clean, rounded yet consistent production, the album has an appealing azure quality." Billboard found that "though, at times, the lyrics are a bit too sentimental and production is spotty, In My Own Words should have listeners clinging to Ne-Yo's every word." Kelefa Sanneh, writer for The New York Times, complimented Ne-Yo for his "smooth" writing and added: "Not everything on this CD is that brilliant, or that shameless, but Ne-Yo is a deft and appealing player in the game of modern-day R&B." Slightly less impressed, Slant Magazines Sal Cinquemani found that In My Own Words "might pale next to [John] Legend’s stellar debut, but, even at its Robert Kelly worst, it’s not hateable. And isn’t that all one can ask for from mainstream R&B these days?" Blender wrote that "even at its weepiest, his music, thankfully, stays vivacious." Raymond Fiore from Entertainment Weekly called the album a "confident if slightly underwhelming debut." Commercial performance In his home country of the 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. Track listing Notes signifies an additional producer Sample credits "Stay" contains an interpolation of "Stay with Me", written by Mark DeBarge and Etterlene Jordan, and performed by DeBarge. "It Just Ain't Right" contains a sample of "I Call Your Name", written by Bobby DeBarge and Gregory Williams, and performed Switch. "Get Down Like That" contains a sample from The O'Jays' "I Swear, I Love No One But You", written by Bunny Sigler and performed by The O'Jays. Personnel Credits adapted from album's liner notes. Tom Coyne – mastering Kevin "KD" Davis – mixing (tracks 3–6, 8, 9, 11, 13) Mikkel S. Eriksen – producer, engineer, and all instruments (tracks 3, 10–12) Ron "Neff-U" Feemstar – producer (tracks 1, 7) Ghostface Killah – rap (track 13) Larry Gold – strings (track 12) Tor Erik