John Legend releases new album “Muse”, produced by Pharrell Williams

John Legend has released “Muse”, his first full-length project with Pharrell Williams, who produced the album and co-wrote its songs. According to uDiscover Music, the record draws on gospel, soul, doo-wop, Afrobeats and hip-hop, with strings, horns and 808s at the core of its arrangements.

The album grew out of Legend's guest spot on Clipse's “Let God Sort ’Em Out”, where he sang on “The Birds Don’t Sing”. That track pushed Williams to build a larger project around Legend's voice. Much of “Muse” was recorded at Williams' studio inside Louis Vuitton's Paris headquarters, continuing a friendship that goes back more than twenty years. Legend described the approach as “a Black James Bond feel” built on a modern backbeat.

The title track follows a relationship through desire, commitment and betrayal, while “Her” is gentler and nostalgic, inspired by the music Legend's father played. “Get Back” pairs soul with prominent horns and strings, and “Are You OK?” turns a couple's argument into sarcasm and empathy. “Bodies On The Floor”, written with Samm Henshaw while Legend was watching the crime drama MobLand, features Clipse and comes with a black-and-white video directed by Paul Hunter, who also directed the clips for the earlier singles “Daylight” and “Fireflies”.

Legend's website has launched The Muse Gallery, an interactive space with themed rooms for music, merchandise and videos, where visitors can also suggest cities for future shows; more rooms will open as the rollout continues.

John Legend is an American singer-songwriter born in 1978 in Springfield, working across soul, pop and contemporary R&B.