Ne-Yo has already been gearing up for a new album! This will be album #3 for the songwriter. It seems that this new track leaked, “Closer,” is said to be his first single from the set, which apparently titled Year of the Gentleman. It seems that Ne-Yo has taken a clue and gone for a more pop-driven sound for the third album. Interestingly enough, I didn’t really get into the track until the beat dropped.

“I’m trying to take it back to where you couldn’t walk out of the house unless you looked your best,” the singer/songwriter recently told MTV News.

Even though I can’t say that I agree with this being the single, I am interest to see what direction Ne-Yo is going to take with this new album. I love his songs, and I love the material that he writes for other people – but I just haven’t been able to get with Ne-Yo as a recording artist for some reason. He’s one of those people that I love in the background. He needs to be working on getting his label together! But then again, he is one of the only men that Def Jam has these days…

More news from Ne-Yo as information is released. Check out his MySpace for more music from Ne-Yo’s latest album, Because of You.