ALBUM REVIEW: John Legend, 'Bigger Love'

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At KXSC, we understand the importance of letting an album sit and marinate in our evaluative juices. So with no knee-jerk reactions here, we’re taking a look at contemporary R&B icon John Legend’s latest album Bigger Love. 

The multi-talented artist’s seventh album is full of upbeat and uplifting tracks that set the perfect mood for a Sunday morning drive. With 16 tracks running just under an hour, the project breaks the trend we’ve been seeing with shorter projects. No, this isn’t just about streams, this is about providing an experience for listeners to feel completely different after listening all the way through. Surprisingly (or not), the project’s lyrics are about love- which is almost always the reason why someone would want to sing in the first place. The production is there to match. Exuberant and steady, Raphael Saadiq teamed up with Legend to ensure quality engineering on the project. 

This project solidifies that after 16 years of releasing albums, Legend still has his touch. And like any industry veteran, he passes it along to other generations of artists. Throughout the project, Legend worked with heavy hitters such as Gary Clark Jr. (“Wild”), Jhené Aiko (“U Move, I Move”), and Koffee (“Don’t Walk Away”) which makes for a promising collaborative effort between young hitmakers, rising legends, and long-time favorites. The collaborations truly reflect Legend’s intentions to combine classic sounds with contemporary taste. From Blues, to Afrobeat, to classic Hip-Hop samples, the whole project eclectically combines our favorite sounds into one project. 

As Legend has already proved himself as a talented songwriter and vocalist, this album gets a grip on happiness. During a time of turmoil, conflict, and injustice, Bigger Love is a soundtrack that helps us tap into happier thoughts and actually feel better. While happy music can only take us so far, we highly suggest giving Bigger Love a listen or two for those rainy days. 

Our Favorite Tracks:

  • Don’t Walk Away (ft. Koffee)

  • Ooh Laa 

  • Remember Us

Bigger Love was released everywhere on June 19th.

KXSC Webmasterjohn legends, review