Grateful for the reality check, the folks at the Recording Academy honored "Lifted" with a whopping eight Grammy nominations, and the statuettes for Best New Artist, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance and Best R&B album.
Don't get it twisted though. Legend also told stories about seducing taken women and serial cheating with a swagger that could only be compared to that of Kanye West, Legend's guru and label mate (G.O.O.D. music). However, what's most remarkable about Legend is his seemingly innate ability to channel traditional R&B and successfully fuse it with complementary genres such as hip-hop, classical and soul.
In "Get Lifted," Legend offered the new generation of young R&B, pop and hip-hop fans a delectable taste of the "real" music of which their parents wistfully reminisce. For his follow-up effort, many fans hoped that Legend would keep in mind the simple expression that most overzealous artists underestimate: If it ain't broke, don't fix it! However, Legend, always one to take the road less traveled, put his own twist on the expression and decided not to fix it, but to renovate it in his new album appropriately titled "Once Again."
Unlike "Lifted," "Once Again" does not feature any elements of hip-hop. Frankly, you won't even miss them. With production from the likes of Kanye West, Raphael Sadiq and will.i.am, each track contains an impressive use of live instruments, backup singers (think of The Supremes) and sampling. Without a doubt, listening to "Once Again" will evoke memories of older generations putting on their records and slow dancing in the living room. From his new beard to his album's '70s-inspired tracks, Legend has apparently evolved and is now representing strictly for the grown and sexy. While "Lifted" consisted of songs with varying themes and production styles, "Once Again" focuses primarily on addressing themes such as heartache, seduction, romance and the duality of love and pain. Describing the concept of his new album, Legend said, "It's different [from] the first album. I wanted to make that statement, I wanted to say this album is going to be different and it's going to be interesting. It's going to challenge the boundaries of where I'm supposed to go."
In "Save Room," the first single off the album, Legend seductively implores his lover to make room for him in her heart. During an interview with MTVe.com, Legend described it as "retro rock in some ways and '60s soul. And a little bit of [a] Frank Sinatra kind of vocal approach." Recognizing his lover's hesitation, Legend assures her, "This just might hurt a little/Love hurts sometimes when you do it right/Don't be afraid of a little bit of pain/Pleasure is just on the other side." While commercial enough to gain much radio play, "Save Room" does not quite demonstrate the uniqueness that Legend is known for.
With some help from the Kanye-touch, Legend effectively recollects his signature style in "Heaven," the second single. Heavy percussion (presumably from an 808-type drum machine, knowing Kanye), old-school melodies provided by a keyboard and the ever-so-often banging of a tambourine complement one another perfectly. Luckily for us, Kanye refrains from marring the song with any hip-hop influenced loquaciousness ("G.O.O.D music y'all! Grammy family y'all!") as Legend smoothly croons over a looped old-school sample and harmonizes with in-studio backup singers.
Explaining his decision to make "Save Room" and "Heaven" the first singles off the album, Legend said, "I think there's kind of the obvious choices people make for singles where you gotta do the upbeat one, the one that sounds like hip-hop radio, you gotta do the one that sounds a certain way. But I wanted to do something different and make radio kind of sound different when I came on so people would notice when I came on [the radio.]"
In "P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)", a funky, upbeat song, Legend unabashedly sings about his ventures into voyeurism with his sweetheart. However, the absence of any actual profanity reinforces the charisma of the lyrics, leading one to blush from Legend's scandalous behavior. Upon suggesting something new for his lover and him, Legend sings "I see you closing down the restaurant/Let's sneak and do it when your boss is gone."
Without a doubt, "Again" is the "Ordinary People" of "Once Again." When talking to MTVe.com, Legend claimed to have thought of the concept and written the song on the subway. In "Again" Legend exhibits his knack for expressing complex emotions clearly yet artistically. The storyline of "Again" involves two lovers who are going through an extremely painful and emotionally draining on-and-off relationship. Yet, despite the countless fights they go through, they always get back together again.
You can feel Legend's angst and confusion as he plays the piano for release therapy: "So we did it again/Knowing we should quit it but we simply won't admit it again/Oh it feels good/It's so good/But I won't do it again/... /After we go at it we get mad then we go at it again/Oh I love it/Then I hate it/She's my favorite again." Ultimately, Legend favored "Again" so much that he chose to title the entire album based on that song.
When asked what his fans should expect from his new album, Legend said, "I want them to hear that I've grown. That I'm trying to take them to new places and to be excited about that. This album is an expansion more than anything else. I'm trying to be me and embrace all the parts of me that have grown up, listened to more music and soaked up more influences. 'Get Lifted' was me then. This is me now."
The lack of hip-hop influence in any of the tracks might cause Legend to lose many of his younger fans. Because this album is not as dynamic as the young'uns might like, the sexy members of Club Grown & Sexy may feel abandoned. However, Legend's decision to fuse his gospel and soul influences in "Once Again" will definitely result in his gaining a larger adult audience that before may have overlooked the popular R&B vocalist.
Even though he knows he has taken a risk in experimenting musically in the album, Legend never sounds apologetic or holds back on a track. Instead, Legend's confidence commands his listeners and makes them search for the bigger picture in each track. "Once Again" proves that Legend knows exactly what music legends are made of.