Original subtitles

[DISTANT CHEERING]

[MUSIC SLOWLY BUILDS]

[PLAYING PIANO]

JOHN LEGEND: Music can put so much beauty in the world.

It's kind of like a spiritual exercise.

It's not as logical as therapy, or reading,

or some other things that we do.

It's hard to explain the power that music has.

It inspires us, makes us feel something, makes us cry,

makes us dance.

And that is such a powerful gift that we

have music in our lives.

[MUSIC - COMMON & JOHN LEGEND, "GLORY"]

(SINGING) Selma is now for every man, woman, and child.

Even Jesus got his crown--

JOHN LEGEND: Music can be people's way

of voicing their frustration, their anger, their passion,

their love, their desire for justice.

The idea that we're all striving for a better world,

to love each other more, to see each other more clearly,

and to care about justice and equality for each other.

Some of my songs have been about that.

And we are not going back, we are going forward!

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

(SINGING) One road when the glory comes.

JOHN LEGEND: I wrote these songs inspired by people

out there fighting, people trying to change the world.

And in turn, when I put them out into the world,

those songs help inspire some of those same people

to keep fighting.

To know that I'm with them, and that our music can help them

keep keeping on.

[PLAYING PIANO]

Whether you want to make a moment or start a movement,

this songwriting class is for you.

[PLAYING PIANO]

I was inspired by all these great leaders and activists

who fought for justice.

And I also was inspired by musicians

who wanted to use their music to make the world better.

So I was growing up, you know, in the '80s and '90s.

I knew that Stevie Wonder, for instance,

wrote "Happy Birthday" as a way of advocating

for a holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King.

I knew that so many musicians marched

with Dr. King and other civil rights activists,

and so I believed that part of my role

as a successful musician could be

me making my community stronger and better,

and fighting for equality and justice.

So I wrote this essay at 15, envisioning

where I wanted to be in my life when I was older.

How I was going to make Black history.

I'll read you a little bit of the essay.

I said, "It is important for strong men and women

to be in the forefront and to lead

in the struggle for success.

I plan to impact society by developing my own character

and being a leader in the community by example.

I plan to use my social skills and my musical talents

to be a positive role model for my fellow Afro-Americans.

I envision a successful musical career

that will allow me to attain high visibility

in the community.

This, in turn, will put me in a position of great influence,

which I will utilize in order to be

an advocate for the Advancement of Blacks in America.

And I plan to be one of these future Black history

makers of tomorrow."

Did you win the contest?

I won the local competition, yes.

I got first place in the Dayton area.

I guess it went to the National, and I didn't win that one.

[LAUGHS]

I've learned so much since I was 15.

But one thing that stayed true was I wanted to do this,

and here I am doing it.

And if you find your voice, and if you figure out who you are,

and if you stand out from the rest--

not just fit in, not just try to follow the trends--

but if you stand out, then I think

that's the way to establish yourself

with longevity and with real impact.

[PLAYING PIANO]

In this class, you're going to learn about songwriting.

What comprises a song--

the melody, the chord progression, the lyrics.

If you think about roses are red, violets are blue,

we're going to talk about structure,

how songs are put together, what patterns we can recognize.

So it's kind of like A, B, C, B rhyme structure.

(SINGING) --let it wash through the valley,

soar to the mountains--

We're going to talk about how to take your song from being

just a song to an arranged song that is put out on a record.

Oh, I like that one.

Let's use that one.

(SINGING) You know that love--

We're going to talk about genre, and blending genres,

and using your different influences

to make up your own style and your point of view.

And hopefully we'll make all of you better songwriters,

better musicians, and better recording artists.

I just wrote a brand new song called "Free,"

and I wrote it in response to the invasion of Ukraine

by Russia.

I was watching the news.

I was moved by what I was seeing.

I was so inspired by people fighting for freedom, people

fighting for their democracy.

So inspired by Russians protesting in the street,

knowing that they could get arrested for it.

