*After releasing his first two albums in as many years, Ne-Yo was planning to slow down with the recording of his third album in hopes of developing a unique R&B sound. But things didn't go as planned.

       "I wanted the third album to be something a little different from the first and second as far as the essence and the sound of what I was doing," he tells Billboard of the Def Jam set, due June 24. "So I was going to chill for a minute and really take some time to figure out what I wanted that to be. Fortunately, it didn't take me that long, which is why the album's coming out now."      

       Judging by the handful of tracks previewed by Billboard, "Year of the Gentleman" delivers on its promise of offering something a little different from traditional R&B.      

       According to the magazine, "Closer" is a Stargate-produced club track with pulsing strobe-light synths and a high-energy house beat that calls to mind Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music." "So You Can Cry" sports a mellow, easy-listening vibe, with Ne-Yo making a priceless rhyme of "pity party" and "calamari." Guitars and cymbals figure prominently in "What's the Matter," which Ne-Yo likens to "a Beatles-style rock record."      

       In addition to Stargate, other producers on the set include members of Ne-Yo’s Atlanta-based Compound Entertainment crew (the HeavyWeights, Shay Taylor, Chuck Harmony), as well as Christopher "Tricky" Stewart and J.R. Rotem, who struck radio gold last year with his protege Sean Kingston.      

       His tour with Alicia Keys and Jordin Sparks began Saturday (April 19) in Hampton, Va. In the coming months, the artist has at least two forays into movies and TV: a script in development at Fox Atomic that he says "is going to be in the vein of 'Purple Rain'" and an animated series about which he’s in talks with Cartoon Network.