Ne-Yo is dropping in for an #AudacyCheckIn to chat about the For My Fans tour with Mary J. Blige + much more!
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00:00So you are currently on tour with our girl Mary J. Blige and Mario and you
00:05know I was thinking about you know the fact that you've written so many amazing
00:09songs beautiful songs for Mary and for Mario. How is it touring with artists
00:14who you've had such a huge impact on you know their lives and their careers by
00:19writing hits for them?
00:23Hi guys it's Shelly Wade super excited to be here at the sound space at the
00:32Hard Rock for the Odyssey check-in with Nio. Hey Nio. So excited I was telling Nio
00:39that the last time I interviewed you was a few years back when I lived on the West
00:44Coast and I showed him the pic that I posted and you were like oh no no we don't
00:49age around here. We have a strong case of Benjamin Button going on around here. It's a good thing. It's a beautiful thing. Yes. So how are you? I am fantastic. I'm better than fantastic. I'm in a great great space. Things are going great in my career. Things are going great in my love life. My kids are healthy and smart and bad as hell but healthy and smart. Two out of three ain't bad. Yeah man things are good. Things are good.
01:15Yeah I was just saying this earlier that like if you Google Nio the first 10 pages will be about your personal life. Which is astonishing to me because you have I mean just the quality of music that you have contributed you know to us. I mean that's what we should be talking about.
01:37I agree. I guess it kind of speaks to the world we live in right now. It's alright. I don't you know I don't even I don't so much mind anymore what gets you in the room. It's what keeps you in the room. You know if my personal life is what made you Google my name and then you Google my name and then you get then you get the music. That's fine. I don't I don't even I don't even care. As long as you get to the important part which is which is how I that's how I rock. As long as you get to the important part.
02:03So one of our all time favorite songs by Nio is Miss Independent. I was gonna say we can start calling you Mr. Independent because you are now independent. You're an independent artist. You're you're putting out new music via your compound entertainment.
02:21Entertainment. Tell us all about that. Um well okay so I can't talk too bad about the machine because the machine you know over the last what 17 18 years did very very very good by me.
02:33You know I've I've uh I've achieved things in music that you know most can only dream of um more than I ever dreamed of personally you know so I can't talk real bad about the machine.
02:43However there are elements of the machine that just you know after a while I just kind of realized that I was stressing over and I didn't have to anymore you know what I mean um dealing with the opinions of people who opinions that you don't so much respect you know in in some situations and you know a guy behind the desk can't can't tell me what my music is supposed to sound like.
03:03He can't do that but he'll try because he's part of the record label and it's and it's it's basically his job to do so you know um being on someone else's time schedule and having to deal with someone else's agenda you know I'll put I'll do a song Monday want to drop it Tuesday and they're like no you have to wait six months and I'm like wait what why come on yeah all of that and then plus I realized that at this point in my career my fan base is kind of built in like you know the people that rock with me they're there and and whatever I drop
03:33they're gonna go get it they're gonna make sure that that um you know that they check it out so and and then on top of that my team is immaculate I have I have an amazing group of people that I work with um I don't like saying stand behind me because they don't stand behind me we stand shoulder to shoulder yeah like these people hold me down and you know without them I would leave my head at home and amongst other things and um they are more than capable of doing everything that needs to be done so
04:03by choice I decided to go independent you know um and and I can honestly say that it's it's been it's been an interesting journey but it's been a good one you know as an independent artist there's things that that uh you know certain certain things that fall on your shoulders that that didn't as a as a signed artist you know for example um every red cent that is spent is one of mine yeah um yeah that's that's not exactly
04:33you know for it you know what I'm saying I I'd rather go broke doing something I love than spend somebody else's money and have to do something I didn't want to do you know so what's your experience now that you're releasing music on under compound um does it feel any different in the way you're you know writing and producing and what you're putting out and tell us about the new music not necessarily different I mean I feel more free I feel like I have the power to
05:03being an artist being an artist that was signed to a label for as many years as I as I've been that is that is priceless yeah you know what I mean um and to to speak on the new music um I'm just in a well I can't I can't necessarily say an honest place because I've never necessarily been dishonest in my music
05:19to be completely uh 100% uh I was more I've been more honest in my music than I have in my actual life you know it's things that I if I couldn't say it out my mouth I could I could write it in a song um but now I think I'm just kind of putting a magnifying glass on that you know um the freedom of of just truth you know living in my truth walking in my truth unapologetically you know not concerned with uh opinions or or or or
