On "Cracks in Mr. Perfect," the confessional opener on his fifth LP, Ne-Yo is the sort of beautiful smoothie who fucks you without a condom, then shrugs sheepishly and says, "It's our imperfections that truly make us perfect." Bullshit notwithstanding, his silky phrasing gilds an impressively broad mix: steamy R&B ("Lazy Love"), bighearted dance pop ("Let Me Love You [Until You Learn to Love Yourself]") and hip-hop soul ("Don't Make 'Em Like You," with a sick slow-mo groove and a charming Wiz Khalifa rap), even a country crossover ballad ("She Is"). Still, as peers like Frank Ocean and Miguel boldly reimagine commercial R&B, this often feels less like vision than parsing market research.

Listen to'R.E.D.' 

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.