NeYo chats to I Like Music

NE*YO: There really is no set process, I just do it. From a singing standpoint, once I had told my mum that I wanted to get serious and do this as a profession I had to work to get my voice to where it is right now. I'm not even saying I'm this great singer, but to even get where I am now, I had to work at it. I've got a very naturally nasaly tip to my voice. So my mum said, 'you can do one of two things, you can try to get rid of it or you can embrace it'.

'If you want to try to get rid of it, you need to study Danny Hathaway and Eric Bonet and stuff like that, but if you want to embrace it you need to listen to Michael Jackson'. I've always been a realist with myself, so I thought this is my voice and this is what it sounds like, there is no getting rid of it, so I decided to embrace it and started to study Michael Jackson.

Listening to the way he'd say certain words and the certain affliction he'd put on different words and way he'd put his harmonies together. So he became an influence on me as far as singing. Then as far as songwriting, I've always looked up to Stevie Wonder. He's always been one of those people who can just make you feel whatever he chooses to make you feel through song; he can control your emotions through song. If he wanted to make you sad, he would get on his piano and write a song that would make you cry; if he wanted to make you happy, he would get on his piano and sing a song that would lift your spirits so high you'd be smiling all day. So, I definitely want to be able to do that.
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