By Tristan Weisenbach
Arts & Leisure Assistant Editor
Singer, songwriter and “The Voice” mentor John Legend produced his most up-to-date self-titled album “LEGEND” on Friday, incorporating lots of different genres of music into one particular assorted collection of tunes.
The album, which features a whole of twelve other artists including JID, Jhené Aiko and Rick Ross, blends with each other the conventional appears of R&B and soul with upbeat, energetic rhythms usually found in pop music. Legend, who is generally recognised to equally produce and release R&B songs, appears to be branching out into other genres.
By featuring so quite a few artists all over the 24-monitor album, Legend has shown his capacity of collaborating with other massive-identify artists of different musical genres to acquire a additional prevalent psychological composition. The tune “Splash,” which features Ty Dolla $ign, blends pop and classical styles with upbeat instrumentation and a mellow piano outro. “All She Wanna Do” is a different gentle, everyday pop music that contains exciting, flirty vocals from Saweetie.
“LEGEND,” however, is also loaded with psychological and heartfelt vocals on a quantity of tracks. In the music titled “Memories,” Legend’s lyrics explore how satisfying it is to make prolonged-long lasting memories. The song touches on soberness and how authentic adore can sprout from merely paying high-quality time with anyone: “And now that it is over/And we’re at last sober/We produced memories.”
“Stardust” is a music that highlights Legend’s full, uncooked vocals accompanied by smooth yet impressive strings and piano. Lyrically, he stresses the worth of really like that is developed on believe in and acceptance in traces these kinds of as “Tell me what you are hiding/I’ll really like you just the same.” This message resonates with listeners, reassuring them that no subject who they are, they are special and “made of stardust.”
Legend’s tune “Good” is an uplifting and peaceful duet in between himself and featured singer Ledisi. The track incorporates numerous aspects of soul audio, and again, has extremely uncooked and impressive vocals. The two emphasize how “good” it feels to be delighted and optimistic although also expressing how terrifying it could be to commence down a very good path in life following getting formerly dealt with trauma or disappointment.
The album wraps up with a deeply psychological and loving track, titled “Home,” in which Legend’s lyrics are directed in the direction of anyone he deeply cares about. He reassures them that he will normally be there “As long as [his] coronary heart is beating.” The spectacular string accompaniment to Legend’s popular vocals throughout this track would make for a great ending to an album crammed with a broad vary of emotions.
In an Instagram article, Legend mirrored on his thoughts and intentions powering this album, expressing that his aim was to make this a “vulnerable, non secular and reflective” assortment of tracks. He credited his wife, Chrissy Tiegen, together with his household for staying the primary inspirations for his newest songs.
John Legend’s self-titled album explores the ups and downs of existence via his utilization of quite a few different genres of new music. In a earth of uncertainty like we dwell in now, Legend presents his listeners with a information of reassurance and hope, encouraging them to make the ideal of any problem and to cherish their near associations and loved kinds.