And I was thinking about all of those things,

about how we need peace, we need freedom,

we need to fight against racism and fight for equality.

And I wanted to write a song called "Free" in response

to that.

And I'm going to talk with you today

about my writing process for this song,

and how I take the song into a full recording

that I'll put out into the world.

(SINGING) Rain down freedom, rain down 'til we're all free.

Free.

I developed my process through trial and error.

I just started trying to write songs.

They were not great songs at the time.

But you have to start somewhere, and your first song is probably

not going to be your best song.

But if you start, then you can start figuring out

what works for you.

And I decided that the verse should be in those same chords.

I'm hopefully going to give you some shortcuts

so you don't have to have too much error on the way to you

figuring things out.

So I decided I'm going to use the idea of peace

as, like, a physical thing.

You can follow along in my songwriting process,

and use that process to help you write a song.

And then I end it with (SINGING) let

it fly across the sky, a banner so high that even

the rockets will see.

Songs are chords of who we are.

They're such an important part of our humanity.

You can share yours with the world.

[PLAYING PIANO]

I'm John Legend, and this is MasterClass.

(SINGING): I give you all of me.

And you give me all of you.

Oh-oh.

Melody is such a core part of songwriting.

It's a core part of how we take in a song, how

we understand what a song is.

It in many ways defines what the song is to a lot of people.

A lot of times I will come up with melodic ideas,

hooky moments in the song, before I come up

with what the subject matter will be.

Most of my songs start with a melody, and then

some sort of hook that has a lyric.

And then I build out a concept around that lyric,

with that lyric as the theme.

(SINGING): We're just ordinary people.

We don't know which way to go.

So, let's talk about what a song is.

In my mind, if we're talking about popular music,

we're talking about songs with vocals.

A song is the chord progression, it's the lyric,

and it's the vocal melody.

So, that means even if someone arranged it differently

with different instruments, if they applied a different beat

to it, it would still be the same song

because it has the same chord progression,

has the same vocal melody, and has the same lyric.

So, that's what is transferable about that song.

No matter who covers it that song is a song,

and that's the thing that is the core of songwriting.

So, what is the melody?

Melody is the part that the vocalist sings.

It's the notes.

It's the sequence of notes and the rhythm

of the sequence of those notes that the singer is singing.

And if it's an instrumental song,

it might be the sequence of notes

that the saxophone player or whoever is the lead instrument

that stands out.

So, for "All of Me," the melody of the chorus is--

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

So, not only it's a sequence of notes,

but it's a rhythmic structure of those notes.

So, they fall at certain points in the measure.

And some are extended longer.

Some are more rapid fire.

So, all of those components of the thing

that you're singing along to, the main melody

that the vocalist is singing or that the lead instrument is

playing, that is the melody.

It's those sequences of notes and the rhythmic arrangement

of those sequences of notes that are the standout

sing along-able part of a song.

And so, part of what you're trying

to do when you write a song is not only

write something that you'll sound good doing,

but that when people hear it, it makes them want to sing it too.

So, I just wrote a song with Charlie Puth and Ryan Tedder

and Ian Kirkpatrick, and they were primarily

writing chords and the beat.

And I came up with melodies for the song.

So the beat was--

[PLAYING NOTES]

Up tempo song.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING): She sold out.

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

I'm trying to make a melody that rides the beat.

I'm trying to make a melody that is catchy.

I'm trying to have enough space between the lines

so that it makes it even more catchy and accessible

and has the right rhythmic approach to what the beat is.

The beat is a fun party groove.

The keyboards are doing this cool kind

of Pharrell kind of thing.

And I wanted the melody to play off

of those elements in a way that works.

Think about all the songs you love.

Listen to them.

Think about what makes them cool to you.

Think about what makes you want to sing along to them,

and then try to do that try.

Try.

And I think if you just sing along to the music,

sing along to the beat, and you start coming up

with things that feel good that you could hear

other people singing along with you,

those are some of the clues to, oh, this melody will work.

I could hear other people singing it with me.

