John Legend has music on his mind even when he’s asleep. There are nights when the singer-songwriter is so inspired, he dreams of new melodies and concepts, eventually jolting awake and grabbing his phone to record them before they disappear.
The constant, even compulsive churn of Legend’s creativity can perhaps be explained by the fact that the 45-year-old has been writing songs since he was a child, regularly harnessing inspiration from the ether and channeling it into the songs making up his extensive discography.
In the 20 years since the release of his debut album, Get Lifted, Legend has often chronicled defining moments of his life through his work; his signature song “All of Me,” dedicated to Chrissy Teigen, was released a month before their Lake Como wedding in 2013. Now the father of four children under age nine (the youngest, a baby boy named Wren, was born last summer), Legend is decidedly a family man—so it follows that his tenth studio album, the aptly titled My Favorite Dream, is a project focused on lullabies and music for kids. For Legend, the project represented a chance to put his distinctive stamp on a largely overlooked genre.
With Sufjan Stevens aboard as a producer, My Favorite Dream spans joyful original compositions and covers of Fisher-Price ditties that many parents know all too well. Legend spoke to Vogue about the project and the magic of creativity—as well as about his recent headline-making performance at the Democratic National Convention.
Vogue: Aside from songs like “Rainbow Connection” or Vince Guaraldi’s Peanuts music, serious songwriting and children’s music haven’t always mixed…
John Legend: I don’t want to denigrate all of the folks who make children’s music for a living, because there are plenty who make it and put a lot of thought and energy into it. But it’s true that there haven’t been a lot of mainstream pop artists who make a full children’s album like this. But I wanted to think about it like I would any other album, in the sense of setting a standard of musical excellence and just sonic quality and every standard I’d hold any other album of mine to.
Having Sufjan Stevens produce the album was an inspired choice; he’s an artist with such a singular reputation. How did you connect with him?
I hadn’t known him personally, but knew his music for the past 20 years and have been listening all that time. When I was dreaming of what I wanted these songs to sound like as I was writing them, he was my first choice. I told my manager about it, though I didn’t think we’d be able to pull it off. But I said, “Let’s try!” We arranged a time for us to FaceTime to talk about it. He’s based in the Catskills and I’m based in Los Angeles, so I sent him the super rough demos from my phone that I recorded at home on my piano, and he listened to them and loved the songs and said, “Let’s do it.” So I recorded all the demos with my vocals on there, and he took his time with the songs from the Catskills and dreamt up all of the arrangements. What you hear on the album is all of his amazing ideas coming to life.
How do you usually capture your ideas? Do you use the Voice Memo app on your phone?
I use it all the time when I’m writing songs, all the time. All of these songs from this album started as a Voice Memos.
That’s so common now. I remember the story about Billy Joel on a train thinking of “New York State of Mind,” and he had to hum it to himself until he finally made it to a piano.
Yeah, when I was living in New York I’d be on the subway and would always come up with song ideas there. We didn’t have immediate ways to record them—I guess you could have carried around a tape recorder, but I didn t.
Are creative ideas, like doing a concept album, coming to you naturally—like on a train—or are you consciously setting aside time to think?
I think in some ways it’s easier to make a concept album. You have a clearer idea of what the end product is and you have more of an assignment. I’ve been writing for Broadway recently, which is more of an assignment, too. You’re trying to serve the story and taking cues from the book writer and everything. But the inspiration [for My Favorite Dream] came from just being a dad. We had posted an Instagram video of me singing a Fisher-Price Song from the toys my babies played with, and so many followers were like, “John, please make more lullabies. We need them!” I started to think about it and I didn’t want to just cover songs that were already out, I wanted to create something new, because I’m a songwriter and I like to write songs. So I took it on as a challenge to write new lullabies that could become classics. I sat at a piano and started making a list of topics and subjects I wanted to talk about, all things I talk to my kids about and messages to inspire them, comfort them, and encourage them to go to sleep. So those were the thought-starters for the songs, and I’d sit and write. This is the first album I did by myself, with no co-writers.
