Ne-Yo taps Nashville’s country roots for his latest musical evolution

Three-time Grammy winner Ne-Yo is deepening his long-standing connection to Nashville and country music, a genre he has quietly woven into his songwriting for decades, with new work that blends his R&B roots with country storytelling.

Yes, Ne-Yo raised eyebrows in the press in March by revealing in an Instagram post he is in a polyamorous relationship with four women. But his artistry continues to evolve and deserves recognition.

He’s a lifelong fan of country music and is working in Music City alongside creatives like genre-blending country hit-maker Breland. He’s attempting to use the genre’s more soulful leanings to recapture a musical “vibe that people want to feel in music again,” he said to The Tennessean.

“In many ways, Ne-Yo’s artistic versatility started the shift of genres, changing and evolving,” Breland said.

Songs he’s been working on for the past six months during numerous trips to Nashville blend his songwriting mastery with radio-ready country musicianship. Of that number, work including his unreleased “Dance Right Now” has drawn the attention of cultural tastemakers, including popular livestreamer Kai Cenat, among others.

Ne-Yo made a Sept. 11 appearance on Cenat’s stream to promote his upcoming new work. Celebrating his broadening musical interests included presenting the broadcaster with a custom Seager Western Wear cowboy hat. He also highlighted the album’s worth of Nashville-influenced material he’s cultivating with local singers and songwriters.

How Ne-Yo’s country music interests intersect with R&B, Reba McEntire

“I’m not a country artist,” the 45-year-old artist born Shaffer Smith said about his current work. “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.”

He said that, unlike current hip-hop, pop and R&B, country music’s tradition of uplifting “the common man” aligns with his catalog of relatable hits.

Twenty years have elapsed since Ne-Yo’s breakout “So Sick” spawned five consecutive R&B top-10 hits, the global dance hit “Closer” and its pop follow-up “Miss Independent.”

He’s worked with Pitbull and Afrojack for “Give Me Everything,” Rihanna for “Hate That I Love You” and many others, including pop diva Celine Dion, rappers Fabolous and Ghostface Killah and DJs like David Guetta and Calvin Harris.

But country music has been a constant presence in Ne-Yo’s mind for the better part of 35 years.

This includes spending his childhood in Las Vegas hearing his mother play Reba McEntire’s cover of Bobbie Gentry’s “Fancy.”

“I could close my eyes and see everything Reba was singing in ‘Fancy’ like it was a three-minute motion picture that really touched me,” Ne-Yo said. “I couldn’t tell my friends I was listening to that music, that I didn’t even know was ‘country’ back then.”

He also wrote Beyoncé’s 2006 hit “Irreplaceable,” originally for Faith Hill. And he spent time with Nashville songwriter Luke Laird, Hill and her country superstar husband Tim McGraw to craft the 2012 duet Ne-Yo/McGraw duet “She Is.”

“The melodies, storytelling and clever lyrics that epitomize country music are things that I’ve always tried to take elements of and put into my pop and R&B work,” he said.

Ne-Yo returns to Nashville

Six months ago, Ne-Yo returned to Nashville, curious to witness if and how Music City and country music’s mainstream had finally achieved a place where R&B artists like himself, Beyoncé and K. Michelle were encouraged to create.

When he arrived, he found that upstart country chart-toppers like Breland, as well as Ashley Cooke, had already been folding his artistry into their popular, genre-expanding stylings.

Regarding music they have worked on in Nashville, like their co-written “Dance Right Now,” Breland said, “Ne-Yo’s applying the influence of his successful career as a songwriter (with broad popularity) to what country artists as storytellers authentically bring to the table. As well, his longstanding appreciation of country music roots his art in respect and reverence of the genre’s history.”

Cooke spent time during the 2025 CMA Fest in June with Ne-Yo. She’s performed covers of his 2006 hit “So Sick” in live sets throughout her career. At CMA Fest’s Riverfront Stage, she saw him watching her set. Stunned, she then took control of the serendipity of the moment and asked him to join her a day later, onstage for her set at Spotify House.

“Just like so much of what’s happening in country’s mainstream right now, lyrically and melodically, Ne-Yo writes like a storyteller who writes undeniably hook-driven songs that are fun to sing and transcend genre,” Cooke said.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Ne-Yo returns to Nashville to explore ‘country-inspired’ sound