Ne-Yo would love to collaborate with Burna Boy, Wizkid, Others

American singer Shaffer Chimere Smith, professionally known as Ne-Yo says he would love to collaborate with Burna Boy, Wizkid, Tems, and CKay.

Ne-Yo made this announcement during a press conference with Flytime music, while preparing to headline the music festival on Wednesday night.

During the press conference, he declared he doesn’t know he had such huge fanbase in Lagos.

He said, “I remember being pleasantly surprised the first time I came to Lagos, Nigeria. I genuinely had no idea that I had such an amazing fan base here.”

Afrobeats has gone global, which made Ne-Yo speaks about getting into the Nigerian style of music to produce Afrobeats sound. He announced that featuring an African artiste already in the Afrobeats space will make the sound more real and authentic.

“For me to sit with producers and go and be like, ‘Let’s do some afrobeat today’, I’ll feel like an imposter”, he said.

“If I want to get into it, I want to be invited by an artiste who’s already there. Let me feature on an artiste who’s already there or I get an artiste who’s already there to feature on something of mine, so that’s authentic and real.

“I’ll love to collaborate with some African artistes. Wizkid is on the list, Tems is on the list, Burna Boy is on the list, and Ckay is on the list.

“I’m just waiting on a phone call basically. I don’t have anybody’s number for me to call. I’m waiting for them to call me.”

Ne-Yo gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario’s 2004 hit “Let Me Love You”. The single’s successful release in the United States prompted an informal meeting between Ne-Yo and Def Jam’s label head and the signing of a recording contract.