Ne-Yo thinks Conor Maynard is just like Marvin Gaye. (!)
The 'Fade Into The Background' hitmaker has branded his pop protégée as being "amazing [alongside] that talent, the potential of those guys like Marvin and The Temptations".
"His tone is insane," he goes on to say (quoted here). "It's really, really rare that I come across a person that has a tone I wish I had. And he's a good kid mentally. That's too few and far between. Everyone has an ego these days but you have to do something to validate that ego, please. But not him, he's having fun, he's not taking the world too serious. I dig that. I told him to cling onto that."
Ne-Yo then had some pretty dull things to say about Motown, but we won't bore you with the details.
He did however pose quite the 'interesting' question regarding musical icons.
"Who was the last real icon to come out of the music industry? Everybody thought it was going to be Lady Gaga, but where is she right now, what's going on with her?"
Oh Ne-Yo.