Good Man

Album: Good Man (2018)
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Songfacts®:

  • Here, Ne-Yo sings about remaining faithful to his woman. "Good Man" was inspired by the singer's first date with his now wife, Crystal. He recalled to Revolt TV that he told Crystal he "wanted to discuss everything that anyone has ever told [her] that is possibly a deal-breaker when dealing with [her] in a relationship."

    Ne-Yo added that for the song, he "took everything that she was a deal-breaker and reversed it and those are the lyrics to this song. Specific to her and the things that she does not like. So this is me saying that I will never do any of those things, or at least I'd try not to, try no to do 'em a lot."
  • Ne-Yo posted on Instagram, "We Gotta Make Being Faithful to One Woman Cool Again Like 90's R&B Songs." He explained how the Instagram post linked with the soulful track in an interview for a Genius talk show:

    "This song came out exactly the way I heard it in my head, exactly the way I envisioned it," he said, in reference to "Good Man." "I am super-duper proud of the record, on top of it just being the right climate for the record. We've got rape charge this, and sexual harassment case that, and it's, like, in this climate, where yet again we as men have forgotten what it is we're supposed to do in reference to these women."

    Ne-Yo added that the track reflects his own internal reflections and poor choices in the past, a concept which runs throughout the record.

    "The album is about the journey of a good man," he explained. "No man is born a good man. You have to go through some stuff, break some hearts, get your heart broken in order to get to the point where you make the decision to be a good man."
  • "Good Man" samples D'Angelo's Voodoo track "Untitled (How Does It Feel)". Ne-Yo told Revolt TV regarding borrowing from the classic ballad:

    "To be honest... I didn't really feel any pressure at all. I mean, that's a great song, that's a timeless song, it's classic, it'll never get old, it'll never die. Which for me was inspiration to add my spin to it as supposed, 'oh, let me not mess with that.' Nah, I mean that song is always gon' be song. This is just my version, the Ne-Yo edge on that song. Taking nothing from that song, that nothing from D'Angelo, I love you to death."

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