The legend has come back once again with a new album for the world to hear. John Legend’s newly released album is ironically titled Legend, and the album was released on September 9th. The singer who is known for “All of Me”, as well as being a coach in the television hit series, The Voice, has released 23 new songs.

I found the album to be overwhelmingly large, making it an incredibly long listen time for the songs. The vocals themselves were good as always, but the lyrics in some of the songs were lacking. A good amount of the songs felt repetitive as he would repeat the same lines throughout the whole song, causing me to lose interest. It also used very simple lyrics which did work out in some of the songs but for the others, it led it to just making them mediocre. By doing this it’s holding the song back from its full potential, if there were different lyrics that were added it would make me want to listen to the whole song just to hear the different parts.

The album itself seems like a giant ‘I love you’ to his wife, which is very sweet. The album does have some good appealing songs like “Wonder Woman” which features his wife in his music video. Another great song, “I Don’t Love You Like I Used To,” talks about all the hardships in a relationship and the effort put into relationships. That is one of the aspects I like about the album, the message behind it. Undoubtedly the message of love throughout the album is great but the music wasn’t measuring up as much as I thought it would. 

Some of the songs such as “Memories” seemed to not quite fit the beats or instrumental given to them. This made some of the songs feel out of place and not quite right. With that many songs in an album, it is bound to have some flops and some that gain the liking of the public.

“Nervous” was one of my favorite songs featured by Legend as it was an adorable song. The song is about still getting nervous around your partner, and all the little butterflies you get. Even with the lyrics repeating, the instrumental and catchy chorus helped make the song good. Legend performed “Nervous” on the piano which created a beautiful aesthetic with catchy lyrics coming together with the piano.

If the album was shortened it would have been easier to listen to. If there were more diverse lyrics and they were not as repetitive then it would have made the album a lot better. The album was not my favorite, but John Legend’s vocals are still amazing, and hopefully, with his next album the lyrics and length won’t hold it back.