We did a really cool thing at the end of the chorus of that

song, where we say, (SINGING) She's so-o-o-o dope.

Now, that's kind of hard to sing,

but when I took it home to my daughter,

she was singing that part.

That was the thing that really stood out to her.

She's five years old.

So, if you write the right melody,

it will be something that makes someone want to sing along.

It'll be a thing that they remember.

It'll be catchy.

It'll feel good to them.

[PLAYING "ALL OF ME"]

Melody is crucial.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the right melody.

And if we don't have the right melody,

we don't have the right song.

It's not going to work.

[MUMBLE SINGING]

When I start a song, most of my songs

start with a mumble track.

[MUMBLE SINGING]

When I sing a melody, sometimes I'm

mouthing things that don't make sense.

It's like gibberish, but it sounds like words.

The only thing I'm worried about is

the melody when I'm doing that.

I'm not thinking about what's the song going to be about yet.

I'm thinking, what is it going to sound like?

What is the flow of my voice going to be over this track?

So, you notice with "Ordinary People,"

there's a pattern, a similar rhythm as we

progress through the verse.

But the notes change.

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

So, the next line on a different chord is--

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

Then--

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

So, it's like a little neat package of--

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

Stay on that.

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

Each stanza feels like it's a neat package,

and it has a pattern to it that's repetitive in some ways.

And it's easy for people to grab on to.

Next time we do that stanza, again, same melody.

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

And then, when I'm thinking about the melody

for the next part, the chords stay the same.

But I'm going to switch up the melody.

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

And you notice it has a different spacing and rhythm

too.

So, I was doing more conversational

[VOCALIZING MELODY].

It's almost like I'm talking.

And then, this is more singy and more rhythmic.

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

There's more jumps between the notes too.

That's a melodic change.

So, the other ones, the notes were right next to each other.

[VOCALIZING AND PLAYING MELODY]

Nothing was more than a whole tone away from each other.

And with the pre-chorus, I jumped around.

[PLAYING MELODY]

So, what doing that different melody did

was add complication, add tension, add momentum

to the song, so we could build to the chorus.

And then the chorus, again, sweeping chorus.

[SCATTING MELODY]

Fewer notes.

Less conversational.

No one talks like this.

(SINGING): We don't know which way to go.

More sweeping, more grand, more higher in my register.

So, these are some of the melodic considerations

that we have as I'm doing the mumble track.

And I'm thinking, well, how is this going

to feel over that section.

How is this going to feel?

And what feels more like a chorus?

So, I'm thinking of all those things,

and then I figure out what the lyrics

are going to be after I figure all that out.

There's a song called "Again" on my second album "Once Again."

I started writing it when I was in a random interview,

slash, play a couple of songs for us session.

I was out promoting "Get Lifted," my first album.

And the first song I wrote for my second album was

a song called "Again," and all it started with was--

[PLAYING MELODY]

So, I started playing that, then I started saying--

[MUMBLE SINGING]

So, I knew I wanted to say, "again."

Then I said, (SINGING) and I'm doing it again.

Because I'm doing it again.

That I'm doing it again.

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

So, those are the chords, and I started singing that melody

over those chords.

That was written first.

And then, I started thinking about the verse.

And I wanted the verse to be more conversational.

(SINGING): First time [MUMBLE SINGING]

That's not really a great classic melody.

It's more like a conversation.

It's like someone's talking.

But then once the verse is done, we move to the pre-chorus.

And it starts to be more melodic.

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

And we went from a lower verse, more rapid fire,

more conversational, to a more sing-songy pre-chorus,

middle of the range.

And then, the chorus has the most space.

(SINGING): And I'm doing it again.

It's higher.

It's more passionate.

It's more spacious.

And of course, people will remember that because there's

not a lot of information.

You give them less information in the chorus

because that makes it easier for them to remember it.

So less melodic information--

[VOCALIZING MELODY]

And a break-- bum, bum, bum, bum, [VOCALIZING MELODY],,

bum, break, break, break, break, [VOCALIZING MELODY]

So again, these melodies and these melodic structures

and patterns lend themselves more

to either being a verse, or a pre-chorus, or a chorus.

