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Home • News

Must-See: Ne-Yo Tells the Story Behind Writing Beyoncé's 'Irreplaceable'

Ne-Yo said he experimented with country and hip-hop sounds for Beyoncé’s Irreplaceable.
Must-See: Ne-Yo Tells the Story Behind Writing Beyoncé’s ‘Irreplaceable’
Larry Busacca/Getty Images for PEPSI
By Myeisha Essex · Updated October 28, 2020

Behind The Music – Ne-Yo – Ne-Yo Behind The Music Tune-in 9/23 At 9/8c

The latest episode of VH1’s Behind The Music was a glimpse into the personal and professional life of R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo. Along with telling his story to stardom, the episode included a special Behind The Song segment of the making of Beyoncé’s No. 1 Billboard hit “Irreplaceable.”

Ne-yo wrote and produced “Irreplaceable” with production duo Stargate, best known for Rihanna’s “Unfaithful” and Ne-Yo’s “So Sick.” He described the song’s sound as “urban-feeling drums over what sounds more country type guitars.”

“There’s a multitude of points throughout my career that re-inspired, where everybody will start telling you that this will never work, that will never work, probably don’t want to experiment, [don’t] give people what they don’t know, don’t go too far outside of the box,” he said. “We took country guitars and put a hip-hop verse over it and wrote a country-hip-hop song and it works. We experimented with something and it worked.”

Be sure to check out the video of Ne-Yo’s Behind The Song to find out what motivated him to write the song’s most popular lyrics, “To the left, to the left.” And just in case you missed the show’s Sunday premiere, be sure to watch Ne-Yo’s full Behind The Music on VH1. 

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