NEW YORK – Twenty years on from the release of his debut album, the career making “Get Lifted,” John Legend is entering uncharted territory.
On Aug. 30, the R&B-pop singer will release his first-ever children's album titled “My Favorite Dream," via Republic Records: Kids & Family. Produced by the chamber pop polymath Sufjan Stevens, the record is lush, and centers on universal themes like love, safety, family and dreams across nine original tracks, two covers, a solo piano track and three bonus covers of Fisher-Price songs.
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Legend, who is a father of four with wife Chrissy Teigen — Luna is 8, Miles is 6, Esti and Wren are both toddlers — made it a point to write songs that worked for adults, too. Some will even resonate with those who might not have children. These are soulful, capital-J John Legend songs with poignant messaging.
“I wanted the parents to like it,” he told The Associated Press over the phone. “I wanted the same standard of like quality and musicianship that I would want on any of my records.”
The album needed to stand on its own.
“To be able to craft a children’s album with as much depth and artistry, while finding the unique balance of making it bright and warm for little ones, is a true skill,” said Republic Records: Kids & Family senior vice president Bree Bowles. “There is an authenticity to the work which makes you feel part of his world and family.”
This interview, in which Legend discusses “My Favorite Dream,” its lead single “L-O-V-E,” and the role his family played in the creative process, has been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: Why children's music, and why now?
LEGEND: I’m in the thick of parenting, and we have some small kids — two kids under 2 right now, and then our older kids as well. And, you know, music is such an important part of our lives. And music is such an important part of the way we interact with each other.
It all started when I was just playing a version of one of the songs that is on a Fisher-Price play mat: The song called “Maybe," that a lot of parents of toddlers know very well. I was learning how to play it on the piano so I could sing it to Esti, one of our babies, and Chrissy recorded me learning the song and singing it to Esti on the piano. She posted it to her Instagram. And all my fans were like, “John, you got to do more children’s songs. You got to cover all the Fisher-Price songs.” And so, a lot of people were asking me to record some children’s music. And I kind of took it as a challenge, not to just cover some songs kids already knew and loved, but to try to create something new. So, I wrote nine new original songs and made a whole album of it. And it was fun, just thinking about all the messages that we tell our kids and the things I want to sing to them.
AP: Does it require a different skillset, writing family music?
LEGEND: Well, it’s interesting because I’ve been writing for Broadway lately, too, and I feel like in some ways it kind of tapped into a similar skill set. It took me out of my own self, a little bit, and allowed me to approach the music a little differently than I would for a normal John Legend album. But also, the difference between this and Broadway — and the thing that makes it more like a regular John Legend album — is that I really thought about my own life, my own communication with my kids, the messages that I like to give them, and then I put that in song.
AP: Sufjan Stevens produced the album, and it is heard throughout — there are many songs on here that directly recall his signature whimsy, a kind of baroque songwriting style.
LEGEND: He’s singing a lot of backup, and he’s such a genius. I have been a fan of his for like 20 years. When I was writing these songs, my first thought of who I wanted to produce this was Sufjan, because I love how dreamy he can make music, and how whimsical, and how much character he has to everything that he makes. And I just felt like it would be the perfect energy for a children’s album: To blend my songwriting with his production and arranging and playing. You just hear his influence all over the album and I love it.
I was so happy he said yes because you never know if someone’s gonna want to make a children’s album with you, and we had never worked together. We had never even met before we started working on this.
AP: The first single, “L-O-V-E,” features your wife and two of your children, Luna and Miles. How did that come to be?
LEGEND: I'm so excited to have them on the track. We had them come down to the studio and sing it with us, and that’s very cool.
Chrissy is on “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," the cover I did of that for the Christmas project and Luna is talking on that track. This is the first time that Luna and Miles have sung on anything. I love this song because it really sums up, like, who I am, my philosophy on life, and what we try to teach our kids about just being a light in the world and letting love guide you and inform the way you treat other people and the way you think about the world. Really, it informs my politics, my philanthropy, my music, everything I do — I think about how to spread love and to look at the world with love and empathy and seeing each other’s humanity. And that’s really what this song is all about.
AP: How did your kids inspire the album?
LEGEND: My kids do a music class. My toddlers, they do a music class with other toddlers. They play little shakers and teachers come and sing with them and play guitar. I wanted the first half of the album to feel kind of like that music class, more upbeat, a big singalong. And then the second half should be sleepy time. So that’s kind of the layout of the album. The first half is more fun and upbeat and like the music class the kids do. And then the second half is more like what you would play if you were trying to get them to calm down for the night.
AP: The album is mostly originals, except for two covers: Bob Marley & the Wailers' “Three Little Birds” and “You Are My Sunshine,” excluding the bonus tracks. Why those songs?
LEGEND: I was just thinking a lot about different covers... and I wanted to make sure that whatever I covered, I could do a version that was different than other people's versions. And these were two that I really settled on.
Of course, I’ve known Bob Marley’s music for a long time, and I thought that song went with the spirit of the first half of the album. A lot of those songs are kind of encouraging the kids to find the bright side in life, when you feel sad to connect with what makes you happy, with the people you love and all those things. “Three Little Birds” captures that energy in the right way.
And then “You Are My Sunshine” is, in some ways, a sad song because it’s about how you really value someone, but also how much you miss them when they’re not there. And I think that we feel that with our family a lot. I think most families feel that: How much you care about them and love them, and also how much you miss them when they’re not around.
AP: What do you hope listeners get out of this project?
LEGEND: I want them to feel the love that I put into it, and I want them to be able to translate that love to their own families and loved ones. I think the messages of the album are ones that we like to share with our kids, and I have a feeling that a lot of parents are going to want to share them with their kids too, and that’ll make me happy if they’re able to do that.