KDTime: "Year of the Gentleman" Analysis

Episode 93

It was the year of 2008. I was a wild teen who needed some clear guidance. I was sent to a summer camp to be a junior counselor that changed my life forever. I made new friend, fell in love, became a part of a new camp family and subsequently a community. A lot changed for me in 2008. A couple years prior in 2006 Ne-Yo came out with an album called "In My Own Words" and I remember writing a blog about it and how you could write a story with the song titles.

And that's exactly what I did. I used the song titles as parts of an interesting story. Then fast forward to 2020 when I started my podcast journey. I thought back on that time of Ne-Yo and my growing love for his music and him as an artist. I was a teenager, there was Chris Brown, Ne-Yo, Omarion the list went on but I had a special spot for Ne-Yo in my young teenage heart. So on KDTime I decided to create an episode analyzing his first album and it was so much fun. Then I did it again for his 2nd album "Because of You" and now for the third "Year of the Gentleman". Each album feels like a story, each song title feels like it ties into the next song.

Although for this album it would seem as though Ne-Yo's character dies mid way through and sort of comes alongside as a Ghost? You give it a listen and tell me what you think!

Here are the songs from the album

1. "Closer"
2. "Nobody"
3. "Single"
4. "Mad"
5. "Miss Independent"
6. "Why Does She Stay"
7. "Fade into the Background"
8. "So You Can Cry"
9. "Part of the List"
10. "Back to What You Know"
11. "Lie to Me"
12. "Stop This World"

You can find the episode on my all podcast platforms. Check out the previous album analyses. Does each one tell a different story or do they all tie in together? You decide?

Linktr.ee/kdtime