Background
Year of the Gentleman was named in honor of Ne-Yo's artistic influences. Ne-Yo cited the 1960s American group Rat Pack, particularly members Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. as influences, whose style inspired his clothes and music. Explaining the album's title, he said he was "trying to take it back to where you couldn't walk out of the house unless you looked your best". Commenting on the likes of the Rat Pack and Nat King Cole he commented that "they're suited and everything is right from top to bottom. Not saying it has to be a suit, 'cause clothes don't make the man — it's the attitude and person. The music needs to personify that.". No featurings are present on the album, as previously announced, though "Single" also features as a version with New Kids on the Block on their album, The Block.
Although Ne-Yo has claimed that he wanted to "take a different direction" on the album by not making R&B sounds, however, according to Billboard magazine, "it seems he still has a heavy—yet welcome—case of the (rhythm and) blues on the finished product". The scene in the background for the cover was shot at the $20 million dollar mansion, known as Pink Palace, in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia.
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