''Bigger Love'' is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter and musician

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

. It was released on June 19, 2020, through

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. The album includes the singles " Conversations in the Dark", "Actions", "Bigger Love", and "Wild". The album won the

Grammy Award for Best R&B Album The Grammy Award for Best R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works on albums in the Contemporary R&B, R&B mus ...

at the

63rd Annual Grammy Awards The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held in and around the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles on March 14, 2021. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 201 ...

. The album was further promoted by a limited North American tour leg that began on September 1, 2021, after several stops on the original US and UK tour itinerary were either postponed or canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Background

''Bigger Love'' was written mostly in 2019. Recording for the album finished in February 2020. Legend stated he hoped the album would bring joy and be uplifting in light of the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as Reactions to the mu ...

that were taking place during the album's release. He released the cover art and track listing on June 12, a week before the release.

Artwork

The cover art was painted by artist Charly "Carlos" Palmer. The piece features a smiling portrait of the singer-songwriter covered in blooming flowers and a starry sky against a pop of turquoise backdrop.

Singles

Three singles were put out before the album was released. "Conversations in the Dark" was released on January 10, 2020. "Actions" was released on March 20. Legend performed "Actions" on ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

''. The title track, "Bigger Love", was released on April 17, 2020. "Wild", a collaboration with American musician Gary Clark Jr., was released on August 13, 2020.

Critical reception

The album received generally mixed reviews from critics. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' rated the album 3.5/5 stars, stating that the album's "self-aware" themes fit well with the current environment of the

. ''

Rated R&B ''Rated R&B'' is an independent online magazine based in the United States, which is dedicated and devoted to news, topics and almost all things related to rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, ...

'' recognized the album on its 30 Best R&B Albums of 2020 list, stating, "''Bigger Love'' celebrates everlasting love as John Legend serenades with soothing falsettos, bold instrumentation, and groovy new sounds."

Track listing

Notes

* signifies an additional producer * signifies a co-producer * signifies a vocal producer * signifies a remixer * "Ooh Laa" contains a portion of "

I Only Have Eyes for You "I Only Have Eyes for You" is a song by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin. The song was written for the 1934 film ''Dames (film), Dames'', in which it was performed by Dick Powell. Several other successful recordings of the song were m ...

", written by

Al Dubin Alexander Dubin (June 10, 1891 – February 11, 1945) was an American lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with the composer Harry Warren. Life Al Dubin came from a Russian Jewish family that immigrated to the United States from Sw ...

and

Harry Warren Harry Warren (born Salvatore Antonio Guaragna; December 24, 1893 – September 22, 1981) was an American composer and the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song ...

. * "Actions" contains a sample from "The Edge", written by

David Axelrod David M. Axelrod (born February 22, 1955) is an American political consultant and analyst. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for being the chief strategist to Barack Obama during his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. In ...

and performed by

David McCallum David Keith McCallum (19 September 1933 – 25 September 2023) was a Scottish actor and musician, based in the United States. He gained wide recognition in the 1960s for playing secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the television series '' The Man fr ...

. * "Remember Us" contains a portion of "I'm Still in Love with You" written by

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), known professionally as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer. He is best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Tired of ...

Al Jackson, Jr. Albert J. Jackson Jr. (November 27, 1935 – October 1, 1975) was an American drummer, producer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, a group of session musicians who worked for Stax Records and produced their ...

, and Willie Mitchell.

Personnel

Musicians

– lead vocals (all tracks), background vocals (tracks 1–4, 8, 9, 11–15), piano (4, 15), additional keyboards (4) *

Oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

– additional background vocals (track 1); background vocals, keyboards, drum programming (2) * Alex Nice – additional background vocals (track 1); background vocals, keyboards (2) * Keith "Ten4" Sorrells – additional background vocals (track 1); background vocals, keyboards, drum programming (2) *

Cautious Clay Joshua Karpeh (born January 30, 1993), known professionally as Cautious Clay, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.

– background vocals (tracks 2, 6, 18), bass (2), saxophone (6, 18) * Jamelle Adisa –

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (anatomy) * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * Horns (novel), ''Horns'' (novel), a dar ...

(tracks 2, 9); horn

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

, trumpet,

fluegelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though so ...

(13) * Natalie Imani – background vocals (tracks 3, 4, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15), ad-lib vocals (6, 18) * Ayana George – background vocals (tracks 3, 4, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15) * Keri Lee – background vocals (tracks 3, 4, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15) *

Raphael Saadiq Raphael Saadiq (; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to prominence as a vocalist and bassist for the R&B band Tony! Toni! Toné!, which he formed with h ...

