Very rarely does an RnB artist release an album that is able
to resonate with general popular culture, no matter what your genre preference might
be. The very nature of RnB make this very difficult, living in a society where “vybze”
and “hype” really is the order of the day. John Legend transcends these boundaries
on his latest effort, Love In The Future. It is said that an artist expresses
his greatest work when in pain, I think more so when he/she has just gone
through or is going through a great deal of emotion, whether good or bad. That
left room for someone like Mr. Legend to produce a stellar 20 track ballad
detailing his current love life and the emotions it invokes.
The album starts off beautifully with the title track Love
In The Future, with John’s voice blaring out the lyrics “it’s a new year, for
love... love in the future,” but in the most beautiful, and soulful way you can
imagine someone blaring at you. John Legend is very much known for his mainly
piano instrumentals to accompany his music, however this album diversifies his
sound, but it is done exceptionally well, executively produced of course by
Kanye West. The fourth track, Made To Love, sees John step out of his comfort
zone and sing over heavy drums and hi hats, much like Kanye did on 808’s &
Heartbreaks lead single Love Lockdown. The lead single off of this album was
released in March of 2013 long before the release date of the actual album,
August 20th, which brings me to my next point and probably the
driving intangible behind this entire album. The soul felt in the single “Who
do we think we are” kept that track relevant for seven months, and did enough
for John to sell 68,000 copies first week, with little radio play. This track is followed by the second single
off the album, All of Me, a clear ode to his newly wedded wife. John, in this
track, professes that she deserves and will get nothing less than all of him,
and all that she wants him to be, a true mark of a man in love. The album theme
of professing love, changes slightly on tracks like “Tomorrow” and the
fantastic interlude “What if i told you.” The use of interludes(not skits) are new to a
John Legend album but it really teases us with how great John can make a track
sound. The second interlude, “Angel” featuring vocals from Stacy Barthe, was
another standout track, adding a very happy tone to the album. The track where
John Legend really blew me away in terms of taking a very unusual beat and
filling it with soul, is the track “Asylum.” The lyrics of this song can only
be match by those of “who do we think we are” in terms of song writing ability
to take a message or idea and deliver what is potentially a hit record. Here he
compares love to an Asylum where the actual love is driving him crazy, but it
is the Asylum that he goes to after being driven crazy, absolutely perfect, in
my opinion. The track “Aim High” which is track number nineteen (the last four
tracks are bonus cuts) is a phenomenal mood setter for something like a
graduation or an awards function. The lyrics are so deep that the mellow mood
of the music distracts you from its’ brilliance. John Legend's vocals on this
track are amazing to say the least. The closing track is John basically setting
up the reason why this album was written and executed the way it was in the
first place. On “Love For The First Time” I guarantee you, you will understand
fully what this album was about and for, and I can even for a moment, make you
remember what love feels like. It is easily the most emotion-filled track on
the album, perfect way to end off the album.
With twenty tracks (16 on the regular version) it is a bit tedious
to touch on all, but in summation, the album is easily the best RnB effort to
come out not just this year but for a while. I can only think of a few in
recent times that can compare or are better. Music is meant to move your soul,
and invoke some emotion or feeling, whether something solemn, happy, sad,
serious, painful or hype. When it is executed with excellence, no matter what
your preference in genre, you will feel that intangible element. That
intangible element that comes from the moments that inspired the lyrics, the
emotions that inspired that choice of instrumentals, the mistakes in the pen
when writing the sound, the mood in the studio and that pain or joy in the voice
of the artist. John Legend executed the intangible in this piece of work
perfectly to say the least. I strongly recommend this album to anyone,
anywhere. Brilliant work, that will only grow in popularity, and get better
with each listen. Timeless...
My Rating 9.5/10
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