Ne-Yo: Ballads and Slow Jams

R&B singer Ne-Yo is a gentle and deft balladeer, swinging easily from urban-contemporary sensuality to reflection to remorse and back. So even though he swears off love songs on the dolefully creamy love song “So Sick” and laments mundanity on the downtempo “Why Does She Stay?”, his weariness is quickly replaced by romance on “Stress Reliever,” an expansive mood-setter that sublimates like dry ice.