Before I could even give Beautiful Monster a first listen, Twitter and the blogs were already slamming it so hard that I thought about leaving it well enough alone. But I listened.

Is it great? No. But it isn’t as ZOMG shockingly awful as the urban blogosphere would have you believe. Ne-Yo is obviously capitalizing on the urban-y dance music craze that’s swept the nation. It’s catchy enough to pick up some steam on Top 40 radio, but I doubt that’s what Ne-Yo was going for.

For some reason, I get the feeling Ne-Yo thought he was going to revolutionize pop/urban music with this (look at the single cover. He’s serious y’all.). He didn’t. He churned out the same stuff we’ve been hearing for the last few months. Ne-Yo is urban/dance/pop’s Xtina. He’s a day late, and noboby’s that impressed.

That being said. This will probably go Top 10. Eh? That's life.

Ne-Yo - 'Beautiful Monster' [Download]