Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)

Album: R.E.D. (2012)
Charted: 1 6
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Songfacts®:

  • The second single from Ne-Yo's fifth studio album, R.E.D., was penned by the R&B singer-songwriter with Norwegian production team Stargate, British House producer Mark Hadfield, UK electronic musician Mike Di Scala, and Australian singer-songwriter Sia Furler. The song was released July 10, 2012.
  • R.E.D. contains the love songs that Ne-Yo is known for. However, now he has two young children, being a father has influenced his creativity. "[I'm] being a little more conscious of the songs that I write," he told The Boombox. "I do music that adults can enjoy, I do music that kids can enjoy. I try to see myself comfortably in the middle of all that."
  • The song was Ne-Yo's fourth UK #1 on which he was the main artist. There has been a neat arithmetic symmetry to his quartet of chart-toppers, as there has been a gap of two years between each one, his previous three being 2006's "So Sick," 2008's "Closer" and 2010's "Beautiful Monster."

    Ne-Yo was also a featured artist and writer on Pitbull's 2011 UK #1 "Give Me Everything (Tonight)."
  • The song's title is oddly similar to the Mario chart-topping track "Let Me Love You," which Ne-Yo wrote the lyrics for. That tune was the first American #1 that Ne-Yo worked on.
  • The song was Ne-Yo's first top 10 entry on the Hot 100 as an artist since the #7 charting "Miss Independent" in 2008. An international hit, it was Motown's best selling song worldwide, since Boyz II Men's "End Of The Road" in 1992.
  • Regarding the song's meaning, Ne-Yo told MTV News: "The song is about the importance of loving yourself, which I felt was something that's few and far between these days, with everyone getting plastic surgery this and cosmetic surgery that and just not understanding that you being who you are is your perfection. Everybody's searching for this unreal perfection, and it's kind of sad, so I feel like the song came along absolutely at the right time."

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