung to mind re: 'single'. the first time i half-heard it i assumed the scenario was the standard "ne-yo macking on to a girl in a club" - which, as chivalrous and suave as that can be, is still pretty self-interested. but actually it's the exact opposite - he's only present as the voice on the record, the imaginary figure in the girls' head, the 'real' ne-yo gets nothing out of the exchange at all.

'why does she stay' is the only song when ne-yo seems too much of a pushover....it seems slightly too pathetic.

I agree but it seems ironic given it's the only song in which Ne-Yo-the-character ever behaves badly.

"Mad", "Fade Into The Background" and (perhaps surprisingly) "Back To What You Know" strike me as pretty on-point, and there's just the right level of condescending dismissiveness to "Back To What You Know" (half of it just in that fabulous beat).

At his best Ne-Yo strikes me as being like a male character on Sex & The City (though not Mr. Big). Which will only put a lot of people off I suspect, but that's a fairly high standard for thoughtfulness w/r/t relationships in a pop song.

So is he a gay dude who fantasizes about being god's gift to women or a Lloyd Dobler who feels better about himself when he's crying and admiring from a distance rather than regularly fucking the object of his affection?

This thread (and the video for "Mad," lol whatta actor) are leaning me towards the former...which actually makes me less annoyed with the album. Means his overmisthinking of the romantic ideal comes from a less emo-resentable place.

actually, that's kinda glib and condescending of me to suggest it's cool if he wants to push a line as long he's a closet case or something, sorry. Irregardless to his real life, I'm cool with this album through "Miss Indepedent," "Why Does He Stay" on is when his persona gets suffocating.

"Why Does She Stay," I mean. genuine typo.

suuuure!

I'm wondering how much of this closet case thing is wishful thinking, I was listening to him on my headphones earlier and I was hungover and having the drinking blues and y'know, melting a little.

I think just as many straight dudes are calling him on the closet case thing as gay dudes, so not really.

For the record, as a gay dude, I don't find his depiction of straight relationships to be that bizarre or unbelievable (unusual/distinct, yes).

It's more that I can see how all the little touches (drinking rose etc.) won't help settle rumours that are out there.

It helps that I don't have a crush on him. To the extent that I "melt" it's more like watching a romantic film and being in love with the idea of a couple without wanting to be a member of that couple.

Whereas I'm much more directly affected by The-Dream's performances (though he is less attractive).

He is ugly as hell, I don't know why anyone would wish for him to be gay. The gay rumors won't go away because he is REALLY gay. I mean...:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i115/footballboners/Other/neyo3.png

......................................

Yeah, I didn't mean to make it sound like Ne-Yo was really good looking, neither of them are exactly homecoming queens. Woah that picture is...

yeah i definitely don't have a crush on ne-yo. if it was about wish-fulfilment there'd be a lot more chris brown rumours.

i started imagining how the whole album would work from a gay perspective - you get the sense that it's almost like a manual to being a gentleman - ne-yo providing a template for straight dudes to follow when it comes to treating a lady right.

There was a book a few years ago where a straight woman and a gay man co-wrote offering advice to straight men about dating. Perhaps Ne-Yo and Rihanna could do another collabo along these lines.

xpost Queer Eye?

That picture is horrible, he looks like a character from Oz but Ne Yo is totally good looking, he's really unusual looking is all. Still, the bit at the beginning of Miss Independant, he seems really uncomfortable with being so suave, kinda reminds me of the really creepy parts of "You Rock My World"

i love ne-yo but i wish he didnt make even a track as funky as fade into a background another woe is me song (also wish it didnt have those now-done to death filter effects).

Ne-Yo interviewed by Maura for Idolator.

Who's the "Love" demo for?

me

very mj but very good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvMz__7ctuE

this is dope

wiki says he has "no plans to begin work on a fourth album until 2010," which is kind of a shame since he seems so focused on songwriting and at this point i'd rather hear him sing his songs than almost anyone else

i haven't pulled this one out in a hot minute

Oh man I love this--thanks J.