And you can tell what they are just

by the relationship they have to the other parts

within the melodic structure of the song.

Melody is so defining to every song

that you need to spend a lot of your mental energy

and your creative energy coming up

with the right melodies for your song.

Think of it as really the lifeblood of the song.

The lyrics are very important, and I spend a lot

of time thinking about lyrics.

But the melody is the package that the lyrics come in.

It's the-- it's the vehicle for these lyrics.

And you need to make sure that the melody is right.

Those notes that the lead singer is singing,

those are the defining notes of the song.

And if those don't work, then your song doesn't work.

[THEME MUSIC]

JOHN LEGEND (VOICEOVER): Throughout the class,

I'm going to give assignments that will help

you write a song along with me.

Your first assignment is to make your own mumble track.

Remember, you don't need to know the subject

matter or the lyrics just yet.

Focus on how the song sounds, and craft

a melody that will make people want to sing along with you.

[PIANO MUSIC]

JOHN LEGEND: Let's talk about song structure.

Song structure is happening whether you realize it or not.

Most songs adhere to one or two different structures,

particularly in popular music.

It's the order in which the different sections of the song

are presented, what their relationships are

to each other, and then how that makes an entire song together.

What's usually happening in a song in popular music

is there's a verse, there is a--

kind of an A section and a B section of that verse.

Sometimes we call the B section the pre-chorus.

So in kind of songwriter's shorthand

we're usually calling it the pre.

So we have a verse and a pre, which all lead into the chorus.

Or you could just call it the A and the B section of a verse

that lead into a chorus.

Chorus also can be called the refrain,

but it's the main thing that tells you

the theme of the song.

It's the thing that's usually the most easily sung

to part of the song.

For "All of Me," the chorus is--

[PIANO MUSIC]

(SINGING) All of me loves all of you.

Love your curves and all your edges,

all your perfect imperfections.

Give your all to me.

I'll give my all to you.

You're my end and my beginning.

Even when I lose, I'm winning.

And this you could call the post,

but it's also quite hooky.

(SINGING) 'Cause I give you all of me.

And you give me all of you.

Oh.

Again, a lot of times that post is the most singalongable part

of the song.

The chorus is obviously something

you want everyone to sing along to, but that post is like, oh,

it's a chant.

It's a thing that everybody can know the words to immediately

and you have them sing along to that too.

And then, oftentimes, we usually will go back to a verse

again, so verse two in the same format.

Sometimes I like to shorten verse two so we get back

to the chorus more quickly the second time around

after we've established the lyrical theme of the song.

Sometimes I'll change the melody of the second verse

to kind of add a new layer to the song.

And then usually we'll go back to the chorus

again, call that the second chorus,

and do that post-chorus again.

And then a lot of songs have a bridge,

and the British call it the middle eight.

[LAUGHS] But usually it's a kind of variation that sends us

to a different direction in the song,

and it often adds tension and complexity to the song

so that it feels even more exciting when you come back

to the chorus because you've gone somewhere different

and you land back at that familiar spot.

So for "All of Me," the bridge was--

(SINGING) Cards on the table, we're both showing hearts.

Risking it all, though it's hard.

So it's introducing a new melody.

It actually is the same chord progression as the pre-chorus.

(SINGING) My head's under water but I'm breathing fine.

Cards on the table, we're both showing hearts.

So same chord progression with different melody.

So it adds tension, it adds complexity, it adds urgency,

and then we land right back at the chorus.

(SINGING) Because all of me--

And a lot of times I'll do that third chorus after the bridge.

After that big bridge I'll bring it down a little bit.

So when I do it live, I kind of whisper that part.

(SINGING) 'Cause all of me loves all of you,

love your curves and all your edges,

all your perfect imperfections.

You know?

So bring it down.

So a lot of times the song will have that structure.

