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" I never really created a difference between Shaffer Smith, my actual name, and Ne-Yo. They are kind of one in the same. It's been a bit of a gift and a curse. As far as Shaffer Smith is concerned, I've never viewed myself as a celebrity. "

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" I've never been the guy to go for the celebrity girl. I've always liked regular girls, regular people, because I've always viewed myself as a regular person who just happens to be gifted in music. "

Ne-Yo

Music

Always

" That has been everybody's challenge, above the dancing, the singing, the lines: getting into who these characters would be in 2015. Today's Tin Man is heartfelt, but he wouldn't be soft. Today's Dorothy would be sassy. "

" My initial attraction to 'Red Tails' was the opportunity to play a character that was not me. 'Stomp the Yard' was a great film, but I played myself there. "

" 'Madden' is the closest thing to actually being on the field yourself. It's so ridiculously realistic. Before I play it, I honestly didn't understand. 'What's all the hype? It's a video game'. Then I sat down and played it, and you feel like you're on the field. "

" My mom was the picture of the blue-collar mom: Two and three and four jobs to make sure that me and my sister never needed, that was her thing. "

Ne-Yo

Sister

Three

" There's no recreating what Michael Jackson and Diana Ross did in 'The Wiz'. We're trying to figure out who these characters are in 2015. How would these times change their motives, change the things they would say and do? "

" One of the very few things that I actually read about myself on blogs that got to me was people saying, 'Ne-Yo doesn't do R&B music anymore.' Just because I stepped off the porch to explore doesn't mean I don't live in that house anymore. "

" Auto-tune is good to keep your notes intact, but it doesn't do much for the feel of your voice. "

" Prince is the ultimate performer. Prince is that dude that's going to get on stage by himself, if he need to, but hold you in the palm of his hand. Like, you can't take your eyes off the man when he's on stage, and he could just be sitting there playing his guitar. "

" People are bringing a lot more of that funk element into their music, you know, with Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson - that's one that you never thought you would hear something like that on the radio again 'cause it just sounds so much like the Back Bay and what they were doing with music back then. "

" There's a whole advantage being an executive as an artist. "

" I'm a fan of FKA Twigs, The Weeknd. I love that kind of ambient R&B. I feel like it's just another soldier in the war to blur the lines and make things to where it's good music and bad music. "

" I've always been the person to look at any turmoil as temporary. I recall times where my mom was working five and six jobs, and there's still no food in the house. "

" I'm heavy into 'Max Payne 3'. That's a good one. I like any of the fighting games and all of the 'Tekken' and 'Street Fighter' series. "

" I'm never going to complain about doing my job. I love what I do! "

" I have my diehard R&B fans on one side of the spectrum and my diehard pop and dance fans on the other side of the spectrum. "

" I don't want to call myself a perfectionist, because perfection is imperfection. "

" I dreamed of one day starring in a film. I've done that twice. Denzel Washington has done it countless times, so I still got some work to do. "

" I know the music industry is based on a lot of smoke and mirrors in a lot of cases, such as making things look like one thing versus what it actually is. I feel like I've been here long enough that I've surpassed the need for any of that. "

" A Las Vegas show is all-round entertainment. Which means there's some singing, some dancing, some magic, some drama - everything is rolled into that one performance. "

" Every song I've ever written has been based in reality, based in fact, things that happen to me. "

Ne-Yo

Reality

Song

" All genres of music have to evolve, grow, and expand in order to maintain. I don't think there's anything wrong with the growth of R&B. I welcome it. "

" I've been a huge Adele fan since I heard her album '19.' "

" Early inspirations included Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Lionel Richie... Those were the people I actually wound up studying just to hone my craft. "

" Back in the day, Motown was on the pulse of young America. It wasn't about just dope contemporary. It was pop, it was R&B, it was all of that. "

" I like to learn through doing. Let me make a mistake, and then critique me on what I did so that I learn that way. "

Ne-Yo

Mistake

Doing

" I probably wouldn't be singing if not for Michael Jackson. When I started singing, I didn't like my tone until my mom put me on to Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, so listening to the way they used their instrument helped me get more comfortable with my own. "

Ne-Yo

Listening

Mom

" Michael Jackson believed in making music that made people feel good. "

" My mom has always been a caregiver, and she's perfect in this role leading my foundation. "

" I've spoken before on how the art of storytelling has been lost a bit. I definitely feel 'Empire' is helping to reprogram us back to that place where we pay attention and invest emotionally in the records and the artists. "