Ne-Yo–So Sick

Released January 24, 2006.
Billboard: Peaked at #1.
UK Charts: Peaked at #1.

To begin with, the video for this song is pretty impressive. The snowy landscapes in the background are nice to look at and complement the smooth background instrumentals. I’ve also been a fan, I guess you could say, of Ne-Yo’s voice – from this (relatively) old piece to his later work like Because of You, Hate That I Love You, and up to the recent One In A Million. It makes for a strong, rather dim yet still emotionally considerable piece that’s rather nice on the whole. Looking at the cover, though, I wonder what’s with the pencil. Anyway, pencil scores points for me – I like carrying a pen or writing instrument around with me too!

Lyrically this one’s a bit of a puzzle. Of course, there’s the pretty obvious interpretation that he’s lost his girl, and, well, he’s “so over being blue, (over) crying over (the girl)”. These are self-assertions he tries to make; even though the ground supporting them is weak as he still struggles to accept the relationship as closed (so why can’t I turn off the radio?). He still holds on to memories of his girl, and despite knowing it’s over, he still hasn’t fully accepted it in his heart. The love songs that his character’s “so sick” of only serve to hurt him further, because hearing them causes him to recall the memories that he had with his ex. This interpretation works pretty well, and the lyrics in this way are effective at portraying the depth of Ne-Yo’s character’s pain.

However, So Sick is clearly a love song too – and not just that, it’s pretty much “so sad and slow” (note that there’s nothing wrong with such songs at all!) as far as songs go. I don’t know, but to me this seems like a pretty powerful use of irony – yes, he tries to believe that he’s sick of these love songs, and by extension is sick of the girl – yet, he really can’t get over it at all, as evidenced by him not just listening to such songs, but even singing one himself!

Thus, I guess it seems that once the puzzle is ironed out a little, the song falls into place. In my opinion, it’s a great song – and though it’s one of his earliest releases, as far as I’m concerned it’s one of his best as well. It’s strong both performance-wise and lyric-wise.

OVERALL RATING = 8.0 / 10
So Sick basically tells the story of Ne-Yo’s character’s heartbreak over his loss of a girl, and explores the tensions between his knowledge that the relationship is over and his desire for the relationship to continue. The story is told and delivered very well, though.