John Legend on Debut Family Album, 'My Favorite Dream' (Listening Party)

John Legend's Family Album "My Favorite Dream"
( Courtesy of the Artist )

Title: John Legend on Debut Family Album, 'My Favorite Dream' (Listening Party) [music]

Alison Stewart: This is All Of It, on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. This year marks the 20th anniversary of John Legend's debut album, Get Lifted. A lot has changed in two decades. He's now got an EGOT. He got married. He's a dad. Now, John has combined the personal and the professional and created a new album for families. It's called My Favorite Dream. Let's listen to a track from the album called When We Fly.

[MUSIC - John Legend: When We Fly]

Have I ever told you my favorite dream?

The one I hope for every time I sleep

Where I soar the skies over everything

With my arms wide open, with my arms as wings

Don't you wanna float away now?

Don't you wanna feel the dream?

Don't you wanna go so high?

We'll feel alive and free

When we fly (When we fly)

Only limit is the sky (When we fly)

Alison Stewart: The new album was produced by Sufjan Stevens. Plus we get to hear vocals from John's family, his kids, Luna and Miles, and his wife, Chrissy. There are some great covers, and there are also bonus tracks of Legend covering some of those Fisher-Price jingles that parents will have in their heads for the rest of their lives. My Favorite Dream is out now. John Legend is in the house before he heads back out on tour. Welcome to WNYC.

John Legend: Thanks for having me, Allison. It's great to be here.

Alison Stewart: Obviously, music was a big part of your life when you were a kid. When you grew up, you played piano, since you were tiny. When you weren't practicing. What music of your childhood influenced this record?

John Legend: It's interesting because we didn't listen to a lot of kids' music when I was a kid because I grew up in a very musical home. Gospel music was the main music we listened to and we sang and played. My grandmother was the church organist. My grandfather was the pastor. My mother was the choir director. I grew up listening to a lot of music, but it was a lot of gospel music.

Alison Stewart: When you were working on this album, as a family album, it's a different process. What extent did the new process open up creativity for you?

John Legend: It's interesting because I've been writing for Broadway recently, and that process in some ways led me to this because I saw some musical threads and connections between writing for Broadway and writing for children and families. Then also with the Broadway stuff, this was the first time I was doing entire projects where I was writing all the music. It led me to want to write all the music for this album, too. I had never done that for any of my previous albums.

Get Lifted, all the way through my entire career as an artist, I'd always co-written most of my albums, and this was new for me to just write all the things that were in my head. The way I started was just brainstorming a lot of the messages that we like to give to our kids, to inspire them, to challenge them, to comfort them, to motivate them, and then figure out ways that I could translate that into song while sitting at the piano.

Alison Stewart: That's interesting. Through Broadway albums. Was it the idea of telling a story through a song?

John Legend: I think telling a story, but also having a specific mission, whereas when I'm making a normal album, I haven't made concept albums. I just write what comes to me. That freedom is great, but it also can lead you in so many different places that sometimes it's fun as a creative to have more of a specific mission for an album. I had that with the Broadway stuff and then also with this album.

Alison Stewart: When you're trying to figure out that needle for parents because parents got to listen to their music a lot.

John Legend: Yes.

Alison Stewart: You know that as a parent, how many books did you have to read? How many movies did you have to watch?

John Legend: Absolutely. I want it to be really entertaining and enjoyable for parents. That was part of my standard I was setting for myself as I was making the records. I wanted to enjoy the records like I would enjoy any album from any of my favorite artists. Even though the messages may be more attuned to children's minds and what they're going through, I wanted the music to hold up. I wanted it to be of a standard that I could be really proud of.

That's part of why I reached out to Sufjan Stevens to produce it because I knew he could thread the needle of making it fun and quirky and interesting and playful and whimsical and all those things, but also making it musically really beautiful and of a high musical standard.

Alison Stewart: Let's listen to a track that I think reaches out to certain parents. We'll listen to When I Feel Sad.