– guitar (tracks 3, 9), bass (4), additional bass (5) *

Garrison Brown Garrison Brown is an American drummer and music producer. He is a Grammy Award winner, having contributed to John Legend's 2020 album ''Bigger Love''. As of 2024, he is a session musician for Alicia Keys, with whom he is also touring. Aside from ...

– additional drums (tracks 3, 5), drums (9, 15) * Matt Jones Orchestra – orchestra (tracks 3, 4, 7, 8, 13–15) ** Matt Jones – string arrangement ** Stephanie Matthews – violin ** Caitlin Edwards – violin ** Clayton Penrose-Whitmore – violin **

Scott Tixier Scott Tixier (born February 26th, 1986) is a French-born jazz violinist and professor of jazz violin at the University of North Texas. Life and career Tixier was born in Montreuil, France, and studied classical violin at the Conservatoire de ...

– violin ** Drew Forde –

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

** Tahirah Whittington –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

* Jeff "Gitty" Gitelman – additional bass, guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, string arrangement (track 4) * Anderson .Paak – drums (track 4) * Pete Kelleher – background vocals, keyboards, synthesizers (track 5) * Ben Kohn – background vocals, bass (track 5) * Sam Roman – background vocals (track 5) * Jake Torrey – background vocals, guitar (track 5) * Gary Clark Jr. – guitar solo (track 5) * Tom Barnes – drums, programming (track 5) *

Di Genius Stephen McGregor, known professionally as Di Genius, is a Jamaican record producer, singer, and songwriter. Di Genius comes from a musical family—his father is legendary veteran reggae artist Freddie McGregor and his siblings, Daniel "Chino" ...

– guitar, programming (tracks 6, 18) *

Trey Campbell ''For the Australian rugby player, see Troy Campbell''. Trey Campbell is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known for his involvement in Equinox, who represented Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Based in Los Angeles, he has ...

– background vocals (tracks 7, 9) *

Jhené Aiko Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo (; born March 16, 1988) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer and rapper. Aiko embarked on her musical career in 2002, as a backing vocalist and music video performer for the R&B group B2K. She was signed by the ...

– lead vocals (track 7) * Nate Mercereau – guitar, bass, drums, keyboards,

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

, string arrangement (track 10) * Steve Wyreman – guitar, keyboards (track 10) * Shaina Evoniuk – strings (track 10) * Pom Pom – background vocals, bass, programming (tracks 11, 17) *

Gregg Wattenberg Gregg Wattenberg is an American record producer, based in New York City. Best known for his work with the alternative rock band Goo Goo Dolls, he has been nominated for a Grammy Award. Work Gregg Wattenberg has co-written and/or co-produced eigh ...

– background vocals, guitar, bass (tracks 11, 17) * Jesse Fink – background vocals (tracks 11, 17) * Chance Peña – background vocals (tracks 11, 17) * Mia Wattenberg – background vocals (tracks 11, 17) * Danae Greenfield – piano (tracks 11, 17) * Benzi Ezelson – piano (tracks 11, 17) *

Koffee Mikayla Victoria Simpson (born February 16, 2000), who performs under the stage name Original Koffee, is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, rapper, and guitarist from Spanish Town. She released her debut single "Burning" in 2017, and signed with Col ...

– lead vocals, background vocals (track 12) *

Rapsody Marlanna Evans (born January 21, 1983), better known by her stage name Rapsody, is an American rapper. After signing with music producer 9th Wonder's music label It's a Wonderful World Music Group, she released a series of mixtapes and collab ...

– rap vocals (track 13) * Scott Mayo – horn arrangement,

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

alto flute The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, pitched below the standard C flute and the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the piccolo. It is chara ...

(track 13) * Danny "Ezra" Murdock – live drums, drum programming (track 13) *

Eric Hudson Eric Lee Hudson (born October 15, 1986) is an American record producer. He has won three Grammy Awards, and contributed to sales of over 60 million units in the United States. He is perhaps best known for his co-production on Kanye West's 2007 si ...

– additional instrumentation (track 13) * Peter Lee Johnson – additional strings (track 13) * Curtis Hudson – guitar (track 13) * Camper – background vocals (track 14) *

Tayla Parx Taylor Monét Parks, known as Tayla Parx, is an American singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, and actress. A two-time Grammy nominee in the Album of the Year category, songs she has written and co-written have exceeded 16 billion streams on Spotify ...

