Why John Legend will make you love Christmas
Photography by: Eric Ray Davidson
Stylism by: David Thomas
"What year, what year, but what year!" Sighs John Legend, sitting on the sofa of the photographer's studio. He is punctual, beautiful, everything seems perfect in his life - and the year is not quite finished this October. On December 28, he will turn 40, just after celebrating Christmas at his home in Los Angeles, after the tour "A Legendary Christmas Tour" . His wife, the model Chrissy Teigen , whose cookbook cooks, has already planned the main course: Beef Wellington.
If the world does not move by then, this evening will punctuate an extraordinary year for one of the most celebrated artists of the moment, a year when he joined the very closed circle of musicians who received the four major awards of the American entertainment industry: an Emmy (in 2018), a Grammy (ten times, from 2006 to 2016), an Oscar (in 2015) and a Tony (in 2017). Only 15 artists have won this sacred Graal designated by the acronym Egot. He is especially the first African-American man to claim such a record. However, the year 2018 was not ideal in every way: punctuated by social tensions, racial conflicts, it throws a particularly contrasted lighting, in shadows and lights, on the triumphs crowning African-Americans.
Legend has a lot to say about this, and we'll soon be talking about his friend Kanye West , who is now also Donald Trump's friend, and all the events that have punctuated the past few months. But for now, as the photographer finishes installing his lights, we are talking about the positive. After all, joining the Egot Club was not his only major achievement. In March, he began his first Asian tour, in the wake of his album Darkness and Light . From Shenzhen, China, to Bangkok, he gave, in seventeen days, ten concerts, in eight different countries. "I loved this trip, especially Thailand, where my mother is from," he says.
He has been married for five years to Teigen, who besides being the third highest paid model in the world (with $ 13.5 million in 2017 according to Forbes), running his own clothing brand and publishing successful cookbooks, humorously managing her social networks (on her Twitter account, which has 10.7 million subscribers, she presents herself as a de-motivational speaker, and her Instagram followed by 20.8 million subscribers, also does not lack self-deprecation).
They are now parents of two children, Luna, two, and Miles, born in May. And at the end of the year, he will release an album of Christmas songs, A Legendary Christmas , recorded under the Californian sun, which he will present during a five-week tour. Indeed, what a year! But we must interrupt our conversation, the photographer is waiting. For the first image, Legend dons a Tom Ford tuxedo button, gilded, with a black tie on a pristine white shirt. Exactly what you would wear on New Year's Eve, a glass of champagne in your hand. The Christmas spirit must seize him, and his velvety voice sings "Have Yourself a merry little Christmas!" This is of course a song from his album, which he readily acknowledges is part of a certain American tradition. He insists: he aspired to propose something different. "That's why I asked Raphael Saadiq to produce it."
Singer, composer and respected musician, Saadiq has been a close collaborator of Legend for several years, and they regularly give concerts together. "I grew up with Tony! Toni! Toné! " , The once-astronomical sales group that made Saadiq known and reactivated the American public's taste for the sounds of neo-soul and R & B, of which Legend is today one of the most emblematic figures. "He was the most appropriate person to capture my musical approach." Indeed, they opted for a decidedly funky and explosive approach: from What Christmas Means To Me , with Stevie Wonder to the harmonica, to Merry Merry Christmas , a ultra festive piece, welcoming a brass section of New Orleans, the album is an invitation to dance around the tree. "We wanted an ambitious record, with original songs ," he explains, referring to the six tracks written specifically for the album. I love to compose, and I hope they will become classics as well. I also wanted to show my love for the music I grew up with. " In his mind, it's " a review of the best in the history of black music - jazz, soul , the blues, the R & B - harmoniously united. " We could not say better.
Find the full article in the December-January 2019 issue of L'Officiel Hommes, currently on newsstands.
