Ne-Yo is putting his longtime appreciation for the music of Garth Brooks and other country stars to use in his just-released new single “Simple Things,” produced by Dave Cohen and Young Lan.
The country-inspired track comes at a particularly country-focused time in the three-time Grammy winner’s life, as he’s currently fresh off making his Grande Ole Opry debut in Nashville, plus an appearance at the 2025 CMA Awards ceremony.
During a recent red carpet interview amid CMA Awards festivities, Ne-Yo connected his longtime love of country music to his larger catalog, noting that he previously worked to “incorporate” elements of it into his songs. He also credited his mother with introducing him not only to country, but all kinds of music.
“This is a fun fact, and not very many people know, I’ve been a country music fan forever. Yes, yes,” he said earlier this week, as seen below. “It started with Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire. My mom, every night she’d come home from work and bring a new genre of music for us to listen to, and it started there. I’ve been a fan ever since, to the point where I was taking elements of country music trying to incorporate it into the music I was doing. So yeah, I’ve been a fan for a long time.”
Back in September, Ne-Yo let fans know that he has more on the way in this lane, including a full-length country-inspired album. Teasing his plans on an episode of the Joe and Jada podcast, Ne-Yo said the project is “coming soon,” though a title for it hasn’t yet been publicly announced.
“It’s like everything that I love about country music, mixed with what it is that I normally do,” he said at the time.