Not bad at all! Where is this found?

http://www.mixtapekings.com/images/rnb/tapemasters_inc-future_rnb_28-300.gif

here is an mp3 http://www.zshare.net/audio/63532158a3320797/

yes this is great

got a promo email re this song - not sure if it's a new single or what, haven't read anything about a new album or anything but it's a stargate production so it could be - it's definitely good tho, he's been on some kind of roll lately - might be missing a huge chorus but could also be a grower

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4YTgH5nwpM

I love this. Would love a copy.

lemme upload it

http://sharecash.org/download.php?file=135097

was in the youtube info

I don't care is one of my most played Ne-Yo tracks since last bump, dunno if u can really follow that up haha

http://www.mediafire.com/?kz0jmy0wdij

this is supposedly new -- it's also very good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfySFLkRioM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-kk_Av-WkM&fmt=35

;_;

zzzzzzzz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haRiSeBYIHc

this is a serviceable and doubtless soon-to-be v popular song and all but i think i would prefer it if schafer did a 808 state covers album instead

i hated Closer at first and ended up loving it, but this is just lame through and through

I liked this a lot til it got to the chorus, which is kinda hokey, but I think I give it the thumbs up overall

some dude OTM on "Closer"

I loved "Closer" immediately

"Closer" is one of those songs you can sing along with by the time the last chorus rolls around, on your first play.

with bad approximations of house music suffocating the radio, i kinda wish he would pull back from this -- this is actually okay on the whole, but the chorus is a complete mess

and what the fuck kinda name is 'libra scale' -- good christ

yeah i thought "closer" was a banger immediately -- i can't abide by this hook tho

he's already had like 5 better songs leak this year

with bad approximations of house music suffocating the radio, i kinda wish he would pull back from this -- this is actually okay on the whole, but the chorus is a complete mess

yeah, this is otm

yeah i will say it was sounding promising up until that chorus hit

besides the melody being totally pedestrian, i ne-yo of all people would be immune to writing something as meaningless and embarrassing as "beautiful monster" -- super disappointed considering how titanic i think the first 3 singles off YOTG are

i should note that i'm referring to the phrase "beautiful monster" not the song itself

the bassline sounds like someone's playing benga in the next room

i kinda have this stuck in my head, which i'm taking as a good sign

been hearing this on the radio -- i think it's kind of corny tbh but it's better than "beautiful monster"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkE2eAriDzQ

those vocals in the chorus are irritating as fuck actually

Yuck!

okay so i've relatively come around to "beautiful monster" the more i hear it on the radio, but "champagne life" is probably the worst single of the year after "my chick bad"

i totally remember posting a half-hearted defense of "champagne life" but for some reason it's not here. huh.

anyway lol @ this: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/17386/180872

uh

UH

man it's one thing dude having your garden variety nerd leanings (makes sense actually) but JAPANIMATION uh oh

i basically will forever disapprove of any schafer concept album that doesnt involve 12 duets with plies tho

i feel like you could tell me that every album that i own is a loose concept/story album and i would believe you because this shit never makes any difference at all

i weep every day that there is no The Year Of The Goontleman

omg shaffer wtf

j0rdan wtf "champagne life" is dope. kinda needs a hook, but i think i am a total sucker for cracking snares in my male-fronted r&b

idk if it's going to be possible for me to warm up to "beau-tee-ful monster" :\

The "whoa-oh-oh" part of "champagne life" is literally torture

I could give a f less about snares

"Beautiful Monster" is still way worse, but either way I'm feeling pretty bummed about the prospects of an album I would've otherwise been anticipating big time.

The "whoa-oh-oh" part of "champagne life" is literally torture

― i think i'm baby peach, larry koopa (J0rdan S.), Saturday, July 17, 2010 11:33 AM Bookmark

i think this is where i make the exact same confused face u did when i said i couldn't stand j holiday

the "whoa-oh-oh" part is great if it's what i think you are talking about. u mad.

damn, i think i like this song a lot

i don't think it's very good, tbh, i just don't totally get j0rdan's hate. he can be kinda random about being all I AM SO FUCKING APPALLED about stuff like "Imma Star."

my problem was like i heard it and was like "oh finally, something besides 'beautiful monster'" and then it turned out to be worse -- it's just a really chintzy song, idk

but it's terrible on it's own merits -- just can't stand that melody

i don't think it's very good, tbh, i just don't totally get j0rdan's hate. he can be kinda random about being all I AM SO FUCKING APPALLED about stuff like "Imma Star."

― magic ksh (some dude), Sunday, July 18, 2010 2:08 PM Bookmark

yeah dude is weird. i don't get the source of his annoyance at all.

is there actually a "whoa-oh-oh" part or are we talking about the scatty "badoom-bum-bum" part? because I do agree that it's annoying, i just don't feel strongly about it. it's just generic like a lot of Ne-Yo's hooks on rap singles, not really any worse than "Super High."

yeah, the "badoom-bum-bum" part is what i'm talking about

i think it's pretty easy to see how it's annoying? it's like a bad commercial jingle

it's like "i'm lovin it" or something

it sounds just like this part of "we major" which u stan 4 iirc jordan sargent

but it's way better than "we major"

Sorry to link to Perez, but...?!

http://perezhilton.com/2010-07-21-ne-yo-involved-with-underage-prostitute

o_O

uhhh did we see this video yet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J2dwFVZHsY

oh shaffer

wait "one in a million" is kind of really good

yeah i wasnt expecting much after his "rap" at the start but its actually a nice return to form for him

Yeah, I can't stop listening to "One in a Million." And I even kind of like the video, even though it's just a rip-off of "The Way You Make Me Feel" (okay, plus a dumb superhero element).

