Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	B−
Los Angeles Times
PopMatters	(7/10)
Robert Christgau
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
Stylus Magazine	B
USA Today
Vibe

In My Own Words is the debut album of American singer-songwriter Ne-Yo, released on February 28, 2006. Four singles were released from the album, "Stay", "So Sick", "When You're Mad", and "Sexy Love". The first single, "Stay", was not as successful is its successors, being Ne-Yo's only song so far to not chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 301,000 copies sold. Ne-Yo went on tour in August 2006 with Chris Brown and Dem Franchize Boyz. The album was subsequently certified platinum with 1.6 million copies sold in the U.S., and 2 million copies sold worldwide. Upon its release, the album received generally positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 69/100 from Metacritic.

Ne-Yo wrote the lyrics for each song on the album. Norwegian producers StarGate produced the hit single, "So Sick", and also contributed "Sexy Love", "Let Go", and "Time" for the debut LP. Other producers on the album include Ron "Neff-U" Feemster, Brian "B-Nasty" Reid, and Jai "King" Titus of Drama Family Entertainment, who produced the first single, "Stay", and the club-friendly "Sign Me Up" as well.

Upon its release, In My Own Words received generally positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 69, which indicates "generally favorable" reviews, based on 21 reviews.

In his home country of United States, In My Own Words debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with 301,000 copies sold in its first week. In its second week, the album remained in the top ten at Billboard 200, fell to number five, selling 113,000 copies (down 62 percent). In its third week, the album jump to number four on the chart, selling 77,000 copies (down 33 percent). On March 29, 2006, the album has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for sales of over a million copies. As of March 2007, In My Own Words has sold 1.4 million copies in the United States.

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Wikipedia