New Year’s Eve offers a few guarantees: drunk, raucous crowds with tacky countdown goggles, a boom in sales for streamers, confetti and whistles and, for those who decide to celebrate from the couch, "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve."

For its 39^th consecutive year, the show, now hosted by Ryan Seacrest after Clark suffered a stroke in 2004, will once again ring in the new year with an impressive lineup.

The more than three-hour bicoastal celebration will feature performances from Drake, Willow Smith, Jennifer Hudson, La Roux, Far East Movement, Jason Derülo, Mike Posner, Natasha Bedingfield, Ne-Yo, Avril Lavigne and Train from both Los Angeles and Times Square in New York.

Black Eyed Peas frontwoman Fergie is returning for a fifth year to host the Hollywood portion, while Seacrest will be joined by funny girl-cum-bestselling author Jenny McCarthy from Times Square.  

As usual, Clark will be doing the countdown to midnight from the comfort and warmth of ABC studios.

-- Gerrick D. Kennedy
twitter.com/gerrickkennedy

Photo: Willow Smith performs live at the holiday tree lighting and opening of the L.A. Kings' holiday ice rink at L.A. Live on Saturday. Credit: Katy Winn / Associated Press

There’s one inherent problem with Ne-Yo’s “Libra Scale,” and it’s not lack of vision. Always suave, smooth and something of a debonair, Ne-Yo goes high concept for his fourth album, crafting a 10-song cycle in which the quest for love is turned into a battle of good and evil. Listeners are teased a story of superheroes and city-destroying monsters, but even when Ne-Yo dreams big, his fantasies are charmingly modest. A “definition of a good time,” he sings on album-opener “Champagne Life,” is a “nice meal and good wine.”

The fantasy ambitions are almost entirely left with the liner notes, as once the album opens with digital twinkles, it’s clear Ne-Yo is staying in his well-established universe. His is a world where even the most tormented love songs are delivered with some of the gentlest vocals in modern R&B, and Michael Jackson-influenced ballads are the national anthem. The steady, hand-driven percussion of “Telekensis” is lost in old-school synthesizers, and the connection Ne-Yo hopes for is less physical than intellectual. A dash of ‘70s funk is used to great effect in “Crazy Love,” where guitar inflections meld into orchestral flourishes, and love is the harbinger of little more than self-doubt.

Ne-Yo’s perspective can be refreshingly direct. “I’m gonna get on your damn nerves, and you’re gonna make me mad,” he sings on “Genuine Only,” a lyrical approach that’s more grown-up than smooth criminal.

Yet when Ne-Yo turns to hitmakers StarGate for “Beautiful Monster,” the thumping club-groove and rave effects drench Ne-Yo in disco-electronics that don’t play to his strengths. Album closer “What Have I Done” could’ve been a thing of beauty. Instead, it’s a slave to the theme, and the tears are lost in the Space Mountain-like whooshes. Ultimately, it’s admirable that Ne-Yo felt the need to take listeners on an out-of-this-world ride, but he’s at his best when sticking closer to home.

--Todd Martens

Ne-Yo
“Libra Scale”
Island Def-Jam
Two and a half stars (Out of four)

So, have you heard the new rave-inspired pop single about the allure of monsters?

Yeah, so Ne-Yo's new single, "Beautiful Monster," has some topical and sonic precedent on the charts. But that shouldn't inherently detract from any new occasion for the suavest guy in pop to uncork another single, especially a first hint at the forthcoming album, "Libra Scale."

"Monster" is yet another exhibit in the evidence bin that the radio is moving on from '80s nostalgia and into the electronica of the '90s -- the big filter sweeps, house beats and decimated snare builds are from his favored producer Stargate. Ne-Yo's searching inflection could make frequent Daft Punk vocalist Romanthony bolt out of bed with envy, and that wide-open bridge breakdown is as hands-in-the-air as anything you'll hear on a Koh Phangan full moon party.