With a date, track listing and cover art all revealed for John Legend and The Roots collaborative project Wake Up!, the pianist and singer/song-writer spoke on the album’s agenda with The Huffington Post.
Recounting a handful of historical reforms by President Barack Obama that have been passed, John Legend explained he still feels people are disappointed by the current state of our nation. “I think a lot of people expected even more. They’re like ‘Man, I thought this was gonna be the president that could wave his magic wand and make everything happen,’ and though he’s gotten a lot done, there’s been a lot of compromise on the way and there’s been a lot of difficulty getting the agenda adjusted. We still haven’t solved the recession yet; we still have a lot of frustration.”
Looking to inspire, he continued, “You want to try to make it better, and I think part of the way we do that is by creating art. But also since we see so much and we have access to so much and we have the ears of so many people, I think we’d be remiss if we didn’t try to make the world better in other ways.”
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With an initial thought to choose ?uestlove and The Roots for this collaborative project, Legend added, “I have even more respect for [?uestlove] now having been able to work with him and I think it was a really great collaboration. I’m happy we were able to do it.”
John Legend and The Roots’ Wake Up! will be released September 21 on Sony Music.
