If you thought you’d heard the last of Ne-Yo’s concept-album dalliances on 2010 dud Libra Scale, brace yourself. On Non-Fiction, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and producer has attempted an album built on his own experiences interwoven with “true stories about real people” from fan submissions on social media. The results fall somewhere between his early, velvety R&B and more recent forays into thumping EDM club-banger territory – see Pitbull collaboration Time of Our Lives or 2012’s Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself). Ne-Yo’s Michael Jackson-like falsetto and rich tenor sound as flexible as ever, but the album treads repetitive ground. If your interest wanes, amuse yourself by keeping a tally of the number of times he croons about women’s bodies on She Knows and Who’s Taking You Home, or about placating ladies with drinks and a spot of insistent harassment after a hard day’s work on One More and Integrity. Well-produced, but flatly uninventive material.