05:49uh you know just just what people think what people say these these things bog you down you know what I mean I it's just crazy that we live in a time where um validation from strangers is like currency I don't get it I I don't understand it mind you I won't I won't act holier than thou as if I've always been this person but you know I definitely had to grow to this but now that I'm here I look back and go wow I I really used to let the opinions of strangers ruin my day
06:19and these people do not know me and I don't know them so you are currently on tour with our girl Mary J Blige yeah Mario and you know I was thinking about you know the fact that you've written so many amazing songs beautiful songs for Mary and for Mario how is it touring with artists who you've had such a a huge impact on on you know their lives and their careers by writing hits for them it feels it feels very family you know what I mean uh
06:49Mary has always been just one of those real like grassroots true to life people you know mind you she has all of the makings of a diva you know what I mean like you know if if if she walked in here and she had women throwing roses at her feet as she walked it'd be completely valid it's like all right well I mean it's Mary that's fine it's Mary of course but she's also the kind of person that's gonna ask if you ate today
07:19if you need one like like she's just just real people and she genuinely cares about people um from from the day I met Mary J Blige to now it's always been uh you know that that family member who you're gonna go over to your house and you know you're gonna eat good yeah you know you're gonna laugh you know y'all might have a serious life conversation you might shed a tear and it's and it's totally okay nobody's judging you like that's that's Mary
07:49people that actually give a damn about people you know what I mean Mario same situation man like we kind of dare I say we damn started our careers together you know because um writing that song for him is kind of what got me the attention that got me my Def Jam deal and then of course that song being one of his biggest kind of you know uh catapulted him to where to where he to where he wound up
08:19you just be able to share the stage with people that you genuinely respect it's a beautiful thing yeah I can't wait to uh be in the audience uh for the show and man listen this is this is one of those shows and I I've been saying this all week this is one of those shows where you are literally going to sing every single song you're gonna sing you this this is for my fans this is by my fans because y'all gonna sing every song with us every single song from Mario set to my set to Mary set uh you walk in with a certain amount of voice and you leave
08:49leave with less voice than you walked in with that's that's the kind of tour this is so Neo and I were talking before the interview and he was saying that he has his uh sunglasses on not because he's trying to be cool like listen you're cool with or without the glasses but you have them on because oh yeah no I've slept about about three hours in the last six months yeah that's that's that's the thing yeah but that is not a complaint yeah I'm not complaining at all busy is an absolute blessing you know but I ain't want to scare y'all with what's going on up under here so get the glasses
09:19but I bring it up because you are so busy doing so many things definitely doing a lot of things that make it uh make it somewhat impossible to go to sleep yeah yeah yeah so we got the tour uh I just recently fell in love with a game of golf yes I saw that you have a golf tournament me and my manager we started a golf clothing line uh you know my manager shouts shouts to tango was trying to get me on the golf course for a really really long time
09:49uh the clothes uh the clothes is weird and it's hot and I just know I'm not gonna be good at the game so it's like I'm not going out there didn't you say the clothes are weird the clothes are weird sorry are you making them un-weird that is the point that I was getting to I said if I'm gonna be out here hot and and and swinging at nothing because again golf is one of the five hardest games on the face of the planet it it it takes a level of patience that most people don't have and I'm I'm I am in the process of developing the patience it takes to play this game
10:19before you can call yourself even remotely good all right so I'm I'm not good I'm not good I'll say it that's cool we're gonna get everybody my name is neo and I'm not good at golf yet yet is the key word but you're gonna get better I'm gonna get better and as I'm out there looking crazy I look good while I'm looking crazy that's the point I was getting to yes absolutely that's the most important thing who cares about winning yeah gotta look good it's about looking good even if you're losing it's all right yeah he
10:49lost but did you see the outfit that's what you want people to say no so so uh Francis Olago O-L-O-G-O is the name of the the name of the brand okay uh olagosport.com is where you can go if you want to check it out we got everything from hats attire shoes uh bags we're getting into hardware now with clubs and balls and all nine we're doing our first annual celebrity golf tournament uh April 28th in Georgia at the uh the Eagles Landing Country Club really really excited about that again olagosport.com
11:19for anybody that wants to play or if you just want to come check it out first of all tell us your experience about with working with Michael and also um your favorite neo song and your favorite song that you've done for someone else
11:31I got the absolute honor of meeting Michael Jackson uh not too long before his untimely passing um uh I'll run the story down again because I love telling this story okay
11:45so I'm in my car you know rolling through LA I think I was en route to a rehearsal or something
