Ne-Yo revealed the release date of his highly-anticipated, country-inspired record, and delivered the newest track from the album on Friday (May 22).

The Grammy-winning R&B icon debuted “Ms. Tundra” from Highway 79. Ne-Yo wrote the “high-tempo, line dance ready anthem” with Claude Kelly and producer Chuck Harmony. “Ms. Tundra” follows “Simple Things” and “Up Out & Gone” from Ne-Yo’s country-inspired album, and “leans into playful storytelling and crowd-driven energy,” states a press release issued Friday morning.

Ne-Yo, 46, titled his upcoming record as a nod to his birth year and after a highway Arkansas. The Arkansas-born artist first teased country-inspired chapter on the Joe and Jada podcast last year. Ne-Yo caught up with iHeartRadio about his country-inspired era on the red carpet at the 59th Country Music Association Awards in November 2025. The show took place at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Ne-Yo said he’s “been a country music fan forever.” He said his interest in the genre “started with Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, and just kind of been going from there. My next project is a country-inspired project. I won’t call it a country album because I’m not a country artist. I feel like that’s a little disrespectful. But definitely inspired by all the things I love about country music.”

Ne-Yo, who marked the 20th anniversary of his first No. 1 single around that time, presented an award at the CMAs. The following night, he delivered his debut performance at the historic Grand Ole Opry. He performed his 2005 hit, “So Sick” in honor of its 20th anniversary, debuted “Simple Things,” and teamed up with The War and Treaty on a Rascal Flatts cover. Ne-Yo said it was “a literal dream come true for me. I could not be more grateful.”

“I’ll put it this way: I’ve touched the Grammys stage, American Music Awards, BET music Awards, MTV Music Awards, I’ve circled the globe a few different times. The Opry is one of those that was on the bucket list that I wasn’t sure if I was ever gonna get to mark off. I get to mark it off tomorrow,” Ne-Yo said when he caught up with iHeartRadio at the CMA Awards on November 19, 2025.

Ne-Yo spoke about his country-inspired project with Joseph Hudak, Deputy Editor and Head of Country at Rolling Stone, on the Nashville Now podcast last month. The R&B superstar said many people warned him that Nashville would be “really cliquey,” but his journey “has been the exact opposite.” He said on the podcast, “I hate to admit it, but I came out here kind of expecting something like that. And I gotta say, my experience has been the exact opposite. Every single person that I’ve worked with out here has embraced what I’m trying to do with open arms. You know, everybody’s interested and intrigued about how I’m going to take what I do, and what country music is, and kind of fuze them together, and what that could sound like. And everybody’s just been real receptive.”

Ne-Yo said on the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards red carpet earlier this year that Highway 79 is “inspired by all the things I love about country music. I honestly feel like it would be disrespectful for me to say I'm doing a country album when I know for a fact that there are artists that eat, sleep, live, and breathe country music 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And then for me to just jump in and say, ‘Oh I’m doing a country album,’” he said. “So this is music that is inspired by what I love about country music.”

Ne-Yo is currently on the “Nights Like This Tour” with Akon. Highway 79 will arrive on July 10. Listen to “Ms. Tundra” here:

Gyth Rigdon

Whiskey River Charlotte

Thursday August 1, 2019