Ne-Yo Voices Disappointment In ‘Libra Scale’ Sales

Published: Wednesday 8th Dec 2010 by Trent

The CW Detroit Gossip Girls caught up with Ne-Yo recently for a very insightful interview. The opinionated singer/songwriter revealed that he is in fact quite disappointed by the first week sales of his ‘Libra Scale’ LP which entered the charts at #8 with just over 117k copies sold.

Additionally, Ne-Yo used the opportunity to talk about his experiences of being a new father. Peep the footage and transcript below via Necole Bitchie:

On fatherhood
Fatherhood is scary as hell but it’s the most enjoyable fear that I’ve ever experienced. Its love like I’ve never felt before. I’ve been in love with a woman before, I know what that is. I’ve been in love with music before I know what that is. I’ve never experienced love like this, its instant from the second I laid eyes on her. I would do anything to make sure she never hurts or needs for anything in life and I’ve never felt that before. It’s special at the same time it’s scary. You know I don’t got to tell y’all that the world we live in today is not the most positive place all the time so just thinking about the different things that I’m going to have to teach her, hoping that I teach her well that’s the scary part…but its gonna be fun I’m gonna enjoy myself.

On first week album numbers…
I was a little disturbed by my first week numbers, but a lot of things went into that first week number… the album getting leaked a month in advance definitely had something to do with it. That was another situation where I jumped on my soapbox (twitter)and let the world know how I felt about that. You know it’s the world we live in today, it’s the game. You either play the game or you get out. I’m not gonna let the ignorance of some stop me from doing what I feel like I was put on this earth to do.

Thoughts?

Posted under:

Comments 29

Please Post Your Comments & Reviews

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. BENJAMIN December 8, 2010

    117,000 sold isn’t that bad.

  2. truthfully December 8, 2010

    oh shut up ne-yo…..if the likes of trey songz can sell better than u, u are a flop…..

    MAYBE IF HE DIDNT HAVE A HISSY-FIT ABOUT HIS ALBUM LEAKED…PEOPLE WUD HAVE BOUGHT IT….BUT NOOO,LMAO

    but seriously, his worst album ever…

  3. MR.B December 8, 2010

    I think his album sales failed becuase he came out with the same formula before.Start out with a Dance Track and release an R&B track he did it for the last 2 albums.Instead of coming out every year take a break get the CREATIVE JUICES FLOWING and do something different

  4. Anonymous December 8, 2010

    Considering Ne-Yo didn’t really have a big hit, 117K isn’t that bad. I haven’t been impressed with any of his recent material though.

  5. creoleboy December 8, 2010

    I wouldn’t consider it a flop since the singles where bad and the sales aren’t all that low in todays economy I know he’s upset because he feels that he pulls out all the stops to try to be a megaStar which he hasn’t achived as of yet I think his field is melodies and song writting I liked his old material but now its just trying to sell something and when he makes it about the music maybe he’ll sell more…. hope he’s a happy father even though that sounds fishy

  6. Tender December 8, 2010

    Success time is over Ne-Yo….get used to it.

  7. Shae December 8, 2010

    ummm Neyo should be lucky he got that much….’cuz they barely play his recent material so umm 117k first week is good. stop being ungrateful and count ur blessings. you could have sold less than that you moron. ur not even a hot artist anymore…how you gonna get upset over this? niggha please!

  8. sabrina December 8, 2010

    I agree Mr. B

  9. tee December 8, 2010

    He didn’t receive alot of radio play so considering his sales were decent. However, I think he was feeling himself a bit saying he was bringing back R&B music. I think he is an excellent producer but in my opinnion all of his songs on this CD sound alike. I have listened to it only twice since I got it and have no desire to listen much more. The best songs are Champagne Life and One in a Million Honestly, don’t hear any other worthy singles.

