Top 139 Quotes & Sayings by Ne-Yo - Page 2

R&B is my home. It's who I am. It's who I've been. It's the first genre I fell in love with. It's the reason why I've been able to do other genres of music.

I would've given my right arm to do something on the 'Ray' film, the movie about Ray Charles.

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.

We are in a good place. Her name is Crystal Renay. She has much promise. Yes, much promise. Quality.

Sammy was the only one that looked like me, so I naturally gravitated to him. Sammy made it cool to be black at a time when, let's just say it, it wasn't very cool to be black. His name was on the front of the building in lights, and he had to go in the back. But you never saw him sweat.

I think people are getting into these 'Empire' songs because of the emotional investment they have in the characters. You kind of feel like you know the songs already because you just watched them play out in front of you with these characters.

It's really rare that an entire genre of music allows an artist from a different genre to come and live there.

You know what? At this point in my career, at this point in my life... I'm 34 years old; I don't have time to be hiding.

With Jay-Z, it's hard not to be amazing.

I want to connect with my fans the way Mary J. Blige's fans connect with her.

Of course, there are some things you keep personal and private because you're a human being. But on the other side of it, I ain't got time to be hiding nothing and all that. It is what it is.

I feel, as an artist, that we don't do enough to appreciate our fans. We are in this position because of the fans, and it's really a blessing.

Me and Drake gonna be neighbors if Donald Trump becomes president.

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

For starters, I wanted to do an acting role in a movie that had nothing to do with the music business or in which I would play a singer or a songwriter. When I act, I don't even want to be thought of as Ne-Yo.

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.

A lot of times, when artists are rushing to put out projects, it's on some financial tip because they want to make money. But for me, I'm not in any rush.

Who directed the video 'No More Drama' for Mary J. Blige. I was actually kickin' with J. Lo talking about some music that we're gonna put together, and we were talking about great directors. She said she really, really liked that video and was wondering who directed it, so yeah, I looked it up!

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.

For me to be here at album number six, it's kind of a way to say, 'Thank you for allowing me to be here... to still be around.'

Me being an artist working with dancers and seeing how hard they work, they are the first to show up and the last to leave. They work just as hard, if not harder, than me - and they never get credit for it.

I'm not a natural. I had to teach myself - or be taught - everything I do. I just spent hours and hours in the mirror mimicking Michael Jackson.

Beyonce's the kind of artist where you're not gonna see it till it's right.

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.

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.

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

I'm trying to escape the shackles of a pen and a pad. I've sat in sessions with Jay-Z where he doesn't write anything down. He'll come up with the most incredible triple entendre, all in his head - it's amazing.

In my mind, I was still Chimere's father. I was there when he was born. I saw him when he first came out. I held him. He was my kid.

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

My first song was 'So Sick,' which was my first number one as an artist, and I turned the mic around to the crowd, and they sang the whole song. Every lyric. That was my first experience with the power of music.

Chimere's not mine. That hurt 'cause I had attached myself to this guy, you know. This is my son. I'm looking at him, and I'm picturing I'm gonna be old, and he's gonna be - this is my son! It's not my son.

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.

Huge 'Scandal' fan, and I have been since the beginning.

Let's make Holberton one of the biggest schools on the face of the planet.

All my musical influences came from my mom, who did everything to music. She played it 24 hours a day, seven days a week in our house. So that's where my love for music came from.

I'm the type of guy to put the water on the stove and then walk away and 10 seconds later be like, 'Come on, boil'!

I'm trying to bring something new to the Tin Man. He may be the one without the heart, but he's the most heartfelt guy there. It's a more manly heartfelt, a 'don't feel sorry for me' - type of heartfelt. I don't want to say tougher, because that just sounds stupid. But the Tin Man is a man's man.

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.

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

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.

I grew up in Las Vegas. My mom worked in pretty much every casino on the Strip.

When 'Red Tails' came along, all I knew was that they were the first African-American fighter pilots in the U.S. Air Force. I had no idea how deep the story went or about all their amazing achievements. There were a few Tuskegee Airmen on the set to make sure everything was as authentic as possible.

I know everyone says attention spans are shorter now, and if you can't get them in the first 20 seconds, you lost them. But I honestly believe if you give someone something worth slowing down to really pay attention to, they will.

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.

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?

Growing up in Vegas, over time you get to see shows like Tom Jones, Wayne Newton, I mean, The Rat Pack ran Vegas way, way back, and I'm a huge fan of that whole era and vibe.

Getting involved with the Boys and Girls Club helped keep me and my sister from getting in trouble.

Fear is a healthy part of success.

The essence of being a gentleman is to understand the way you're supposed to treat a respectable woman.

She's super sexy everybody wanna know bout her and the one that everybody want, but no one's ever got her. Because the way she get it in all of the men, even the women all try, all try.

If you want to be successful, you have to be the best person doing it. And in order to be the best person doing it, you have to get your work ethic right and keep going.

There is no pain like the first time you get your heart broken.

For those people who want to keep following trends, you do that and when the trend goes away so will you.

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

I'm 100% real, even when what's real is ugly. I don't take any pride in covering up, hiding and lying.

What I definitely learnt from Michael Jackson is that simple is almost always better. As a songwriter, as an artist period.

If you believe in yourself, it doesn't matter what others might be telling you is impossible. It's all up to you!

I want to write for people that are trying to do some kind of quality music. What I mean by quality music is not so much the trend, what is hot right now. I don't write trendy, I write what feels good and something that feels good will never get old. Timeless music is what I try to shoot for.

Sexy as she wanna be and she dancing next so close to me. I said please excuse, you steppin on expensive shoes.

What is hot now will not be hot tomorrow, I promise you. Trends are made to die. It's the truth.