– background vocals (track 14) * Dmitry Gorodetsky –

upright bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

(track 14) *

Greg Wells William Gregory Wells (born 1968) is a Canadian record producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and mix engineer. He has worked with Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Quincy Jones, J*Davey, Burt Bacharach, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Missy Elliott, ...

– piano,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

(track 16) *

Mr Hudson Benjamin Hudson McIldowie (born 26 June 1979), better known by his stage name Mr Hudson, is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer from Birmingham, England. He formed the band Mr Hudson and the Library in 2006, for which he served ...

– programming, string arrangement, percussion, guitar (track 16) *

Nasri Atweh Nasri Tony Atweh (, born 10 January 1981), known mononymously as Nasri, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He serves as lead vocalist and songwriter for the reggae fusion band Magic!, which he formed in 2012 with fellow Tor ...

– background vocals (track 16) *

Mau Montaner Mau & Ricky is a Venezuelan Latin pop and reggaeton duo formed by singer-songwriter brothers Mauricio Alberto "Mau" Reglero Rodríguez (born August 17, 1993) and Ricardo Andrés "Ricky" Reglero Rodríguez (born November 21, 1990), both sons o ...

– lead vocals (track 18) *

Ricky Montaner Ricardo Andrés Reglero Rodríguez (born November 21, 1990, in Caracas), professionally known as Ricky Montaner, is a Venezuelan singer and songwriter, best known as one half of the musical duo Mau & Ricky, alongside his brother Mau Montaner. B ...

– lead vocals (track 18)

Technical

Mike Bozzi Mike Bozzi is an American mastering engineer at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood, California. He won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year for mastering Childish Gambino's " This Is America", and is a six-time nominee for the Grammy Award fo ...

– mastering * Gerry "The Gov" Brown – mixing (tracks 1–9, 11–18) * Bobby Campbell – mixing (tracks 3–9, 12–15, 18) *

Ricky Reed Eric Burton Frederic (born January 15, 1982), known professionally as Ricky Reed, is an American record producer, singer, songwriter, and the founder of Nice Life Recording Company. In 2005, he formed the musical project Wallpaper., which las ...

– mixing (track 10) * Matt Becks – mixing (tracks 11, 17) * Greg Wells – mixing (track 16) *

Oak Felder Warren "Oak" Felder (born November 9, 1980)Dale KawashimaSongwriter Universe, September 7, 2017. is a Turkish songwriter and record producer based in Atlanta and Los Angeles. He is known for his work as part of the production duo Pop & Oak, and ...

–

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

(tracks 1, 2, 8) * Hotae Alexander Jang – engineering (tracks 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12–15, 18), John Legend vocal engineering (7), additional engineering (10), engineering assistance (16) * Jhair "Jha" Lazo – engineering (tracks 4, 6, 18) *

TMS TMS may refer to: Broadcasting * TMS (entertainment data), data provider * ''Test Match Special'', BBC cricket coverage * ''This Movie Sucks!'', a Canadian TV show on bad movies * ''That Metal Show'', a US TV talk show Media * Hobby of Mode ...

– engineering (track 5) * Rich Rich – engineering (tracks 6, 18) * Lias – engineering (track 9) * Ethan Shumaker – engineering (track 10) * Nate Mercereau – engineering (track 10) * Anthony Kilhoffer – engineering (tracks 11–13, 18) * Leo Bescotti – engineering (tracks 11, 17) * Richard Biethan – engineering (track 16) * Tim McClain – engineering (track 18) * Gregg Rominiecki – Jhené Aiko vocal engineering (track 7) * Danny Johnson – mixing assistance (tracks 1, 2) * Theo Wayland – mixing assistance (tracks 1, 2, 5) * Sean Massih – mixing assistance (track 2) * Kyle Metcalfe – mixing assistance (tracks 3, 4, 7, 8, 12–15) * Keith "Ten4" Sorrells – engineering assistance (tracks 1, 8) * Natalie Ranalli – engineering assistance (tracks 3, 4, 9, 14) * Charlie Marshall – engineering assistance (track 16)

Visuals

* Rob English – creative direction * Chris Feldmann – art direction, design * Don Baker – art direction, design, hand painted signs * Ricardo Bojorquez – design,

layout In general terms, a layout is a structured arrangement of items within certain limits, or a plan for such arrangement. Specifically, layout may refer to: * Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page ** Comprehensive layout (comp), ...

* Charly Palmer – cover and landscape painting * Nurse Signs – hand painted signs * Doug Inglish – photography

Charts

References