11:50and my phone rings and I pick it up hello it's a number mind you it's a number I don't have saved in my phone and I normally don't answer those
11:58but something said pick this one up so all right I picked it up hello hi hi who's who's this it's Michael
12:04okay Michael who Michael Jackson cool click right thought someone was playing with you Michael Jackson does not just call your damn cell phone it don't have that does not happen right so I'm I continued riding I'm like all right whatever
12:21right so then I get a call from my assistant he's like yo are you sitting down I'm in my car so yeah I'm sitting down
12:27okay Michael Jackson is about to call your phone in about 10 minutes
12:30you you mean Michael Jackson just called my phone 10 minutes ago
12:34bruh I hung up on my oh my god did you call him back or he called you back well he called me back okay
12:43and and I I instantly lied hey yeah man I was going under a tunnel yeah bad reception you know you know
12:50what's going on Mike how are you brother so so from there um you know he started telling me how much he liked
12:57my music which was just surreal yeah because you know if there was without Michael Jackson music there
13:02would be no neon music I'm just keep that a buck um and then he told me that uh that he wanted to get
13:07together and and you know do some music so of course I'm I'm like okay yeah with time and place I'm there
13:12so uh we actually meet up in New York um if you wanted to do something private you know I could I could
13:19talk about it now we went to uh we went to Lior Cohen's house oh wow shout out to Lior Cohen okay um so I'm sitting
13:24in the room and I'm waiting for Michael Jackson to walk into the room he walks in and his first words
13:28were oh my god you know my favorite song of yours is and and mind you in that moment I turned into a
13:35six-year-old girl on the inside on the inside I ain't I didn't you know I kept I kept it playing but
13:42on the inside I was it was one of those moments anyway so I'm like nah man which one and then he and
13:47then he goes please don't worry about me I'm fine he started singing my song to me yeah I yeah I I
13:55again it took every masculine bone in my body every masculine bone in my body yeah um so so from there
14:04we we sat and talked for about two hours just about music and and you know how he he would like sounds
14:11have colors and shapes and I always thought that I was nuts because I kind of see music the same way
14:17and that kind of confirmed to me that either I either we're both nuts or we're not one of the two is
14:23cool both are cool I don't care and uh so so we talked about yeah he wanted to do another album
14:28after the this is it tour yeah right so I'm like all right cool so um went back to the lab started
14:35working on music so what it was I would write a song and then send it to him and then he would call
14:40me and go I really love the hook I feel like I feel like the second verse could be a little stronger
14:44maybe go back in on the second verse and so it was about roughly anywhere between six to eight
14:50songs I say six to eight because some of them are complete some of them aren't um that that we did
14:55together uh that the plan was for him to record them again after the tour yeah so you know of course uh
15:02he passed before the tour completion and we never got to record the songs but I can say that um I met
15:10uh one of the people who again made this even possible for me yeah and yeah it was it was it's
15:17to this day it's a surreal experience just curious um any of the songs that you wrote for him
15:22um have you ever recorded and released them or shared them with anyone else or do you plan to ever
15:28release them um I think that uh and it's and it's one of those things where it's like it's like
15:36jumping over shadows you know it's problems you create for yourself you know um it doesn't feel
15:43right to put them out as my own it absolutely doesn't feel right to sell them or give them to
15:48somebody else so they're kind of just sitting in archives waiting for me to figure out what I'm gonna
15:54do with them how many songs uh it about six that are complete but roughly eight yeah I don't know I
16:02I mean I hear you know Neo the Michael Jackson you know recordings or something something we need to
16:09hear these people give me some great ideas as as a in regard to what to do with them maybe give them
16:14to Janet but something we need to hear them it's all great ideas but then it's just as as soon as I'm
16:21like you know what yeah I'll do like maybe if you don't want to capitalize off of them because of you
16:27how intimate they are for you maybe it could be you know Neo records you know the songs that you
16:34know he wrote for Michael and then you give it to charity or something but we need to hear these
16:38another great idea I'm gonna figure it out yeah I'm gonna figure out what to do with them uh but
16:44yeah it is it is quality music if I do say so myself the world does need to hear these but I'm
16:49gonna figure out the right way to do it okay and finally again your favorite Neo song that you
16:53recorded and favorite song that you've given to someone else um my favorite song that I've
16:59recorded I do not think I have a favorite really um it's it's too personal for me to pick a favorite
17:07that would be like picking my son over my daughter or my daughter over my son like I can't I can't my
17:12daughter no I'm kidding I'm kidding Mason I'm joking relax dude I'm kidding no no I I can't I can't
17:19pick a favorite every song that I write comes from what primarily every song that I write comes from
17:25a personal experience a memory you know and it's it's hard to pick a favorite moment over another
17:32moment if it was a moment that that you know meant something to my life and every song is is you know
