Ne-Yo kicks off the weekend with his highly-anticipated, country-inspired record.

The Grammy-winning icon, known for his signature R&B soul, debuted Highway 79 on Friday (July 10), marking his 10th studio record of his decades-long career and his first country endeavor. Ne-Yo titled the 11-track project as a nod to a highway in his home state of Arkansas, before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada. Highway 79 includes previously-released tracks “Simple Things,” “Up Out & Gone” — which reached No. 1 in R&B earlier this week — “Ms. Tundra,” and “Thinking What I'm Thinking.”

Ne-Yo teamed up with renowned songwriters and creative giants in Nashville, Tennessee, including Luke Laird, Charles Kelley of Lady A, BRELAND, Rhett Akins, Chuck Harmony and Tayla Parx, notes a press release announcing Highway 79’s arrival. The release states that Ne-Yo’s newest project “showcases the natural intersection between country storytelling and R&B soul.”

Ne-Yo said in a recent interview with iHeartRadio that the album-making process in Nashville felt “like a breath of fresh air to me because I needed the music to feel like something again. The process of making music had started feeling real robotic and commercial and just started feel like a job, to be honest with you.

“I didn't want to disrespect the genre, disrespect any of the artists that had come before me in this genre,” he said later in the conversation, reflecting on why a significant moment meant so much to him. “I don't think that it would've been right for me to come out and say, ‘This is a country album,’ when this is my first attempt at anything even remotely country, and there's artists that eat, sleep, live and breathe country music all day long, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I felt like it'd be distressed when you do that. So, I needed to make sure that people knew that I was being genuine with this music as opposed to putting on a cowboy hat, ‘No, now your country.’ No, it was more to it than that. And yeah, the Grand Ole Opry was kind of a thumbs up for me like, ‘OK, you're doing the right thing. You're doing the right thing.’ …I wanted to do well. I wanted to do well. I wanted to impress and I feel like I did unless everybody lies to me while I got offstage. I feel like I did. So, it was good.”

Ne-Yo made his debut on the historic Grand Ole Opry stage in November 2025, one day after he attended the Country Music Association’s 59th CMA Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. Ne-Yo was looking ahead to his country-inspired chapter while celebrating the 20th anniversary of his career-launching debut single, “So Sick.” He credited Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers and other legendary artists with solidifying his interest in the genre and delivering vulnerable, expert storytelling.

On the Fourth of July, he and McEntire were two of many artists in the genre-spanning Star-Spangled Bash. Ryan Seacrest hosted the genre-spanning show, which also included Brothers Osborne, Clint Black, Little Big Town, Tim McGraw, The All-American Rejects, Boyz II Men, Elizabeth Nichols, Emily Ann Roberts, John Crist, Lauren Daigle, Nick Jonas, and Sublime. Ne-Yo took the stage in Nashville amid his global, co-headlining tour with Akon, a “nostalgic” run of shows that also stirs anticipation for fresh chapters for both artists. The tour wraps up on August 21 in Los Angeles, California. Ne-Yo told iHeartRadio he feels “blessed” as he looks ahead to what’s next.

“Every day it's me thanking God that I get to love my job because I know people that don’t,” Ne-Yo said. “I know people my age and older that hate what they do for a living and that is not my reality. So I'm just eternally grateful for it all.”

Find the full Highway 79 album on iHeartRadio here, and listen to a few of the tracks below.

Christina Martinez

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