Out of all of the Verzuz shows that have gone down since the online inception of the series, there hasn’t been one talked about quite like that of its most recent R&B matchup. We’ve been steadily reporting on the ups and downs of the pre-show and main event that recently went down in Los Angeles with Ray J, Sammie, Bobby V, Pleasure P, Mario, and Omarion. There were takeaway moments that left viewers bewildered, verbal jabs that got a tad uncomfortable, and off-key singing that made for memes.
However, while chatting with The Cruz Show at the BET Awards Content Hub over the weekend, Ne-Yo discussed the Verzuz, and while he could see the humor of it all, he seemed disappointed in the execution.
“I was there. I was in the house, I was there,” he said, adding there was no way he was taking to the stage. “But the first part of the show, man, I just feel like that was an opportunity for it to be a real moment for R&B and cats kinda got in they feelings a little bit and turned in into something other than R&B. It was weird.”
“And then the main event, a performer versus a singer—I’m sorry, a performer versus a sanger—the performer’s always going to struggle, especially if you don’t sang your damn self, you know what I mean?” He clarified that he loves Omarion, but doubled down that in this particular Verzuz element, Mario had the better chops.
“Omarion got to use his whole body to get the same response that Mario can get with just his voice. That’s the difference.” Ne-Yo made sure to state once again that he has love for all of the Verzuz performers but insisted there was a clear winner.
Watch Ne-Yo share his thoughts below.