Ne-No, I have Ne-Not bought it yet

dope song, lol at the video

i am kinda obsessed with "champagne life" now

-_-

i would like to point out that this is roughly 400 times better than anything actually on this incoming shitpile of an album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfySFLkRioM

I haven't heard the album yet but "Beautiful Monster" is 1000x the song that "Drinks Up" could ever hope to be.

Hello from Amazon.com.

We're writing about the order you placed on September 05 2010 (Order# 102-5456735-3305029). Unfortunately, the release date for the item(s) listed below has changed, and we need to provide you with a new delivery estimate based on the new release date:

Ne-Yo "Libra Scale"
Estimated arrival date: November 22 2010

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this delay.

Just got my review copy of this album, and I'm enjoying it. The superhero motif is mercifully unobtrusive. It's a much more upbeat album than Gentleman, and the Michael Jackson influence is extremely thick ("Cause I Said So" sounds like a Dangerous outtake). A few of the softer ballads haven't made much of an impression on me yet, but that's nothing new. I still not a fan of "Beautiful Monster," but that song isn't indicative of the album's sound at all, and it's buried unceremoniously at the end of the record where it doesn't do much damage. This is definitely a smoother, more adult-friendly R&B album than it's been marketed as.

I had no idea it was possible to even try to market a Ne-Yo album as anything other than smooth and adult-friendly

can't wait for this

downloading this now, i don't think there's anyway it can actually live down to my expectations, thankfully

I'm really enjoying it, though if you don't like "Champagne Life" you might have a harder time with it, since that song is a good litmus test for the album. My low expectations came from "Beautiful Monster," which is the album's real outlier.

i like "one in a million" a lot

the GNR song?

i heard the ne-yo "one in a million" once and don't remember a thing about it

ditto

tbf i can't remember anything about it either, except that i remember thinking that i liked it a lot

The outro to "Cause I Said So" = jittery early eighties robo-funk heaven.

"one in a million" has a total boy band vibe that i dig

heard "one in a million" for the first time last night and was very pleased. i was worried i would never like a ne-yo song again!

Libra Scale is growing on me nicely; it's a charming little album. Doesn't have the blockbuster YOTG singles, but it's lighter on its toes than that record; it just breezes from start to finish

strange affair for a purported blockbuster this. it is indeed a uniformly pleasant listen (short like an ep too) but doesn't really ever seem to get out of second gear to become anything more than that - i would be disappointed if this was the result of anything longer than an afternoon's work. very reminiscent of rick ross' recent albums of empty luxe signifiers, only with an mj bent (ie it's true about 'champagne life' being its litmus test.)

as it is, what could have been a bravura r&b bait-n-switch kinda leaves me almost wanting the silly superhero concept album i thought i was in for; at very least the way 'what have i done' works so nicely as the remorseful part 2 jekyll to 'beautiful monster's hyde suggests some interplay with the erstwhile theme might have been more profitable. (interplay in a broad sense rather than just soundtracking some bogus b-movie script like this album supposedly does.)

it is indeed a uniformly pleasant listen (short like an ep too) but doesn't really ever seem to get out of second gear to become anything more than that

After four plays, I'm in this camp too. He's a better arranger now than he was in 2006 though.

jordan otm about 'one in a million' btw, it's kinda a nothing-or-compulsive-song but i'm leaning towards the latter view lately. (especialy what with the winter nights drawing in over here.)

the boyband thing feels very true too but i can't quit put an objective finger on how it works exactly.

All the good fast ones remind me of the last one's "Nobody."

true, although nothing here is remotely in 'nobody's league.

'one in a million' is really clicking for me

same here, dope single. really loving "Genuine Only" on the album too.

the album's a B+ or B. Certainly not loving it like I did its predecessor.

Anyway, my review.

like the album but i took "beautiful monster" off of it on accident and don't miss it

I listened to 'because of you' today also and realized that libra scale is just an album of deep cuts off of because of you

wtf, "beautiful monster" is the album's lone highlight for me

xp

i think you're alone in that, dude.

oh i know ^_^

then why bother saying "wtf" like you're surprised?

wasn't meant to indicate surprise, more like "i disagree w/ that"

what the fuck do you think "wtf" means

lol, not gonna have this conversation, sorry -- "wtf" totally dependent on context/tone

i disagree with that, but let me put that in terms you understand: wtf