Not every artist needs to do something dramatically different with each album, and not every fan base appreciates that kind of switch up. Some fans like consistency. What I like about a certain artists music from jump I expect to get every time they put out new material. I don't want some radical shift in sound that isn't what I became a fan of.

My fear with Ne-Yo was that he was turning pop and chasing after the "Call Me Maybe" crowd. I'm still not totally convinced that he isn't; "Let Me Love You" is *not* for me or his long time fans, and I don't appreciate it...but I will say that based on the songs I've heard thus far, my mind is starting to ease a bit. A week ago I had him pegged every bit the sellout Usher is; now I'm ready to write off LMLY as either a momentary misguided transgression that can be forgiven if he is willing to return to his roots...or a strategic move to get radio on his side so that when he releases his more familiar sounding material, he will have built up some credit so that it isn't totally snubbed. That one might be reaching a bit, because Ne-Yo isn't some planet owning singer like Adele and thus doesn't have the power to contradict the direction of top 40 radio.

We'll see.