The pop up came in that Shaffer Chimere Smith who is popularly known as Neyo released a new album and like an airplane I jetted off to downloaded it. Now I did not know he released this Good Man Album in June but after taking a listen I realized why it did not get a good airplay and recognition. I don’t mean to discredit his work but I only got happy with two songs. I don’t really blame his work but just that the strength of RnB and Soul is dying every day and nobody is really loving music made for women if it not dance-able. Although I must say that he made some good music that can be used to get down with your lover if you guys want to share a quiet time together. This album gets boring as you listen to it more and more and that is not really good. I feel Neyo staying pure with his sound is good but he should have tried featuring some musical heavy weights in this Good Man Album. If he got two or three heavyweight grade “A” artist on this album I would have guaranteed a long lasting airplay. Either way this album is one that most people shelved after one or two good plays. Everyone might find a few songs to add on a playlist but it was not going to save this album from being an average album.
I played this album over and over again to see if I can find love with it but the more I did, the less interesting it became. I sat down and I had no option but to write about why it never made it big in the world market. It may be big in the US but not in the world because many people never knew Chimere released an Album which for a man like Neyo is not good at all. If you have not listened to it, please don’t download the whole album. All you need do is download “hotbox”, “push back”, “without you” and “Back chapters”. Below are the reasons why it is an average album:
Bad title for a Good album
Names as ordinary as they look are identity markers that affects the work we do. I feel the tittle “GOOD MAN” was not wisely selected because this album has different identities. It would have sounded better if it was titled “BUTTERFLY”. It would have given a better definition of what Chimere had to say which the metamorphosis of his life is as a musician and how it affected his relationship with ladies. How do you march the song “apology” to the title of the album? In terms of promotions and impact in the music market; the name GOOD MAN is not a title that will fly in 2018. If you titled an album good man in 2008; it would have flied but not now.
Wrong Promotional Single
He named the Album “Good Man” and used it to promote the album which was not good. Good man is a flat song because it does not push someone to put it on reply. I did not play it again after a first listen. I can’t even remember what he was trying to talk about in the promotional single. Men When I heard “without you”; I jumped on it and gave some dance and knew exactly what he was talking about. Also the ability to sing along is one peculiar thing that any promotional single should have and the song “Good man” did not have. I don’t know who Neyo had in the first listening party but these guys chose the wrong song for him.
RnB and Soul is Loosing Market
Just like I stressed in the first paragraph of this article, RnB and Soul is losing its place in the pop music industry. Hiphop, Caribbean Sound and Afrobeats is in the center stage of music now and everybody is doing them. RnB and Soul are slow tempo songs that is hard to dance to unless you are a ballet dance schooling in New York. In the world today, everybody want to show off dance moves that will break the internet which unfortunately is not a sound is made by any real RnB singer.
The Lack of World Heavy Weight Feature
Music in modern times is mostly of effective collaborations with grade A artist. This was lacking in this album. I am not saying that the likes of Party Next Door, Romeo, Bebe, Stefflon and the other people he had are not heavyweight of some sort but they are not world household names. He just did not get it right with this album. If he invested the money he paid for these artist in one or two world household name then it would have been a global sound. Although I applaud his work on the song Push back, I feel if he had a good song with a good feature like that again in this album it would have been a banger.
