John Legend speaks to heat
John lets us in on how to have ourselves a merry little legendary Christmas
Watch out, Bublé – there’s a Legend hot on your heels and he’s gunning for the title of Mr Christmas. Yes, with a velvet voice of his own, John Legend is releasing his first-ever Christmas album and it’s gearing up to be our soundtrack to the holiday season. Father to two of the showbiz world’s most adorable children (Luna, two, and six-month-old Miles), husband to the inimitable Chrissy Teigen and proud owner of an Emmy, ten Grammys, an Oscar AND a Tony, John’s one of the most lauded singers of his generation. And, what’s more, he’s a gentleman to boot. Here, the 39 year old talks about everything from his wife’s delicious home cooking and producing his very own wine (which we’d like to try, please), to Miles’ first Christmas, further adding to the endless list of reasons why we want to spend the festive season with the Legends… You’re now a family of four – what will Christmas be like this year? It’s kind of brand new, because my daughter was eighteen months last year, so they’re not really that aware at that time. Now that she’s two-and-a-half, we’ll really discover it through her eyes. Our son won’t know anything about what’s happening. But I think finally having Luna at an age where she’ll be aware of what’s going on will be a lot of fun. What made you want to do a Christmas album? I love Christmas music. I love singing with my family for the holidays, I love the memories that it evokes for me, and I feel like my voice and my style of music is really well suited for a Christmas album. So, I felt like if anybody should do one, it should be me. [Laughs.] What do your family think of it? They all like it. Chrissy likes hearing it, Luna, too. We all like to dance to it and we all love Christmas music. I think we’re all unabashedly embracing tradition and the festive spirit, and I think it’s why I featured the family in the album photo shoot – it’s really all about family and love and music.
‘Kanye doesn’t even know what Trump’s policies are’
The world could really use some festive spirit and love. Was that the intention with the album? I do think it’s a kind of an antidote to what’s been happening in politics and just kind of feeling like the world is toxic right now. We wanted to spread some joy, spread some love, and – I’m not going to say it’s explicitly political – but it certainly will encourage people to love each other and connect with each other. You’re quite outspoken about politics – how do you think we came to where we are now? I think there’s been a real radicalisation on the right wing in America, and other places throughout the world – we’ve seen it in certain countries in Europe where the far right has been emboldened and been even a little bit more popular than they used to be. And I think in America, part of it was a backlash to the first black president and the diversification of America. I think certain people are aware of that and feel like they’re going to lose something in that process. And so there’s been a backlash. There are enough followers to make these movements something to be reckoned with, and something we should be worried about as a global culture. What can we do about it? I do believe that there are more people in the world that want the world to be peaceful, that want the world to be loving, that want the world to be inclusive and accepting. But it’s a strong enough minority of people that want to build walls and sow division that we should be worried about it, and we should be vigilant. And those who love peace, and those who care about inclusion and equality and justice need to come together, be vigilant and speak out, and do something about making sure those dark forces don’t gain too much power. We hate to bring it up, but Kanye… Yeah. It’s all very disconcerting. I think the bottom line is, Kanye’s been seduced by the marketing appeal, the persona of Trump that reminds him so much of himself. That’s what he’s been seduced by. And I don’t know that he even knows what Trump’s policies are, or the substance of his legislative programme. But I think he sees a lot of himself in Trump, and he admires that. And it’s unfortunate. Anyway, back to Yuletide joy – you’re doing 25 shows to promote your album. Aren’t you worried you’ll be fed up with Christmas before the holidays even start? Who knows how I’ll feel after that tour, but I think after the tour and then a significant break from Christmas, I’ll probably actually want to do some more! Are you going all out with the stage show? We’re going to make it Christmassy. We’re going to have decorations and fully embrace the retro vibe. I think we set the tone with the album photo shoot and we’ll continue with that tone for the tour. Didn’t you previously work with the Queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey? Yeah, we did a song called When Christmas Comes. Even at the time, Mariah was like, “You need to do a Christmas album.” And I agreed and I just didn’t feel like I had the time at that time to do it. But I made time this year and I’m glad I did. You’ll be doing a festive film next… Oh, we’re already are making one! We announced it recently. We’re executive producing a film with
Netflix called Jingle Jangle. It’s an original live-action Christmas musical. I’m writing songs for it and executive producing it. wow – America really goes mad for Christmas, don’t they? People love it. I think America… well, I think the combination of commercialism and religion, all of that together I think is perfect for America. will you be spoiling your kids? I feel like they’re already spoiled. I don’t think we need to go extra with Christmas. They get so many gifts anyways, because brands send us free stuff all the time. Every day we get new stuff. A lot of it we just give away, but the kids get so much stuff – I don’t think we’ll spoil them any more for Christmas. We’ll just try to keep it at a normal level. that’ll be tough… Yeah. It’s hard. [Laughs.] I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be a kid like my kids, because I grew up in a house where it was very different. My parents were working class. My dad worked in a factory, and we couldn’t afford a lot. We couldn’t afford to have these huge Christmas celebrations with big gifts. It was all about family, it was about music, it was about food, but it wasn’t about material things at all. So, it’s weird raising kids that are having very much the opposite experience, where they’re surrounded by privilege and wealth and don’t want for anything. It’s hard to know how to deal with Christmas with them. what was Christmas like for you as a child? We would go to Granny’s house. We would sing around her piano and exchange small gifts around the family. It was beautiful, and we still go home to Ohio [where John grew up] sometimes for Christmas. But now that everybody’s grown up and has their own kids, it’s hard to get everyone together all at once. Your wife wrote a cookery book – you must have some delicious home cooking over the holidays… Absolutely. Chrissy’s a really great home cook. I work with her. I’ll assist her in the kitchen, I’m the sous chef. And we have a lot of fun. And you have your own wine… Yes! I make wine in Napa Valley [America’s wine-making region]. It’s been three years now. It’s called LVE – Legend Vineyard Exclusive – and it’s kind of short for “love”, too. We’ve got a Cabernet Sauvignon, we’ve got a Chardonnay, we’ve got a rosé from France and we’ve got a local red blend from Napa Valley. what got you into making wine? I love wine. I enjoy it throughout all my travels. I felt like it’d be cool to partner with a great wine maker, and we found one in Napa. We’ve been making wine together for the past three years. So, you basically have the best homemade gifts to give all your friends? Absolutely. It’s like the perfect Christmas basket: Chrissy’s cookbook, my wine and a Christmas album!