[MUSIC - John Legend: When I Feel Sad]

When I feel sad

I think of all that makes me glad

I think of all the good times that we've had

And I don't feel so bad

Raindrops fall, let 'em pitter, pitter, patter

Thunder rolls, let it roll, it don't matter

Lightning striking

But I know we'll be okay

Okay

The sun will come

And we'll forget the skies were gray

They were never meant to stay

Remember what I always say

I say

When I feel sad

I think of all that makes me glad

I think of all the good times that we've had

And I don't feel so bad

When I feel blue

I think of what I love like you

I think of how it's cool you love me too

And I don't feel so sad

I don't feel so bad

Think of me when you're down, when you're lonely

Alison Stewart: That's John Legend, When I Feel Sad. I heard little raindrops keep falling on my head, and I heard a little bit of somewhere over the rainbow.

John Legend: Yes. You hear Sufjan's voice in the background. If you know his music, you can recognize him singing some of the backing vocals, and you hear his production style all over the place. In every track, you can hear his personality as a musician in each track. I really thought it was such a fun combination of my voice and songwriting with Sufjan's ear for arranging and production, and I'm just so happy with how it turned out.

Alison Stewart: My guest is John Legend. His new family album is called My Favorite Dream. It's out now. Do you remember the first time you heard Sufjan's songs or music that you really admired?

John Legend: Yes, I remember it very specifically because I was part of judging, I think it was called the Mercury Prize, that they give two artists that are indie and a little underground, and they want to shine a light on them. They asked me to be part of the judging panel for it. I think Illinois was the album. It came out, I think, in 2004 or five, right around the same time my debut album came out. This wasn't his debut, but it was one of his early albums, and I absolutely just loved him.

I didn't know his music prior to judging that competition, but I remember thinking it was my favorite of the ones I was judging. I just started becoming a fan. I feel like he's influenced me throughout my career, particularly when I made, Once Again, my second album, I felt like listening to his music was influential to how I wanted to make that album. Over the years, I've listened to him, and there have been ebbs and flows of when I listen to him more.

I started listening to him again more recently, and then as I was writing the music for this album, I was like, "I should see if Sufjan wants to produce it." He was literally the only idea I had for someone to produce it. I was just hopeful that he would say yes. My manager knew his manager and knew him a little bit, and she was able to connect us. We just had a call to-- It was like speed dating to see if we were interested in making it happen. I just told him I was a huge fan, and my vision for the music for this album was I wanted it to sound like he produced it. [laughs]

Alison Stewart: What did he bring out for you as a performer? That's what a producer's job is.

John Legend: It's interesting, because in this particular album, we didn't do it that way. I recorded the piano and vocal versions of the songs, and he built the arrangements around them.

Alison Stewart: Oh, that's interesting.

John Legend: I recorded my parts in Los Angeles, then would send them off to the Catskills digitally, of course, and he would build these amazing soundscapes around them. He never produced me as a vocalist, but he just built these beautiful soundscapes around what I had already recorded.

Alison Stewart: Let's listen to another track. This is We're A Family. What's the story behind this?

John Legend: We're A Family was the first song I wrote for this album, and it's the opening song on the album. It feels like a good opening salvo, a good way of bringing people into the mood of the album and the themes of the album.

Alison Stewart: This is We're A Family.

[MUSIC - John Legend: We're A Family]

All your little worry's gonna be okay

All of your trouble's gonna melt away

'Cause I've got you, and you've got me

And we're a family

Our little world'll keep spinnin' 'round

I'll pick you up whenever you feel down

Yes, I love you, and you love me

And we're a family

Oh, we're gonna build a life together

Bound forever, we'll love forever

We'll grow and grow our little family tree

And you will see that

All your little worry's gonna be alright

Just close your eyes, go to sleep tonight

'Cause I've got you, and you've got me

And we're a family

Dream all the fairy tales that you've been told

Alison Stewart: That's an important message to people. We're a family. We heard the when I feel sad. You're touching on really big issues for little people.

John Legend: Yes.

Alison Stewart: How can music be a helpful way to process the difficult, the I feel sad, the we are a family in this very crazy world that we live in?

John Legend: Particularly with those themes, I feel like adults can use those messages sometimes, too.

Alison Stewart: It's true.

John Legend: I think a lot of times what our kids need is to feel like they have some safety. It allows them to be creative and take risks and try things, knowing that they have a safety net.

Alison Stewart: Scaffolding. Something to catch you.

