John Legend continues to redefine his artistry with his latest project, My Favorite Dream, his first-ever family album. The EGOT winner has collaborated with indie folk luminary Sufjan Stevens to craft a sonically lush and universally appealing album that transcends age barriers. Featuring his four children and wife, Chrissy Teigen, My Favorite Dream weaves together playful melodies and heartfelt lyrics, creating a musical experience that families can enjoy together. Released under Republic Records: Kids & Family, Legend’s home label’s children and family wing, the album shows his knack for balancing accessibility with the kind of musicality that’s made him a household name.
As Legend’s career continues to evolve, he’s also ventured into the Broadway sphere, developing a stage adaptation of Imitation of Life alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and award-winning director Liesl Tommy. With multiple workshops under his belt, Legend’s involvement in the project reflects his commitment to storytelling beyond music. This dynamic pivot only adds another layer to his storied career, proving that his creativity knows no bounds—whether he’s writing music for theater or for families.
In creating My Favorite Dream, Legend was intentional about ensuring the album resonated with listeners of all ages. “I wanted to be myself no matter what I was doing,” he explains. “Even though I had a specific mission to write songs for children and their families, I did not want to forget the adults.” Collaborating with Sufjan Stevens, a long-time favorite of his, Legend set out to craft a record that felt both timeless and universal. “I wanted the songs to be beautiful and musically astute,” he says, adding that the album’s arrangements received the same level of care and detail he applies to his more mature records. The result is an album that balances playfulness with depth, making it equally suitable for a children’s playroom or a relaxed family gathering, ensuring that everyone—from toddlers to grandparents—can find something to love.
EBONY caught up with John Legend during a recent trip to London, where he shared what it was like working with his wife and kids, his upcoming Broadway effort, and celebrating 20 years of his debut album Get Lifted.
EBONY: Before jumping into the new project – how are you? Where are you in the world?
John Legend: I’m good. I just got to London this morning. I had a performance just now at the Hard Rock Cafe. I’ve been working with Hard Rock, all around the world, as a part of our partnership with the performance here today in London.
I know you travel a lot for work, but does it feel refreshing to kind of get out of LA and go to other cities? Do you get a chance to explore or is it in and out of the hotel?
It’s a lot of in and out in the hotel. A lot of my focus is on making sure my voice stays rested and ready for when I need to perform. But I will say when Chrissy and the kids come out here, I definitely get out and do more with them and try to show them parts of the cities we go to. So it depends on if I’m just with my work crew or with my family [laughs].
Your kids are pretty young – so what might feel monotonous to you for work, is a first-time core memory for them.
Exactly, it’s their first time doing a lot of these things and going to a lot of these places, so it’s very exciting.
Speaking of your children, this is a children’s album or more so a family album. First, how is it working with your wife, particularly in this capacity? Obviously, she’s been in plenty of your music videos. You guys have done quite a lot together over the years but how is it actually like working in the studio with her and did you discover anything new about her?
Actually, this is not the first time she’s sung with me. She’s sang some vocals on Happy Christmas Wars – [the John Lennon Yoko Ono cover] that I did for my Christmas album. We’ve got a secret stash of some original songs that she’s done too [laughs]. The worry was more about my 8-year-old and 6-year-old. But they handled it too.
Do you think we’ll ever see that Chrissy music, see the light of day? Are you encouraging her to put it out?
No. [laughs] I don’t think it will. We did it just for fun. But she’s comfortable in the studio. She does a lot of voiceover work for animation. She’s hosting a new podcast soon, and so she’s very comfortable in the studio.
When it comes to your children, they’re around you both as you’re both fully immersed in your creativity. While recording this project, did you notice them taking music a bit more seriously and becoming artists of themselves?
Well, not really based on the studio session, but based on my experience of being around them. Both Luna and Miles really love music and the babies love music too. But Luna and Miles are both taking piano lessons. Luna’s a part of the musical theater group at her school and she’s always singing. Miles is very into music too. He is more into DJing though, so he always wants to pick the songs.
That’s incredible. It almost feels like they kind of took elements of yourself and split into two people. Because obviously we know you as an artist, but also as a producer and songwriter behind the scenes.
I see both of us in all of them, in different ways. It just manifests in different ways, both in their appearance and in their interests, behaviors, and creativity. I just see both of us in them all the time.
When dealing with children, you want to see what their interests are and then kind of foster that. So how have you navigated supporting them in their interests – whether it be creative or outside of that?
Our question is how much do you focus on one thing? We were watching the Olympics and you’re seeing what focusing on one thing has accomplished for like a Simone Biles or champion swimmers, or whatever else. You know, you can see what the outcome of that focus is, but you also want to give them a chance to explore things and try different things before they completely give all their focus to one or two things. So I think they’re still at that stage where we want them to try different things and see what they really love. We’re already starting to see what their tendencies are and what their interests are. And as that continues to evolve, we’ll begin to focus more on one or two things that they’re really into.
I appreciate that this album is a “Family Album” and not a “Children’s Album.” There are many songs that I could add to cookout playlists, that my friends and younger family could both enjoy. How did you navigate that when you could’ve easily leaned into the children’s lane?
I wanted to be myself no matter what I was doing. Even though I had a specific mission to write songs for children and their families, I did not want to forget their families. I didn’t want to forget the adults, so I wanted to make sure that I would love to listen to it. My kids would love to listen to it. Any age would love to listen to it. I wanted the songs to be timeless and universal and I wanted the music, the arrangements to be beautiful and musically astute. That’s why I wanted to work with Sufjan Stevens as a producer. I’ve loved his work for a long time. That’s also why I put so much intention and care into the songwriting and all of the sonic aspects of the album. I truly wanted it to feel like anybody could listen to it and love it. And I wanted it to apply the same standard of excellence that I would apply to any record that I make.
When you touch on the sonics of the album – it has this really calming effect, but it doesn’t feel like a sleepy album per se. It’s a great album to rest or get work done to. For you personally, do you participate in meditation and ASMR and things like that? I hear elements of that in the music.
I do participate in meditation and have also worked with Headspace over the years. I created a sleep story for the Headspace app. We also did a lot of work around the power of music to help people focus and, and sleep and different functions that music can serve to [help] your brain and your neurological functions. So that was kind of preparation for creating music like this. But also me writing for Broadway also helped me. I think there’s some musical connection between writing for family music and writing for Broadway. Lyrically I just really thought about what are messages I want to give my kids? What are the things Christy and I talk with them about a lot and how do I translate that into song?
Incredible. It’s great that you just mentioned Broadway. You’ve been working on the production of Imitation of Life. What’s been the most exciting thing about developing a production of this scale?
We’ve been through multiple workshops now and, it started with just songs and a script. The script’s been written by Lynn Nottage – we call it the book in Broadway. So the book’s been written by Lynn Nottage and I’ve been writing all the music. And first of all, it’s just been a joy collaborating with her. She’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, and then with Liesel Tommy, who is an award-winning director. So the three of us have formed the creative team. It’s been so wonderful working with such talented people and creating all this amazing work together.
What are things that we could look forward to seeing from you going into next year?
Well, we’re going to start celebrating the 20th anniversary of [my debut album] Get Lifted, and so we have some special things planned for that. I’m excited to launch some of that stuff. We got some remixes, some re-imagined songs, and some great collaborations. Hopefully, we’ll have a live experience as well.