  10. Kyle December 8, 2010

    I was actually very surprised that Ne-Yo sold THAT MUCH in his first week. For having no hit singles and having his album pushed back numerous times I think he should feel lucky it did that well. I think his promo the week in advance of its release helped him out a lot. It’s a pretty good album though.

  11. carl December 8, 2010

    Umm… the album was not even that GREAT! He abondend his core fanbase which was R&B. His first and second album were great listens!!! The production on this album was half-assed so Ne-yo boi stop crying and try again!

  12. myside93 December 8, 2010

    Next album, he will be lucky to sell half of these numbers

  13. Richard December 8, 2010

    These sales are pretty damn good if you ask me. I doubted he could sell half that given how terribly his singles performed on the charts! Beautiful Monster was a #1 hit in the UK at least, but given how high-budget the video was, it’s hardly going to make back the money spent on it.

    I just don’t understand how he can write such incredible songs for other artists and give himself such bland cuts.

    I hope this flop helps him to create another superb album (ie. In My Own Words)

  14. Heaven December 8, 2010

    Lesson Learned. Concentrate on your own s*** and tend to YOUR world.

  15. Bbcocochannel December 8, 2010

    117,000 ain’t bad, not at all!!! It’s just the wrong time Kanye’s Album, Nicki Minaj’s Album, rihanna’s Album came out near each other!!! And they all had better promo, (not Kanye but does Kanye really need promotion??? No!!) Ne-Yo’s album sales may blow up in Europe though, just because of ‘Beautiful Monster’ !!! That song was a big Euro-Dance track… Anywayz, he shouldn’t worry it was fine, seeing as it leaked as well and a lot of people were bootlegging it!! Keep on rolling Ne-Yo!

  16. joeblow December 8, 2010

    In todays market how much do you have to sale you 1st week to not be considered a flop? Does 200k move you out of the flop category or is the bar higher? To be honest I can’t tell you the last time I herd a neyo song on the radio. Now its all chris,trey,usher, and bruno mars

  17. VA STAND UP!! December 8, 2010

    His first week sales weren’t bad, considering he had NO big hit. ‘Beautiful Monster’ flopped hard and ‘Champaign Life’ only a top 20 on the r&b charts. That was pretty good considering no one was really checking for him. Now his second week sales were abosolutely atrocious! Again, I am not surprised cause he had no hits and with the way the market is right now, it’s not a huge suprise. Even Nicki and Kanye took a nose dive. *shrugs* Maybe they will pick up during holiday season.

    I’m not gonna say it had anything to do with all the interviews he did discussing other artist, cause I really don’t think it did. Although, I don’t doubt that Team Breezy and Usher fans didn’t contribute to any of those sales. Lol! I just think his material this time around hasn’t really been up to par either. The album just wasn’t that good IMO. He’ll be alright though, he is a song writer and he will always have dough. Just accept this album as a failure and move on. Maybe now he can concentrate on his fiance and baby girl. That’s more important than album sales.

    There is way too much comotion (SP) going on in the background! Ugh! That ish was annoying as hell!

  18. VA STAND UP!! December 8, 2010

    joeblow
    December 8, 2010 at 9:24 pm
    In todays market how much do you have to sale you 1st week to not be considered a flop? Does 200k move you out of the flop category or is the bar higher? To be honest I can’t tell you the last time I herd a neyo song on the radio. Now its all chris,trey,usher, and bruno mars

    —————————————————————————————-

    Agreed!

  19. MISHKA December 8, 2010

    I love Ne-Yo and I missed his R’n’B! Too bad his album got leaked, I don’t care about the dance songs but I love “One in a Million”

    He should do what Usher or Gaga did: release an EP with 1 or 2 smash hits and go on tour to support “Libra Scale”.

  20. True Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Blue December 8, 2010

    Uh, considering the dude is practically M.I.A. from the music charts these days, he should be grateful that he sold THAT much.