17:37falls in that category now as far as music that I've written for other people um Beyonce's their place
17:43will always jumps to the top of the top of the heap uh just behind uh first and foremost the way that
17:49it happened the lessons that I learned through the process um you know the the the song itself is
17:57a true story um I grew up in a house with my mother my sister my grandmother five aunts and me till I was
18:05about 16 years old right and um there was one particular aunt who every month had a brand new
18:14love she was in love brand new every single month the top of the month oh girl like I love him so much
18:19at the end of the month he wasn't dirt it was that right so one particular guy lasted a little longer
18:24than everybody else one month rolls by two months three months four months okay this is we got a
18:29relationship serious all right she bought this man a car with money that she did not have
18:34this was this was serious right this was this was the talk of the talk of the house this dude right
18:39come to find out he's rolling through the very small town that we lived in in that car with another
18:45woman and all of these things and the whole town is talking about it gossip gossip gossip so she's you
18:51know heartbroken and embarrassed so I remember the day that he came by the house and I remember I
18:55used to personally not like this guy because I might have been 10 right and I'm sitting in the
19:01but just spidey since it's new I kind of yeah I just I just never like it I didn't like him because
19:06every time he would see me he would do this thing to my head oh you man it was that thing so so he
19:14walked in he does a thing and get off me it's time and jerry anyway so he goes back in the back you
19:19know again the house is not big so you can hear everything that's going on so he goes babe where's my
19:23uh where that where the leather jacket at and she goes oh yeah to the left yeah everything that's
19:28yours is in that box right there to the left and it just escalated from there and I just remember
19:32it just being funny it was so funny to watch this dude that I didn't like anyway get chewed out by
19:39my aunt and then forced to walk out the house holding a box of his belongings talking about you
19:45ain't gonna find somebody love you the way I love you you done made a mistake today this and it was
19:50hilarious right so so I wrote the song and I wrote the song with the intention of kind of flipping the
19:56story to like act like it was my story but once we finished it myself and Stargate shout to Stargate
20:03yeah um we knew that we had something but something didn't feel right it was like this is a hit but
20:09maybe it's maybe it's not a hit for you and I'm like what okay you might be right because I mean because
20:19we again we knew that the song was special yeah but it's just something about what was happening in
20:24the moment just didn't feel right so I was like you know what this it might need to be this might
20:28need to be a woman's song a woman may need to may need to deliver this particular message so we
20:34shopped the song to uh to a few female artists before it landed where it landed you know names that
20:39I will not say right now share names oh no one maybe one day these people kick themselves regularly
20:45I can imagine every time they hear this song they get yourself a nice swift kick in the pants yeah
20:49not even one name but um I can't do it I can't do it I can't do it if I say it would you
20:56your interviewer is showing your journalist is showing right now
21:02just one maybe two names I'll say they're definitely names that you would recognize
21:08people the people that you know um and mind you I can't fault anybody for just not seeing it you
21:13know everybody everybody doesn't get it and that's fine I've it's happened more often than you would
21:18imagine you know I just obviously somebody hears a song it was it was meant for delivered it
21:23clearly song was clearly meant for Beyonce you know uh Beyonce heard it went in the studio knocked it
21:29out in roughly an hour um again I was I was saying I'm I'm normally accustomed to holding the artist's
21:35hand you know through the process you know the next note is this one and uh yeah that was good
21:40it was a good take let me get one more though just I feel like you could yeah I did she did not
21:44need me for anything she I got the note yep I know I know what it is I'm good and I'm like all right
21:50I'm gonna I'm gonna go get a coffee or something and yeah I'll be back I came back and the song was
21:55done it was done yeah Beyonce's not human it's cool meant to be it's all right it's all right I love
22:01I love you I love you you alien I love you yes you know she's she's ridiculously talented and I always
22:07think back to that song and what I learned is that the message as well as the messenger is important
22:13you know the message switches up depending on who's delivering it you know have you ever been
22:18in a situation where you tell somebody something right and it's poignant it's something that they
22:22need to hear yeah and it doesn't so much compute but then somebody else tell them the same thing and
22:27they get it and you go ain't that what I just yeah what I said I mean you can attest to that as a
22:32parent I'm sure oh a million percent a million percent Neo you were talking about how much you love
22:36Beyonce we love you too and again you have blessed us with so much of the soundtrack
22:41to our lives so thank you thank you I mean when I say I don't want to just say good songs gorgeous
22:47beautiful songs thank you so thank you and thank you for joining us for this odyssey check-in here
22:53at the odyssey sound space at hard rock new york thank you all love