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Would it be safe to say you’re tinkling piano keys and just feeling out what sounds right?
Well, yeah, I do just sit there at the piano and try to come up with melodies and ideas that feel interesting to me. I’ve been writing for so long, since I was 10 or 11 years old, so I’ve been trying to tap into my creativity for a long time. You’re aware of all of the music that comes before you; everything I listen to influences my creativity, as did being a coach on The Voice, because you get exposed to music of all genres. But at the same time, you want to create something new, even though it’s informed. So it’s an interesting mental dance you have to do, to come up with something that’s both original and feels familiar and classic at the same time.
Where’s the strangest place an idea has ever come to you?
The most interesting places are in my dreams. I dream of songs sometimes and wake up and put them in my Voice Notes, too.
The album is dedicated to, and inspired by, your kids, who also make a cameo. Did you know right off the bat that you wanted to involve them?
Well, it came into play once I recorded a demo of “L-O-V-E” because I thought the song would be perfect for Chrissy and the kids to sing on. My kids have never sung on any of my records before, but Chrissy actually sang with me on “Happy Christmas (War Is Over)” years ago. So I thought this would be the perfect song for them. After I recorded it, I told Sufjan my idea of having them sing on it and he sent some background vocal ideas for them, and I had them record their parts in my studio in LA.
Was it fun for them, or were they nervous?
They were probably a little nervous. They do understand that other people would listen to it; they listen to my music and come to my shows, so they’re very aware of the fact I have an audience. So they were excited to do it, got through it, and gave me some good enough vocals to make it work.
You’re also known for your inspired covers. What’s the key to a good one?
There’s the mechanics of making sure you sing it in the right key so it feels comfortable for you, but a lot of it has to do with production. That’s what makes a cover really special, because you could sing them like they already were, but with interesting chord progressions and arrangement decisions. That’s what kind of elevates it, and makes it interesting musically.
Speaking of covers, you performed Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” at the Democratic National Convention alongside his longtime collaborator Sheila E. How did that come about?
Well, it was all pretty last-minute. The organizers had an idea to do a Prince song to celebrate Governor Walz’s nomination, considering Prince is from Minnesota and Walz had named a highway after Prince. So we went through his repertoire and tried to think of the best song for the energy we wanted to capture and settled on “Let’s Go Crazy” the Thursday or Friday before the convention, and had less than a week to pull it together. I reached out to my creative director Jemel McWilliams who worked on my last few tours and my Vegas residency, and it was his idea to bring Ari O’Neal, who is an amazing guitarist who stole the show. It was my idea to reach out to Sheila because I had worked with her at the Grammy tribute to Prince a few years ago. I loved the idea of bringing two Black women on, especially given that we were about to nominate Kamala. We rehearsed on Monday in LA, Tuesday in Chicago, and Wednesday at the venue and then it was showtime.
What was the energy like in the room?
It felt so good, it was electric. I liked watching the video because you can see everybody dancing. Everybody was having a good time, and we wanted it to feel celebratory. Everybody keeps using the word “joy,” but it really was a joyful scene there. We wanted the song to keep that spirit going.
Everybody has a Prince story. What’s yours?
Whenever anybody asks me if I’ve ever been starstruck, I always answer that it was when I first met Prince. It was early in my career after Get Lifted came out, and he was on an arena tour and was signed at the time to my same label, Columbia Records. So I was invited to his show at Madison Square Garden and he had an after-party at B.B. King’s in New York. You know him; he played his full show and then played the after-party, too. He’s such a consummate artist and musician, everybody looks up to him as one of the most gifted people to ever make music. I was just amazed that he knew who I was, he knew my song “Ordinary People,” and how much he loved it. And then he gave me some advice on how not to get taken advantage of in the music industry and how to own as much of my masters and publishing as I can. It was right on brand.
This conversation has been edited and condensed.