John Legend, welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
It's my pleasure. Good to see you again.
This is our first time during the social-distancing era.
This is our first time.
Hopefully, it'll be our last time.
I don't... I don't like this.
I like hear hearing your silky voice in person.
I feel like there are a few parts of the frequencies
that are lost over the camera. I don't like it.
And I'm sure you miss your audience, too.
Uh, I think all of us, as performers, miss our audiences.
And there's something about, particularly with comedy,
uh, it's nice to hear the laughs in-in person,
as you deliver the jokes.
And, uh, I think for artists, it's the same.
-We want to hear the crowd. -Right.
We want to feel the response that they give us right away.
So I think we all miss that and look forward
to the day when that's safe again.
Yeah, and, you know, to be honest,
I think it goes both ways,
'cause I've talked to some of my fans where they go,
"I miss... I miss the feeling of other human beings
experiencing something around me."
-You know, like a collective joy, a collect... -Yeah, Yeah.
Like, I've been to concerts where half of the concert
is just enjoying other human beings
having a great time around me.
Exactly, and as much as we are doing these,
you know, Instagram Live, uh, concerts from home
and, you know, Alicia and I did the Verzuz thing,
it-it's very different to feel the crowd,
and, uh, there's no experience that will duplicate that.
Yeah. Let's-let's talk a little bit about that-that, um...
you know, that place in the world--
being not just an artist, but being a black artist.
Being a black artist who is also conscious, you know.
Before these protests began,
John Legend had been on the ground.
You've been fighting
for-for changes in mass incarceration.
You've been fighting to change how America treats black people.
You've been fighting for equality and justice
for a long time.
Is this part of the movement
you've been hoping to see for so long?
Well, seeing the folks in the streets,
seeing this multiracial, multigenerational,
huge movement of people in the streets
has been very, uh, inspiring for me.
It does make me hopeful about the future.
But I also know that there's a lot of work
that goes into actually making the change
that we're speaking out for.
And so, um, all of the times in between these big protests
-are when a lot of that work has to get done. -Right.
And so, um, and so, um, activists, organizers--
they're seizing this momentum and saying,
"Let's get in these city council meetings,
"let's talk to our Congress people, let's organize,
"let's mobilize people to get out to vote
"for a particular district attorney candidate
or a particular county sheriff candidate."
And so, that is kind of the everyday, grinding work
of a democracy that needs to be done
for us to see the kinds of changes we want to see.
It happens when you're, uh,
dealing with, uh, school boards and zoning.
You know, so many of the things
that affect the daily lives of so many people
and that have affected, uh,
black and brown lives so negatively over the years
have been these local decisions.
Like housing segregation
-and, uh, zoning and school segregation. -Mm.
-And who gets chosen to be the police chief. -Mm-hmm.
And how much budget goes to policing,
how much budget goes to, uh, the county jail
or to the state prisons.
So, all of these decisions--
they don't get a lot of headlines a lot of times,
and we don't think about them
when we think about our elections most of the time,
but that's just where the decisions are being made.
And if we're not engaged in democracy, uh, in that way,
then sometimes we miss out on being in the room
to make those decisions and having our voices heard
when those decision are made.
What I found particularly interesting,
especially in your case,
is that I've seen a lot of the work
that you've been doing, you know,
in the space of social justice.
What I was surprised by is you announcing a new album.
You know, I was like, "Wait.
"When-when was John Legend recording an album?
"When-when... when was he making music?
How was he making music?"
One thing that I'm always intrigued by is the ability
of an artist to-to exist
in multiple spaces at the same time,
because I thought this album was just gonna be
about what's happening.
I thought it was gonna be like a coronavirus album.
But it-it seems like you've chosen
to go back to classic John Legend
and almost give us an escape
from everything that's going wrong in the world.
Well, the-the timing has been so interesting,
because I-I was writing this album in 2019,
all through the year.
Uh, I was writing it early this year-- 2020.
And I was done writing the album
by the time we all went to lockdown.
And so, um, this album is a reflection of where I was
when I was writing it in all of 2019 and early 2020.
Um, it's an expression of joy, of love,
of human connection, um, of nostalgia,
of my love for black music
and all the music that's really made me the artist I am.
Um, that's really what this album is inspired by.
And, of course, it's coming at an odd time.
You know, it's coming at a time when everyone's been on lockdown
for several months, when, uh, for the last few weeks,
-we've seen people protesting in the streets, -Mm-hmm.
about the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor
and others, and so it does feel a little odd
putting music out in this moment that isn't directly responding
to what was happening in this moment,
but that's kind of the nature of making an album.
It's a long process, and, um...
I will be writing more music, and-and some of that
will be responsive to what's happening right this moment,
but it'll take a while for even that to be done
and ready to be put out again.
And, um, what I do think is, music has the power
to lift people up, to give them hope,
to make them feel that connection, feel that love.
And I feel like people could use some more of that right now,
and I think this album has that kind of feeling to it.
Yeah, it really is, um...
it's a smooth album, you know?
Like, it's-it's... it's smooth,
it's really-- I'm serious-- it's, like, it's comforting,
it's beautiful, it's, like, it's classic John Legend
in the way that we know and love you,
and you've got some... you've got some wonderful cameos
that come on and join.
You've got some artists who feature on the album,
everybody from Gary Clark Jr. to Jhené Aiko,
and it's beautiful to hear
these different sounds and melodies coming together.
Um, why the title Bigger Love?
You know, it feels like that's been a theme
I've heard from you recently.
You know, I heard it in the verses with you and Alicia.
It felt like it was, like, a battle of love,
which I've never encountered, I've never experienced in life.
-Yeah. -But it feels like that's something
that you've really been pushing.
You know, uh, when I was writing these songs,
that was what was in my head.
I wrote the title track, "Bigger Love,"
back in the fall of last year
with Ryan Tedder and Cautious Clay,
and we were in the studio just, you know,
trying to write a beautiful song that felt like it connected,
it felt honest, and... and, um, it felt powerful
and-and necessary in that moment.
We didn't know how necessary it would be,
you know, a few months later, um, and how much connection
people would be craving at this moment.
Um, but it felt right at the time,
and it feels even more relevant now.
And, um, I think the idea behind the title is that, um,
this album is colorful, it's full of love,
full of hope and optimism,
and that title felt like it captured that...
that sentiment for me.
All right, well, John Legend, thank you so much for the music.
Thank you for taking the time.