When most of us last heard from John Legend, he had teamed up with The Roots for Wake Up!, a solid collection of covers of obscure soul songs from the Seventies and Eighties. It was critically and commercially well-received, and won a pair of Grammys. When I last saw John Legend, it was this past summer on tour with Sade. He’s a surprisingly hammy live performer, a little more Vegas than I thought he would be, but he put on a good show. If you’re into the whole social networking thing, go find him on Twitter @johnlegend. He’s one of the more politically astute and articulate celebrities out there. Public service might be a good idea once he decides to hang up his piano shoes.
At any rate, John’s as-yet-untitled fifth album is scheduled for release later this year. In the meantime, the recently-engaged singer has just released “Tonight (Best You Ever Had).” It will appear on the soundtrack to the upcoming movie “Think Like A Man.” It’s a little more pop-friendly that just about everything Legend’s ever put out, but it’s a pretty decent song altogether. Ludacris appears towards the end to spice the song up (Luda-perfect guest rapper, almost always dead boring on an entire album) and the result should be one of the winter/spring’s biggest hits.
What do you think?