John Legend: Exactly. Scaffolding and a zone of comfort around them where they can feel protected, but it allows them to try things and be adventurous in the same way. Hopefully, we're creating that for our kids, and I wanted the songs to evoke some of that spirit as well.

Alison Stewart: You got your family involved. Were they always gonna be involved?

John Legend: I was like, "In an ideal world, I'll find a song where the kids and Chrissy can sing with me," and the perfect song for it was L-O-V-E. Once I had recorded the rough demos of the songs, I told Sufjan, I was like, "I think I want Chrissy and the kids to sing on this one." He was like, "That would be amazing." He sent me voice notes of what he thought their part could be and then we recorded it at my studio in LA. They did a great job. They sound really good on it.

Alison Stewart: [laughs] Let's take a listen.

[MUSIC - John Legend: L-O-V-E]

L-O-V-E, love

It's easy to spell

And if you know it for yourself

Then everybody else

Well, they can tell

When L-O-V-E, love

Gets into your heart

It sparkles like a star

And everyone can see

How bright you are

Because love, love, love

Makes you feel better

Love, love, love

Keeps us together

Love, love, love

Warm like a sweater

Aren't you glad to know that you've got

Love

(Love, love, love, love, love)

L-O-V-E, love

It's my favorite word

It sings out like a bird

The sweetest song I've heard

Sweeter than dessert

And L-O-V-E, love

It don't cost a thing

It's free for you and me

So you'll give love

And I'll give love

And we all can give our...

Love, love, love (love, love, love, love, love)

Makes you feel better

Love, love, love (love, love, love, love, love)

Keeps us together

Alison Stewart: That's John Legend. His new family album is called My Favorite Dream. How's your experience as a parent with your kids day-to-day? The good part of day-to-day, the long part of day-to-day? How did it influence the songs that you wrote on the album?

John Legend: I really thought a lot about the things we talk to our kids about all the time. I have a song called Always Come Back, and as someone who travels for work a lot, I'm away from them right now. I just left them last night to come here to New York. There are times when I have to comfort them, saying, "Dad's going to come back, mom's going to come back." I wrote a song about it. It allowed me to really write music that was really directly connected to the things that we talked to them about.

Alison Stewart: When it comes to music and parenting, are there any specific lessons or routines that you've tried to instill in your children, the lessons and routines you get through being a musician?

John Legend: First of all, they're learning to play music. Luna and Miles are taking piano lessons. Luna's in a musical theater group at school. I think learning music at a young age is so powerful and beautiful for kids. It helps them express themselves. It helps them be part of a group that's doing something together as a team. Helps them go from the beginning of learning something, practicing something, to perfecting it, and being able to perform it on the stage.

All these kinds of skills and character traits you want to develop in young people, I feel like music allows you to teach that, teaches persistence and practice and honing your craft and getting good at something to the point where you're willing to do it in front of an audience. All of that, I think it's so cool for kids to learn at a pretty young age, and it helps them if they want to be professionals, but also helps them if they want to be great at anything, helps them develop the work habits that will make them become great at things.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk about the covers and the cover. The cover of the record is you as a toddler, trying to smile.

John Legend: Yes.

Alison Stewart: Where's the photo from?

John Legend: It's from my aunt's house. My aunt Patricia took the photo. She's my mother's younger sister, and she's our archivist, our family photographer. My grandfather, her father used to be that when he was alive, too. She took that mantle from my grandfather, but she would always take family photos. Whenever my career started to take off, sometimes I would be on a news show and they would want archival footage of me.

Alison Stewart: Call Patricia?

John Legend: Yes. I would call Aunt Patricia. This time I was two and a half years old, and I was visiting her house in Lansing, Michigan, from our home in Ohio. We went up there to visit her, and she just took a picture of me hanging out with her and her family. It just captured the right spirit and energy that I wanted the album to have. I was like, "This is the one."

Alison Stewart: Let's talk about covers on the album. You've got You Are My Sunshine, Three Little Birds. Why did you want to cover Bob Marley?

