Chrisette Michele tries to be less independent

By GLENN GAMBOA

NEW YORK — Chrisette Michele laughs as she turns to her hit-making collaborator and confidant, Ne-Yo, who’s seated nearby at Electric Lady Studios in the West Village.

“Do I tell this story?” she asks.

“You might as well,” Ne-Yo replies.

“It’s a horrible story,” Michele explains, “but a good story because we all learn.”

For the Patchogue, N.Y., native, it’s a story that explains a lot about her — how she approached her Grammy-winning debut, “I Am”; how things changed for her new album, “Epiphany,” which hit stores Tuesday; how she ended up working with Ne-Yo; and how she turned down one of the biggest hits of the decade.

Her voice gets quiet as she starts: “The last album, I was like, ‘There is no way anybody is writing on my album. I’ve been writing since I was a kid. I’m a poet. I can recite “Crystal Staircase” and I’m from New York.’ I don’t know why that was a part of it, but it was.

“So I get this song that my A&R plays for me and it’s ‘Irreplaceable,’ and I’m like, ‘Nah! It’s cool, but it’s not me. I’m a jazzhead,”’ she continues, laughing. “So I turn it down. A couple months later, ‘To the left, to the left’ is every-stinking-where.

“Love that song now! Love it,” Michele says, as she thinks of what she could have done with the song Ne-Yo wrote and Beyonc turned into a smash. “And so, I learned something about myself. What I learned was that it takes a village to raise a child. No man is an island. I’m not here by myself. Somebody else besides me has a great idea. And that was part of my epiphany over these past six months — recognizing that there are amazing people all around me who don’t want anything more than to lend themselves to who I am, to give to me who they are and allow me to experience life through their eyes. And that’s what Ne-Yo was able to give to me; he was able to give me a beautiful perception of my own life.”

Not that Michele’s life was in a bad place. A performance major at Five Towns College, she made a big splash in 2006 by singing on Jay-Z’s “Lost One” and Nas’ “Can’t Forget About You,” memorable appearances that landed her a record deal with Def Jam Records and her own debut, “I Am.”

The album, which was filled with Jill Scott-ish neo-soul and jazz-tinged R&B, landed Michele a lot of admirers, including in-demand singer-songwriter Ne-Yo. “It doesn’t take a long time to find someone in this business who’s truly genuine because they stick out like a sore thumb,” he says.