Maps of Music

Good Man (2018)

Where the lyrics of Good Man take you, and where it was really made.

The title track samples a D'Angelo song, yet a Rolling Stone critic called the album's radio hits profoundly unmemorable.

Place unknown

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Good Man (stylized in all caps): seventh studio album by American singer Ne-Yo
Released June 8, 2018 by Compound Entertainment and Motown Records
Follow-up to his sixth album Non-Fiction (2015)
Preceded by two singles: "Good Man" and "Push Back" featuring Bebe Rexha and Stefflon Don
Standard listing has 17 tracks, including an opening intro and a short interlude
Guest features: Romeo Santos on "Nights like These", PartyNextDoor on "On Ur Mind", Eric Bellinger on "Hotbox", Candice Boyd and Sam Hook on "Ocean Sure"

The album arrived three years after Non-Fiction, his previous studio album
Lead single "Good Man" is the title track and closes the album at 3:49
Second single "Push Back" brings in Bebe Rexha and Stefflon Don as guest vocalists
Ne-Yo's songwriting credits on the record are shared with several co-writers and producers

Track credits list Ne-Yo (Shaffer Smith) as writer on every song
Several tracks credit producers and writers who also worked on his other songs
Recording details such as studios and sessions are not given in the available sources

Born Shaffer Chimere Smith on October 18, 1979, in Camden, Arkansas; raised in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Joined R&B group Envy as a high-school student; the group disbanded in 2000.
Stage name Ne-Yo was coined by producer Big D Evans, who said Ne-Yo sees music the way the character Neo sees the Matrix.

Breakthrough as a songwriter with Mario's "Let Me Love You", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Signed to Def Jam Recordings, then led by Jay-Z, after that success.
Debut album In My Own Words (2006) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
Because of You (2007) and Year of the Gentleman (2008) reached numbers one and two on the Billboard 200; Because of You won Best Contemporary R&B Album at the Grammys.
Moved to Motown in 2012 and released R.E.D. (2012) and later albums through Motown.
Won three Grammy Awards in total.
Judged World of Dance (2017–2020); placed second on The Masked Singer UK and won The Masked Singer season ten as the Cow.

Andy Kellman of AllMusic said Ne-Yo still keeps his tried-and-true songwriting approach, but most tracks blur into one another and lack distinction
Kellman picked U Deserve and On Ur Mind as the notable hits on the record
Elias Leight of Rolling Stone was unimpressed by Ne-Yo's decision to make safe trap-based radio hits, calling them perfectly of-its-moment and profoundly unmemorable
Leight wrote that Ne-Yo fails to write his way out of the ordinary with another sterling hook on his standard-issue rap/R&B hybrids
Leight did praise the pan-Caribbean rhythms on Good Man, where Ne-Yo's winning airiness returns
The critical reception on the page is split between praise for craft and criticism of the overall sameness of the material

The title track samples "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" as performed by D'Angelo.
The album opens with a short intro titled "Caterpillars 1st (Intro)" running 0:41.
"The Struggle… (Interlude)" is a 0:26 track placed near the end of the album.
The title track "Good Man" closes the album at 3:49.
"Push Back" credits include Bleta Rexha, alongside Shaffer Smith and other writers.