\u201cI\u2019ve been singing to my kids since my first child, Luna, was born,\u201d he reminisces. \u201cWe would sing while we were changing her diaper \u2013 we wrote a little ditty called the \u2018Stinky Booty Song\u2019\u2026\u201d Unsurprisingly for someone who has worked in the music industry for more than 20 years, Legend \u201csurrounds\u201d his children with music the same way he was immersed in it growing up: \u201cthat was always a big part of the way we interacted with each other.\u201d Making a whole album for kids felt like a natural next step.<\/p>\n
He enlisted the help of indie-folk darling Sufjan Stevens\u00a0to produce\u00a0My Favourite Dream<\/em>. It\u2019s comprised of nine original tracks penned by Legend, as well as two covers, \u201cThree Little Birds\u201d and \u201cMy Only Sunshine\u201d. It truly is a family affair \u2013 as well as drawing inspiration from his four children, Luna (eight), Miles (six), Esti and Wren (both one), he roped in Teigen and the elder two to sing backing vocals on \u201cL-O-V-E\u201d. Luna even drew the illustrations that adorn the album cover: stars, moons and birds doodled in jaunty tangerine.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t mind having a public life, and there are so many good things that come from it. We know that there are also bad things that come with it. We take the good with the bad<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Was it fun working with his family, I ask, or (as I would imagine), a total nightmare? \u201cOh, it was fun! I only had them sing on one song, and the parts were pretty simple. They did a great job \u2013 it took us about 10 minutes.\u201d But it\u2019s unlikely we\u2019re witnessing the emergence of a new Von Trapp family \u2013 \u201cI don\u2019t know if they\u2019d want that!\u201d<\/p>\n The resulting album is brimming with messages of reassurance \u2013 \u201cAll your little worries gonna be OK\/ All of your troubles gonna melt away\u201d starts the opening track, \u201cFamily\u201d \u2013 delivered in Legend\u2019s signature smooth baritone and accompanied by chirpy instrumentals and harmonies. Single and child-free, I\u2019m clearly not the target market. Still, it\u2019s a genuinely catchy album, full of earworms that stay with you (even when you\u2019re 37 rather than seven). This, it transpires, was intentional. \u201cI was always thinking about making something that everyone could listen to and enjoy,\u201d says Legend. \u201cMy goal was to hold myself to the same musical standard that I would for any other album.\u201d<\/p>\n Not only is this his first children\u2019s album, it\u2019s the first album he\u2019s written entirely by himself \u2013 no co-writers involved \u2013 and the first time he\u2019s written at home rather than in the studio. One gets the impression that, amid a fairly unrelenting schedule, making\u00a0My Favourite Dream\u00a0<\/em>was a welcome respite \u2013 a chance to spend more quality time with his family. Is it hard being away from them when he\u2019s on the road? \u201cOh yeah. I wrote a song about that, called \u2018Always Come Back\u2019, about having to leave them sometimes and reassuring them that I\u2019ll always get back to them.\u201d It\u2019s Luna\u2019s favourite, he tells me: \u201cShe\u2019s the oldest, so she\u2019s seen me leave the most.\u201d<\/p>\n Legend and Teigen\u2019s road to parenthood has famously been far from smooth. Their first attempt at IVF failed before both Luna and Miles were born via successful rounds. In 2020, they conceived naturally but tragically lost the baby, Jack, when Teigen was 20 weeks pregnant. She initially announced that she had a miscarriage; two years later, she revealed that it had been a life-saving abortion, something she hadn\u2019t realised at the time.<\/p>\n After that experience, the couple \u201cwere worried that she wouldn\u2019t be able to have kids again,\u201d says Legend. \u201cThat\u2019s when we started looking for a surrogate.\u201d The first surrogacy attempt didn\u2019t work; the second was successful. In the meantime, Teigen had opted for a final shot at IVF, which also resulted in a successful pregnancy. She gave birth to Esti in January 2023 and, around five months later, Wren was born.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s different doing it with a surrogate,\u201d says Legend. \u201cWe developed a really nice relationship with her \u2013 we were just really grateful. You put your body through a lot to carry someone else\u2019s child.\u201d Are they still in each other\u2019s lives? \u201cYes, we still communicate with her.\u201d<\/p>\n Not only have their pregnancies been well documented but the pair are two of the most high-profile parents on the planet. This is arguably by choice \u2013 they\u2019re more open with what they share on social media than most A-listers. \u201cWe don\u2019t mind having a public life, and there are so many good things that come from it,\u201d says Legend. \u201cWe know that there are also bad things that come with it. We take the good with the bad.