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Year of the Gentleman [Vinyl] List Price: $15.98 Sale Price: $8.49 You save: $7.49 (47%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Description

"Closer," written by Ne-Yo and produced by Stargate, is the first single from Ne-Yo's upcoming third album, YEAR OF THE GENTLEMAN, set to arrive in stores June 24th. It is the follow-up to Because Of You (released May 2007), which received this year's Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album, and In My Own Words (February 2006) - both of which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. In addition to his Contemporary R&B Album award, Ne-Yo earned four other Grammy nominations this year, including two for his collaboration with Rihanna, "Hate That I Love You" (which he co-wrote), namely Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance Duo/Group; as well as Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his #2 hit "Because Of You"; and Record of the Year for Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" (which he co-produced). Ne-Yo's Grammy recognition followed up the UK's 13th annual MOBO (Music Of Black Origin) Awards in September 2007 - the only televised European Awards Show solely dedicated to urban music and culture - at which he won for Best Song ("Because Of You") and Best R&B Act. Ne-Yo's RIAA platinum debut album In My Own Words was nominated for a Grammy as Best Contemporary R&B Album. It spun off three chart-topping hits, starting late-2005 with his debut Def Jam single, the #1 Grammy-nominated "So Sick," followed by "When You're Mad" and "Sexy Love." Ne-Yo capped 2006 as Male R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year at the Billboard Music Awards. At the The 21st Annual Soul Train Music Awards in February 2007, Ne-Yo won the Coca-Cola Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap new Artist for "Sexy Love."

If the mark of the skilful Lothario is the one who knows to always tell his lover what she wants to hear, surely Def Jam’s R&B sensation Ne-Yo--aka Los Angeles singer-songwriter Shaffer Chimere Smith--is one of the greatest of them all. On his third album, Year of the Gentleman, Chimere channels his hitmaking talents into a suite of R&B songs that are more respectful than rampant in their approach to the romancing. “Single" is a song that reaches out to all the lonely girls,  Ne-Yo promising, “I'll be your boyfriend til the song goes off," while the Stargate-produced “Miss Independent," lit up by neon synthesizers, suggests Smith isn't too concerned with his own machismo to test out flipping the traditional gender roles, serenading a girl who's a player in her own right: “Everything she got, you bet she bought it." The album is at its best with the central, two-song movement of “Why Does She Stay" and “Fade Into the Background"--the former finding Ne-Yo questioning his own neglectful nature over a backdrop of shimmering keys, the latter a sombre piece that finds our narrator accepting the news that his lover has found another with a rare, heart-rending magnanimity. --Louis Pattison

Music Tracks

Binding: Vinyl
Artist: Ne-Yo
Format:
Number of Discs: 2
Manufacturer: Def Jam
Original Release Date:
Tracks Disc Number: 1
Tracks:

• Closer
• Nobody
• Single
• Mad
• Miss Independent
• Why Does She Stay
• Fade into the Background
• So You Can Cry
• Part of the List
• Back to What You Know
• Lie to Me
• Stop This World

Sexy Love Pt.2 List Price: $11.99 Sale Price: $7.12 You save: $4.87 (41%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Music Tracks

Binding: Audio CD
Artist: Ne-Yo
Format: Single
Number of Discs: 1
Manufacturer: Universal
Original Release Date:
Tracks Disc Number: 1
Tracks:

• Sexy Love
• Sexy Love [Acoustic]
• Sign Me Up

Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded List Price: $13.98 Sale Price: $6.93 You save: $7.05 (50%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Description

In one of the biggest jumps ever recorded in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Rihanna's newest single "Take A Bow" rockets from #53 to #1 this week. "Take A Bow" also debuts at #1-bullet on the Billboard Hot Digital Songs Chart with a phenomenal first week of 266,696 scans. The song was written by fellow Def Jam artist Ne-Yo and produced by Stargate, the same team responsible for Rihanna's "Unfaithful" (of 2006), and "Hate That I Love You," her Top 10 duet with Ne-Yo released late last year. "Take A Bow" raises the curtain on the upcoming new CD U.S.release of Rihanna's GOOD GIRL GONE BAD: RELOADED. The new configuration arrives in stores on June 17th - the week after the album officially marks its historic 52nd week on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The original 12-song CD version of GOOD GIRL GONE BAD - source of the non-stop string of hit singles that began with the MTV VMA and Grammy Award-winning global #1 hit "Umbrella" (featuring Jay-Z), then "Shut Up and Drive," "Hate That I Love You" (featur­ing Ne-Yo), and the current "Don't Stop the Music" - will now be augmented with three bonus tracks: 1) "Take A Bow"; 2) a cover version of Maroon 5's "If I Never See Your Face Again" (featur­ing Maroon 5); and 3) "Disturbia." GOOD GIRL GONE BAD (released June 5, 2007) was the third album release in less than two years by multi-platinum MTV VMA, Grammy, and American Music Award winning artist - and CoverGirl spokesperson - Rihanna. It followed-up 2006's RIAA platinum A Girl Like Me, containing the back-to-back hits, "S.O.S." and "Unfaithful"; and her RIAA gold debut from 2005, Music Of the Sun, featuring the worldwide smash, "Pon De Replay."

There's a cool new development in summer singles: they no longer need to be sunny. In fact, the wetter the better. "Umbrella," the first single off Rihanna's ragingly good third album, may be her strongest ditty yet, and that's saying something considering her run of past summer chartbusters. More stylish than "S.O.S." (from A Girl Like Me) and more interesting than "Pon de Replay" (from Music of the Sun), "Umbrella" barrels forward with big, brawny drums and a hot but haunted-sounding vocal. From there, the upbeat numbers chug forth like chilled pina colada mix into a blender: "Breakin' Dishes" trades skillfully on a recent vogue for man-directed venom, and "Shut Up and Drive" borrows "S.O.S."-style from the '80s New Order song "Blue Monday." Both are irresistible. So, too, are a couple of late tracks. "Rehab" and "Lemme Get That," both produced by Timbaland, prove that being an island girl is no barrier to holding one's own amid a sizzling stew of urban beats. In fact, it's a boon--one that'll register with pop music fans instantly. -Tammy La Gorce

Music Tracks

Binding: Audio CD
Artist: Rihanna
Format: Extra tracks
Number of Discs: 1
Manufacturer: Island
Original Release Date:
Tracks Disc Number: 1
Tracks:

• Umbrella feat. JAY-Z
• Push Up On Me
• Don't Stop The Music
• Breakin' Dishes
• Shut Up and Drive
• Hate That I Love You feat. Ne-Yo
• Say It
• Sell Me Candy
• Lemme Get That
• Rehab
• Question Existing
• Good Girl Gone Bad
• Disturbia
• Take A Bow
• If I Never See Your Face Again - Maroon 5 featuring Rihanna