Ne-Yo Reflects On Lessons Learned From Being Dropped By Columbia Records

R&B singer Ne-Yo is the latest artist to open up about the hardships that come with being signed to a major label in the early aughts.

In an interview on Shannon Sharpe‘s Club Shay Shay podcast, the 43-year-old talked about his experience with Columbia Records, who originally signed him in 2000. Before he released his already recorded first album, the label failed to honor his contract and suddenly dropped him because he wanted to record songs that “kind of fit who the hell I am.”

Ne-Yo, who had only just begun his experience as a solo act, had no ideal how little control he would actually have over his creativity. “I went in under the impression that I had no control of anything,” he told Sharpe. “So I was kinda like a robot a little bit.”

There were also harsh lessons to learn about who fits the bill for everything related to introducing an artist to the world.

“You get a record deal, and they take you out to eat and they throw that credit card down at the end of the night,” Ne-Yo said to Sharpe. “What they don’t tell you is that’s your budget on that credit card.”

With his dreams seemingly deferred, the singer picked up his pen and after writing Mario’s 2004 hit, “Let Me Love You,” caught the ear of LA Reid and then-CEO of Def Jam, and the one-and-only Jay-Z, who signed him to the label.

Two years later, the singer would release his debut album In My Own Words to great success; selling over 300,000 copies in its first week and earning him his first no. 1 record as a lead artist with the single, “So Sick.”

Though he persevered, Ne-Yo says his first experience in the industry “left a very bad taste in my mouth about record deals, period.”