Year of the Gentleman

1	Closer 3:54
2	Nobody 3:07
3	Single 4:17
4	Mad 4:14
5	Miss Independent 3:52
6	Why Does She Stay 4:33
7	Fade into the Background 3:18
8	So You Can Cry 4:17
9	Part of the List 4:09
10	Back to What You Know 4:10
11	Lie to Me 4:27
12	Stop This World 4:23

Barnes & Noble

Instead of beautifully self-absorbed ballads such as "So Sick" from his 2006 debut, In My Own Words and "Let Me Love You," which he penned for fellow soul man Mario - on Year of the Gentleman Ne-Yo (a.k.a. Shaffer Smith) focuses on ladies first. Declaring "She's so much better than me, I'm so unworthy of her" on the Michael Jackson-reminiscent "Why Does She Stay," the silky tenor reveals himself to be either extremely sincere or well-versed in the ways of mackin'. And "Fade into the Background" is a delicious slice of electro-funk a la Dirty Mind-era Prince that finds Ne-Yo awkwardly attending the wedding of a former flame ("She looks so cute in that white dress at the far end of the aisle/Standing where I should be standing is some other man/On his face is a smile"). Yet, he doesn't dwell on his own suffering for long. "So You Can Cry" offers a tough-love pick-me-up to a heartbroken female friend. And refreshingly, the smooth operator loosens his Windsor knot and heads for the dance-floor on the two-step feminist celebration "Miss Independent" (easily one of the best singles of 2008), and the glow-stick-ready, Euro club banger "Closer." Aspiring macks (and M.B.A.'s) will want to note the catchy attention-deficit anthem "Single" ("I'll be your boyfriend till the song goes off"), which appears here and on the New Kids on the Block comeback, The Block. On their respective versions, Ne-Yo and NKOTB trade backing vocals; the double-dipping songwriting credit, however, belongs to Ne-Yo…cha ching. With Year of the Gentleman, this prolific singer-songwriter is well on his way to becoming the new king of pop. Tracy E. Hopkins

New York Times

Unlike the callous studs of hip-hop, Ne-Yo makes himself sympathetic and vulnerable, and more so than ever on Year of the Gentleman. Jon Pareles

Vibe

With his latest effort, Year of the Gentleman, Ne-Yo is a stronger, more confident man than the one many remember licking his wounds on "So Sick" from his debut album In My Own Words and "Do You" from 2007’s Because of You.