John Legend

The singer on his new album of love songs, the Black Lives Matter movement, and why he’s hopeful for the future

On his new album of love songs, Black Lives Matter, and why he’s hopeful.

John Legend’s new album, Bigger Love, is a lush, seductive, often-danceable collection of grown-up love songs, with sweet retro-R&B production touches on nearly every track. There are striking departures, too, like the Coldplay-meets–Kings of Leon power ballad “Wild” (with guitar from Gary Clark Jr.) and the trap/doo-wop hybrid of “Ooh Laa.” In all, it would’ve been a perfect balm for a nation in social isolation; as it happens, Legend ended up releasing it in the midst of worldwide Black Lives Matter protests. “Albums take a while to make,” he says, “and there’s still quite a distance between writing it and putting it out. So you can’t ever be sure exactly what environment you’re going to be releasing it into. But here we are. We’re at this moment.”

This album does touch on politics. “Never Break” could be about a relationship or something broader, right?

Yeah, it was always meant to feel like both. It could be about a couple saying they’re gonna stick together through tough times. But I think it’s more about human resilience. One of my team members feels it’s an ode to our democracy, saying we can get through even these challenges.

If it is about our democracy, are you sure we’ll never break?

I’m not! I’m an optimist by nature, but I think if Trump gets re-elected we won’t have democracy as we know it. He’s already pretty much thrown off all the guardrails.

You’ve been a longtime advocate for criminaljustice reform. What surprises you, if anything, about this current moment?

I’m hopeful, because I see the conversation moving leaps and bounds from where it was before. Part of it is due to the sheer volume and diversity of the coalition in the streets, protesting for justice, asserting that black lives matter — even seeing a Republican senator utter those words. I see momentum toward serious change.

Many white people seem to have understood only in the past few months that police treat black people differently. Is it hard not to wonder what took so long?

Yeah, it’s frustrating because black people have been saying this for a long time. But videos make a big, big difference. And white people have been given reason to believe that they should trust the police, because the police do treat them pretty well most of the time. And so it’s hard for them to realize that we see the police in a completely different way, because we’ve been the subject of so much brutality and unfairness and injustice over the years.

You’re one of the only modern artists to mention Nat “King” Cole as a model. What does he mean to you?

I discovered him through my dad — something about his tone, his piano playing, his phrasing was just so beautiful to me. As I got older, I found out one of my other favorite singers, Marvin Gaye, really looked up to [him] as well. Sometimes I’ve had visions of me hosting a variety show like Nat’s, with music and talk and comedy. When Chrissy [Teigen] and I are doing these Christmas specials and Father’s Day specials, in the back of my mind, I’m thinking of Nat “King” Cole.

I can hear Raphael Saadiq’s touches on this album. But what does “executive producer” really mean in this case?

He helps me decide what songs we put on the album, or the order that we put them in. And when tracks need something else, he helps. So sometimes it’s him personally playing the bass or playing the guitar. Or it’s him calling a drummer that he likes to add some live drums. He played on the track Charlie Puth produced and just made it a little more funky. And then he played on the song “Slow Cooker” and made it more churchy and D’Angelo-ish. And he’s the one that said we should call Gary Clark. So there’s little sprinkles like that that elevate the songs.

You skipped two grades, starting high school so young that other kids called you “Doogie.” How did that affect you?

I was definitely a nerd. I was slow at making friends, slow talking to girls. I was just behind, and you can understand why — you walk into high school, you’re 12 years old, and everyone else is 14. I eventually caught up. But the one thing I wasn’t shy about when I was a freshman was the fact that I could sing. It made other kids notice me and say, “Oh, my God, you sound so good.” Music opened that door for me.

Kanye West was very important to your career. What do you think is going on with him politically?

I heard he was marching in Chicago. That’s an interesting development — we’ll see what happens. My experience of him was that he was never very political to begin with. We were in many conversations together, especially about music, but also about fashion, life, about women. But we almost never talked about politics. He’s made some of the most important and brilliant and beautiful pieces of art we’ve seen in the music business over the past 15 years. I was just in a conversation the other day about the Grammys, and one of the travesties of this era of the Grammys is that Kanye has never won Album of the Year. Also a travesty that Beyoncé hasn’t.