Ne-Yo says he's been embraced 'with open arms' as he creates country music

Ne-Yo has been exploring his music as a country artist, an experience he says has been much better than he expected. He tells Rolling Stone's Nashville Now podcast that he was prepared to enter a world that might not be very welcoming.

“It came with all these warnings and all this fear that people were trying to put on me. ‘They’re not real accepting of anything outside of what they do over there, in Nashville. It’s cliquey, and if you don’t know this person or haven’t done this, they’re not gonna,’” he says. “I hate to admit it, but I came out here kind of expecting something like that.”

Instead, he says, “My experience has been the exact opposite. Every single person I’ve worked with has embraced what I’m trying to do with open arms. Everybody’s interested and intrigued about how I’m going to take what I do and what country music is and fuse them together."

“I’ve yet to meet the drunk racist guy. He hasn’t showed up yet,” Ne-Yo says. “I’m waiting to meet whoever the hell it is that’s going to be the bane of my Nashville existence. This person has not reared their head yet.”

His country singles “Simple Things” and “Up Out & Gone" are now available on DSPs.