John Legend: Oh, I just thought it would be so fun to have it on a kids' album. My kids do a music class. They do a toddler's music class where they literally sing those kinds of songs. They don't do a lot of singing, but they do a lot of dancing and playing percussive instruments, and their teacher sings with them. It just introduces them to music and to movement. Three Little Birds is the song they like to play at these sessions with them. I just thought it was the perfect energy for the album, and I figured I could do a fun cover of it. Sufjan and I produced it together.

Alison Stewart: Let's hear Three Little Birds.

[MUSIC - John Legend: Three Little Birds]

Don't worry 'bout a thing

'Cause every little thing is gonna be alright

Singin', "Don't worry 'bout a thing"

'Cause every little thing is gonna be alright

Rise up this mornin'

Smiled with the risin' sun

Three little birds

Pitch by my doorstep

Singin' sweet songs

Of melodies pure and true

Saying, "This is my message to you"

Singin', "Don't worry 'bout a thing"

Alison Stewart: That's John Legend. His new album is called My Favorite Dream. There's also lullabies on the album. Go To Sleep. What is an example of when your kids would not go to sleep?

John Legend: [laughs] There's always examples. The older ones, their mind is still racing sometimes, and they're excited about something, or they just had quite a day. Sometimes it's hard for them to calm down and go to sleep. I usually tell them, read something. Reading always helps me fall asleep. [crosstalk] I'll be like, "Go back to your room, read something, and then just close your eyes, and you'll fall asleep."

Alison Stewart: Now, all the parents out there know the songs from the Fisher-Price Toys. You've got three bonus tracks on this album covering some Fisher-Price songs.

John Legend: Absolutely. The whole project started with the Maybe, Purple Monkey song because Chrissy was like, "Esti loves this song, John, why don't you learn it?"

Alison Stewart: Love when a wife can say, "Hey, why don't you learn that?" [laughs]

John Legend: "Why don't you learn this song?" I sat at the piano, learned the chords, and sang it to Esti. Then Chrissy posted a version of me doing that on her Instagram, and then I posted it after her. It just got so much response from people. People saying, "John, please do more of this." Then Fisher-Price reached out to us and was like, "Let's collaborate on something." Their idea was just, "Can you cover a few more of our songs and we'll do a collaboration, and partnership together," but I was like, "I just want to make a whole new album. Let's just do an album.

Alison Stewart: Let's do it.

John Legend: As a songwriter, I took it on as a challenge. Like, "Can I write brand new children's songs that will become classics or standards?" That's what I was trying to aim for with the new songs, but it was all started by covering a classic Fisher-Price song.

Alison Stewart: Let's listen to Maybe, Purple Monkey song.

[MUSIC - John Legend: Maybe]

Maybe you could be

A purple monkey in the bubblegum tree

And you could swing in the breeze

Then you could swing back to me

Maybe you could be

A little bird with polka-dot wings

And you could fly to the sea

Then you could fly back to me

Over the ocean, above the clouds

You would float across the sky

Back through the forest, you would sing out

Then fly back home

Maybe you could be

A purple monkey in the bubblegum tree

And you could swing in the breeze

Alison Stewart: [chuckles] That is John Legend. Before I let you go, one of the reasons you had to be away is you were performing at the DNC.

John Legend: Yes.

Alison Stewart: How would you describe that in three words?

John Legend: Oh, it was thrilling, exciting, energizing.

Alison Stewart: Why was that important for you to do?

John Legend: I'm really supportive of Kamala Harris running for president. I love the ticket. Between her and Governor Walz, I think they'll make great leaders for the country. I'm so energized by her being handed the mantle from President Biden. I feel like she's ready for it and ready to lead the country into the future. I was excited to do whatever I could to support and help make that happen.

Alison Stewart: The name of the album is called My Favorite Dream. It is by John Legend. Thanks for coming to the studio.

John Legend: Thank you, Allison. So nice to hang out with you.

Alison Stewart: Let's finish with Always Come Back To You. Thanks, John.

John Legend: Luna's favorite.

[MUSIC - John Legend: Maybe]

I may go to all those unfamiliar places

Stranger towns with stranger faces

Way out there

It's okay, my dear

I may ride the planes and trains and distant highways

But I know I'll be finding my way home

Though I'm gone, just know

It's not for long

And no matter where I might roam

I'll always come back to

Always come back to

Always come back to you

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