\u201d<\/p>\n The bad being, of course, the endless online trolling and nitpicking. Everything they do attracts searing criticism from some quarters; a cursory google brings up stories accusing them of using a baby carrier incorrectly, a car seat incorrectly, of Teigen being pregnant for \u201ctoo long\u201d. It used to bother them, admits Legend. \u201cIt got to us at first when we had Luna, because everyone had a critique \u2013 \u2018Are you putting her in the car seat right? Is she in the stroller right? Are you breastfeeding?\u2019 At first, especially when you\u2019re a new mother, it can play to your insecurities.\u201d<\/p>\n They\u2019ve grown out of it now \u2013 \u201cwe became numb to it\u201d \u2013 and Legend is surprisingly sanguine about the never-ending scrutiny. \u201cWe know it\u2019s the price of the life that we live. We\u2019re confident in our\u00a0parenting; we\u2019re confident in the life that we\u2019re building for our family. And so we don\u2019t worry too much about little comments here and there.\u201d Happily, most of their followers are \u201cpositive and supportive\u201d.<\/p>\n What he\u2019s less sanguine about is the fact that Teigen is frequently targeted individually. Most of the censure is outright ridiculous \u2013 she\u2019s been slammed for using \u201cdirty bathwater\u201d (she was washing off body makeup), wearing an \u201cinappropriate\u201d outfit to the Paris Olympics (an inoffensive green cardigan and matching micro-shorts), having \u201ca new face\u201d (yes, really).<\/p>\n He tries to be supportive and empathetic. \u201cBut I honestly just hope we all get better with how we treat women,\u201d he says of the double standard that pervades. \u201cIt\u2019s abundantly clear to me, from my observation of what happens with Chrissy, that it\u2019s harder to be a woman in public than it is to be a man. You see women running for office or women trying to lead a company \u2013 they get criticisms that just wouldn\u2019t be thrown at a man in a similar circumstance.\u201d<\/p>\n The most famous \u201cwoman in office\u201d right now being, of course, current vice-president and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Legend has been vocal in his support of her: \u201cShe\u2019s more presidential, she\u2019s more intelligent, she understands the problems of the American people better and has better solutions. She should be our next president.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike other more cautious celebrities, Legend isn\u2019t afraid to smack-talk the opposition either. \u201cWe\u2019re running against someone who\u2019s utterly toxic, unqualified and was manifestly terrible at his job,\u201d he says of Republican contender Donald Trump. \u201cHonestly, sometimes I\u2019m like, \u2018How is it even close?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But it\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0close. And, although he feels \u201coptimistic\u201d, that fact is \u201cscary\u201d, Legend admits. \u201cTrump has no respect for democracy. If we don\u2019t have respect for the vote in the US, the whole thing starts to fall apart. It would drastically change the character of our country.\u201d He believes Trump would be \u201ceven worse if he got re-elected\u201d.<\/p>\n In a strange twist of fate, Legend was on stage in his hometown of Springfield, Ohio, when the city was mentioned in this week\u2019s televised debate between Trump and Harris \u2013 Trump falsely claimed that Haitians had moved to Springfield and begun eating cats and dogs belonging to locals. \u201cWe have a large group of Haitian immigrants, who\u2019ve just come to work and live and experience the American Dream,\u201d Legend says sombrely.\u00a0\u201cIt was wild being in my home state with a bunch of my family from Springfield, and then coming off stage to find out we were mentioned in the national debate with such a weird, ridiculous rumour.\u201d<\/p>\n For Legend, it\u2019s never felt commercially dangerous to talk openly about his political views, because they often align with those of his fans. But he\u2019s full of praise for other artists who nail their colours to the mast when it\u2019s more costly to do so. I\u2019m meeting Legend shortly after Taylor Swift finally publicly endorsed Harris in the US election, following months of speculation. \u201cI thought that was the perfect statement,\u201d he tells me. \u201cIt was always really difficult for Taylor to speak out for liberal and progressive candidates coming from the country music world, where the fan base is a lot more conservative. It was riskier for her to start speaking out about politics than it is for me. I always respected the fact that she was willing to take that risk.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Legend](\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2024\/09\/13\/15\/newFile-7.jpg\")
<\/div>![\"Legend](\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2024\/09\/13\/15\/newFile-8.jpg\")
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