"Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)" Ne-Yo

Ne-Yo's career has been on a downward spiral over the last three years. Following his breakout #1 smash "So Sick" in 2006, he was on top of the R&B game, even earning an Album of the Year nomination for his third studio set, Year of the Gentleman, at the 2009 Grammys. Since the dance-pop boom that same year, the man has barely been scraping relevancy. A foray into the genre with his fourth album was widely ignored by the public, and his only hits since have come singing hooks for Pitbull and Calvin Harris. Yet Ne-Yo's latest single, "Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)," offers more of the same: a synth-y Europop track in which is he an increasingly anonymous vocal presence. It's a perfectly adequate song for the clubs, but there is nothing remotely fresh or exciting about it. (Never mind that clunky mouthful of a title or the fact that "Girl, let me love you, baby" is an actual line in the chorus.) It's hard to imagine this is what his fans were clamoring for; it seems even more unlikely that it's the right move to turn Ne-Yo's fortunes around. B-