The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicAlbum reviews

John Legend – Bigger Love

John Legend – Bigger Love | Album review
30 June 2020
Grace Walsh
Avatar
Grace Walsh
30 June 2020

Music review

Grace Walsh

Bigger Love

★★★★★

Release date

19th June 2020

Highlights

Actions, Wild, Darkness and Light

Links

Twitter Facebook Instagram Soundcloud Website

John Legend will always be known for his most famous song All of Me. Even though he’s since released a succession of tunes and one-hit wonders, he’s never quite been able to reclaim the magic which that track held.

Legend’s other albums, most recently a Christmas record in 2018 and before that Darkness and Light in 2016, still do their rounds on the radio and most of us will recognise his silky tones, even if we don’t know the song.

Bigger Love will likely join these ranks. It’s a collection that’s by no means an audacious declaration of love, despite being wholly dedicated to his wife, but it’s not a total flop either.

So, where does that leave us? Well, in conversation with Jimmy Fallon in March this year, Legend said that Bigger Love is likely his “sexiest album to date. If you’re stuck at home and want to make some coronababies… if you spend a lot of time with your partner and you need a soundtrack to that.”

Taking on the theme of love and sex is not a strange quest for Legend. Whereas in Darkness and Light he explores its sharper, harsher and sometimes anxiety-inducing edges, Bigger Love feels like a warm hug rather than a sexually charged embrace.

“Actions speak louder than love songs,” is the repetitive lyric throughout Actions, the second track on the album. It’s catchy, and the punchy melody sets things off on a high note – even if, on reflection, as you make your way through the collection, its lyrics are a little ironic.

Wild shows that Legend’s voice reaches its full potential when paired with equally phenomenal instrumentals. While One Life and Slow Cooker give a nod to classical soul music.

Bigger Love bounces between genres and styles, negotiating its way carefully through soul and RnB for the most part and staying away from the classical ballads he’s famous for. It’s a welcome change and we bob along with him for the next few songs.

That’s until we reach Conversations in the Dark. This is where the album joins the ranks of his others after All of Me, as the song relies on the same sentimental crooning. But this time, his insistence that “I won’t break your heart” and “in my eyes you are perfect” just seems reductive, as though we’ve intruded on a private moment.

★★★★★

Grace Walsh

Bigger Love is released on 19th June 2020. For further information or to order the album visit John Legend’s website here.

Related Itemsreview

More in Album reviews

Florence and the Machine – Dance Fever

★★★★★
Ronan Fawsitt
Read More

Arcade Fire – We

★★★★★
Ronan Fawsitt
Read More

Blossoms – Ribbon Around the Bomb

★★★★★
Georgia Howlett
Read More

Memorial – Memorial

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More

Fontaines DC – Skinty Fia

★★★★★
Jasper Watkins
Read More

Girlpool – Forgiveness

★★★★★
Charlie Peters
Read More

Patrick Watson – Better in the Shade

★★★★★
Catherine Sedgwick
Read More

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Unlimited Love

★★★★★
Georgia Howlett
Read More

Wet Leg – Wet Leg

★★★★★
Mark Worgan
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Music review

Grace Walsh

Bigger Love

★★★★★

Release date

19th June 2020

Highlights

Actions, Wild, Darkness and Light

Links

Twitter Facebook Instagram Soundcloud Website

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Ladies’ fashion: Seven wardrobe staples for summer
    Fashion & Lifestyle
  • Julius Caesar at Shakespeare’s Globe
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Operation Mincemeat at Riverside Studios
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Viagra Boys at the Forum
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Buddhist on Death Row by David Sheff
    ★★★★★
    Literature
  • Florence and the Machine – Dance Fever
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • The Road Dance
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Innocents
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Benediction
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Banter Jar at Lion & Unicorn Theatre: “An authentic and timely one-woman show”
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Florence and the Machine – Dance Fever
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Operation Mincemeat at Riverside Studios
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Viagra Boys at the Forum
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • “There’s something very tender if you reconnect with your parents when they’re falling into pieces”: Gaspar Noé on Vortex
    Cinema & Tv
  • Tool at the O2 Arena
    ★★★★★
    Live music
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Angela Davis joins huge roster of women’s rights speakers at 24-hour online WOW Festival
Normal People by Sally Rooney | Book review