Ne-Yo doesn't think performing his own version of "Irreplaceable" would be especially precious.
At the Glamorama after-party Friday night, I caught up with the singer-songwriter to ask how he gained access to his female side to write such a powerful break-up song.
"I didn't really write it from a woman's point of view," he said. "I wrote it from the point of view of a person [who] felt neglected, a person [who] felt unappreciated. Contrary to popular belief, men feel like that sometimes, too. So I wrote it from that perspective. It just happens that when [sung] by a woman, it comes across as empowering and uplifting. But if [sung] by a man, probably not so much."
It's the first song Beyoncé ever sang that I appreciated, as most of her lyrics are too rough and nonsensical. When she was last at Target Center, the audience serenaded her with the song. While Beyoncé stood silent and astonished, I thought, See what a difference a song with understandable lyrics and a story makes?
We shouldn't hold our breath for Ne-Yo's video of that song: "To tell 90 percent of my audience, 'To the left, to the left,' nah, I don't think I could get away with that."
It wasn't until later that I became confused by what he meant there. Ne-Yo's gum chomping was distracting (to say nothing of how it minified the effort he puts into his appearance).
Was Ne-Yo saying he's dating and/or being mistreated by 90 percent of his audience? Feel free to view startribune.com/video and provide me with your interpretation.
In the fast lane While in town, Ne-Yo passed time bowling at Game Works in Block E: "It was a team game, so my score wasn't that important. I think it was like a 140."
