Pinky Ring
by Ne-Yo (featuring O.T. Genasis)

Album: single release only (2020)
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Songfacts®:

  • Ne-Yo, real name Shaffer Smith, first met his model wife Crystal Renay in 2014 after discussing a possible collaboration for his album Non-Fiction. The pair got married at Terranea Resort near Los Angeles on February 20, 2016, weeks before welcoming their first child, Shaffer Smith, Jr. They had another boy, Roman, in 2018.

    Ne-Yo announced in February 2020 that he and Crystal Smith were ending their marriage. The singer explained on an episode of the Private Talk with Alexis Texas podcast that he used the split as inspiration for this track.

    He added that while he was a little angry when he penned the tune, it's not a negative track directed at Crystal. "The song is not a diss to her - the song is not about her," Ne-Yo said. "The song is about the way I chose to handle the situation, the way I chose to lift myself up and keep moving as we all must do."
  • Ne-Yo boasts during the song about turning the wedding ring returned to him from his ex-wife into a pinky ring.

    She gave back the wedding ring
    I turned it to a pinky ring
    I do not feel bad
    I gave her everything
    Now it's on to better things


    A "pinky ring" is a ring worn on the little finger. Such bands have been worn by myriad people throughout history for a variety of reasons. In the Victorian era, for instance, single men and women might wear a ring on the pinky finger to show a disinterest in marriage.

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