    And his album prematurely leaking hasn’t got anything to do with it. Drake’s album leaked before it came out, it almost went gold in its first week. Eminem’s “Recovery” was leaked too, it sold 700, 000+ copies in its first week. The problem is that people aren’t checking for Ne-Yo these days, not to mention that the promotion for his album was quite small. And getting it pushed back a bunch of times sure as hell didn’t help, it’s usually the kiss of death for the commercial viability of an album.

  21. Jay Jay December 9, 2010

    117,000 is pretty good since his album leaked, and he didnt have a top 50 single. Black eyed peas did the same thing with a hit single

  22. I’m a billy goat December 9, 2010

    Okay She-Yo,

    Sicki Garbage & Kanye’s CD were also leaked so stop whinning! Now, I do think that its a damn shame that it happened. If you enjoy an artsist you should go out and support that person’s work, be it music or movie! I am surpirsed that he didn’t sell more. Trey Songz and Fantasia sold more in their 1st week!

    Humm, maybe if you stop trying so hard to be the next installment of Michael Jackson and stop talking about your fellow R&B artistslike dogs perhaps you might have better luck!

  23. Diane December 9, 2010

    Mmmm. So the low sales have nothing to do with those over-the-top boring videos. There is such a thing called trying too hard. Champagne Life was a feel good radio song, but there was nothing about the song that made me want to listen to it outside of radio airplay. Nope. I didn’t need it on my IPod. Oh yeah, dissing Usher’s new CD probably wasn’t a good idea. That diss got around really quick and frankly, people didn’t like the diss. Usher has more fans. Maybe sales will get better once you step out of your black and white to-be-continued videos.

  24. Diane December 9, 2010

    @I’M A BILLY GOAT, Damn, I promise I typed my reply before reading yours. HaHa We sure think alike on this one.

  25. lola December 9, 2010

    To tell you the truth, I think that “Libra Scale” and “Because of You” were the best albums he’s recorded. I hated “Year of The Gentleman” and his first album. I always didn’t like Ne-Yo and thought he was overrated until recently. “Libra Scale” has a nice, light, smooth, laid back R&B feel. At least he’s doing real R&B music. Yea he has a couple of light euro/pop songs on it, but at least they have R&B melodies. With that said, Ne-Yo needs to stfu about the album being leaked. No one should EVER BELIEVE THAT FALSE RUMOR ABOUT LEAKED ALBUMS DRAMATICALLY EFFECTING ALBUM SALES! It’s always been a myth. If so many people were illegally downloading leaked albums or singles, then the government and music labels would do more to prevent the leaks from happening. Lady Gaga sold 12 million worldwide of Fame Monster and all her material leaked, Rihanna’s singles always leak before they are sent to radio or iTunes and they sell millions, Justin Beiber sold over 2 million worldwide of his first album… Usher’s album sales improved when he made those crappy dance/pop tracks, it has to do with your fanbase and trendy music. Ne-Yo is played out and that’s why hardly anyone bought his album.

  26. Dominic December 9, 2010

    I never bought Libra Scale because I thought most of the songs weren’t very memorable at all. I bought Year Of The Gentlemen though, that was hot!! 🙂

  27. Sammie December 13, 2010

    Yea Neyo lost all of his momentum and he has definately been replaced by Trey Songz. I think a number of things went into his poor album sales, including putting out awful music. Also, in his interviews where he criticized Usher and the state of RNB really hurt his image as seemed too self righteous and quite frankley full of himself.

  28. JJ December 13, 2010

    Yea, ur album sales suckked! I guess going after the King of RNB Usher wasnt such a good idea after all. Guess whose the hottest artist in the game, Usher. Guess who just flopped Neyo.

  29. yoooo February 17, 2011

    Why does everybody have to be so harsh?? He tried something new so what? Stop criticizing the guy! I’d like to see some of you people in his position. Hes one of the best song-writers of today and all you guys do for a living is probably lame compared to what he does. I dont wanna start an argument. Im not that type of person 🙂

Recommended Posts
..**