John Legend had been using his honorific stage surname for nearly 20 years when he felt that his track record finally merited its use as an album title. The EGOT with a dozen Grammys somehow fought the urge until his eighth proper studio album.
Legend, divided into halves, is an 80-minute set executive produced in tandem with "A Bigger Love" co-writer/co-producer
Ryan Tedder (
Beyonce,
Adele,
Taylor Swift). The first disc is primarily uptempo and loved up. Effervescent songs like "Waterslide," "Dope," and "All She Wanna Do" seem purpose-built for amusement parks and fairgrounds to remind visitors that they're having fun. (The latter song is heard in versions with and without a bouncy, Top Boy-referencing verse from
Saweetie.) Better are the leisurely and awed numbers with a deeper soul foundation. "Strawberry Blush" is a strings-sweetened connection with
Free Nationals,
Anderson .Paak affiliates who answer the call with one of their breeziest grooves. The grittier "You" has delicate touches of Philly and Chicago soul -- a little
O'Jays, a little
Curtis Mayfield -- enlivened by
Legend's very strong falsetto game. Disc two, heavier on ballads, also contains more stylistic and emotional variety with a lasting partnership as a frequent setting. The feel-good, reassuring "I Want You to Know" could easily morph into a rocksteady cover of
the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There," while "Speak in Tongues," swaying and romantic, benefits from the presence of
Jada Kingdom. Surprisingly, the songs informed by Jamaica outnumber piano ballads until the final stretch. "The Other Ones" is out of place for its melodramatic decluttering of baggage, but the trio of "Pieces," "I Don't Love You Like I Used To," and "Home" come across as wholly heartfelt, respectively striking a rare balance of numbness and hope, expressing total devotion, and turning on the (ocular) waterworks.
Legend is at his best when entertainment isn't his objective. ~ Andy Kellman
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