Maps of Music

Year of the Gentleman (2008)

Where the lyrics of Year of the Gentleman take you, and where it was really made.

The cover backdrop was shot at a mansion nicknamed Pink Palace in Atlanta, and the album title honors the Rat Pack.

Key places

Cover backdrop shot at Pink Palace (2008)

Album cover DARP Studios (Atlanta) — The background scene for the album cover was shot at a mansion known as Pink Palace in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. The point uses city-center coordinates, so the exact building location may differ. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Year of the Gentleman: third studio album by American singer and songwriter Ne-Yo
• Released 16 September 2008 by Compound Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings in the United States
• Follows In My Own Words (2006) and Because of You (2007)
• Ne-Yo worked mainly with Stargate, Reggie Syience Perry and Shea Taylor, and consulted new collaborators including Chuck Harmony, Polow da Don, The Stereotypes, Butter Beats and Shomari Sho Wilson
• The first single, Closer, was released on 8 April 2008

Background

• The title honors Ne-Yo's artistic influences
• He cited the 1960s American group Rat Pack, especially Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., as influences whose style shaped his clothes and music
• He explained the title as an attempt to return to an era when no one left the house without looking their best
• He said he wanted to take a different direction by expanding his R&B sound, but Billboard noted the album still carries a heavy blues feel

Cover

• The background scene for the cover was shot at a mansion known as Pink Palace in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• 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.

Career

• 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.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Released to favorable reviews from music critics, and the album became Ne-Yo's most well received album by critics at the time
• Metacritic: average score 79 out of 100 from 12 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews
• Rolling Stone's Caryn Ganz called it a superb concept album about being a great boyfriend, beyond a tribute to the Rat Pack
• Vibe's Brad Wete wrote that Ne-Yo sounds like a stronger, more confident man than the one seen on his previous work
• Newsday's Glenn Gamboa gave it an A minus and said it finally lives up to the potential Ne-Yo hinted at on his first two releases
• The Village Voice's Amy Linden said the album reconfigures grown and sexy through relationships marked by heartache, reflection, wit, lust and resignation
• USA Today's Steve Jones praised the storytelling detail and noted that Ne-Yo kept the album free of guest stars
• Robert Christgau gave it an honorable mention
• Slant Magazine's Eric Henderson found it musically uneven and ballad-heavy
• The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin said the winning groove falls into a rut and the quiet storm sounds sleepy

Records

• Billboard 200: debuted at number two with 250,000 copies sold, his first album not to debut at number one
• UK Albums Chart: debuted at number two, his highest-charting album in the UK
• Japan: debuted at number one and has sold over 200,000 copies
• RIAA: platinum for one million US shipments, his third platinum album and third consecutive top ten album
• BPI: double platinum for 600,000 UK shipments
• Also certified in Canada, Italy, Japan, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia
• Six Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year and Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 51st ceremony
• Rolling Stone ranked it number 33 on its list of the 50 Best albums of 2008

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• She Got Her Own contains portions of Donna Summer's My Baby Understands, as written and performed by Donna Summer.
• On 21 May 2008, months before release, Ne-Yo performed the ballad Stop This World on the ABC soap opera All My Children, appearing as himself at a wedding ceremony.
• Stop This World was originally planned as the second single but was replaced by Miss Independent, released 11 August 2008.
• A Japanese re-release on 3 December 2008 added the original Japanese bonus tracks, including What's The Matter and She Got Her Own.
• The music video for Part of the List was shot in Prague on 22 March.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org

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