So we've got intro, verse, pre-chorus, chorus,

post-chorus, and then do all that again,

so verse, pre-chorus, chorus, and then a bridge.

And then use the end with the chorus and the post-chorus

again.

So that's how a lot of pop songs, a lot of R&B songs

are structured.

And it doesn't have to be that way.

There are plenty of other songs that

are structured differently.

A lot of classic kind of show tunes and jazz songs

have a little bit of a different form.

They don't have a traditional verse, chorus, verse, chorus

thing.

So there's all kinds of ways to write a song.

But I'm speaking from my own experience,

and the way I typically write songs,

and the way most of my peers in pop and soul write songs.

And it's usually that format.

[PIANO MUSIC]

[VOCALIZING]

"Ordinary People" started with chords.

So these are the chords.

[PIANO MUSIC]

So I'd already written--

(SINGING) We're just ordinary people.

Same chords.

[VOCALIZING]

Then I'd do the verse.

[VOCALIZING]

A lot of times, though, some of the things

you'll notice in a lot of songs is that the chorus

is higher in your register.

The pitches are higher.

They sound bigger, they sound more vibrant, more urgent.

And then the verses oftentimes are

in a lower part of your register and they're

more conversational.

So-- [VOCALIZING]

So it's more conversational.

[VOCALIZING]

Less singy.

[VOCALIZING]

Here comes the pre-chorus, same chords.

[VOCALIZING]

It's building momentum.

[VOCALIZING]

(SINGING) But I think we should take it slow.

We're just ordinary people.

So a few things happen there.

[VOCALIZING] So, one, we started out more conversational.

We started out lower in our register.

[VOCALIZING]

And then we moved to a pre-chorus,

which added tension, lifted the melody a little bit more,

added momentum.

It was more punchy--

[VOCALIZING]

--more repetitive in the pattern.

And then it was elevating the song

until we could crescendo with this chorus that

was the biggest part of the song, that had the most soaring

melody and carried the lyrical hook,

and the thing that is the signature of the song that

is the most identifiable if someone asks you what's

"Ordinary People" sound like.

(SINGING) We're just ordinary people.

We don't know which way to go.

Hey.

So that's how we built the verses, the chorus

of "Ordinary People."

And then, for the bridge, we decided to complicate it.

(SINGING) Maybe we'll live and learn.

New chords--

(SINGING) Maybe we'll crash and burn.

Maybe you'll stay, maybe you'll leave.

Maybe you'll return.

Maybe another fight, maybe we won't survive,

but maybe we'll go.

We never know.

Baby, you and I, we're just ordinary people.

This was the most urgent part of the song.

It added tension.

It changed the chords.

It added complexity and, again, crescendoed

at this big moment that led us right back to the chorus.

[PIANO MUSIC]

So that's the structure of "Ordinary People."

If you listen to the recording, it

starts with an instrumental introduction--

(SINGING) Girl, I'm in love with you.

Then I sing the verse.

(SINGING) This ain't the honeymoon.

It's more conversational, lower register.

(SINGING) I know I misbehaved.

Then I sing the pre-chorus, which adds tension,

adds energy in the middle of my range and leads up

to the chorus--

(SINGING) We're just ordinary people.

--which is more soaring--

(SINGING) We don't know which way to go.

--higher notes, more memorable.

And then--

(SINGING) Take it slow.

--the post-chorus, chorus which has everybody singing along

at the show.

(SINGING) Take it slow, oh, oh.

Then we repeat a bunch of that form.

We go to the verse again.

We go to the pre-chorus again.

We go to the chorus again.

We go to the post-chorus.

And then we complicate it.

We add tension, we add even more energy,

and add new chord progressions with the bridge.

And then we end it with the chorus and post-chorus again,

and everybody's happy.

(SINGING) This time we'll take it's slow.

All these things I'm explaining to you,

they're really based on tradition and custom.

And these are kind of tricks that I use to write songs,

but you can change these things.

Sometimes the verse can be maybe in a higher register

than the chorus.

Who knows?

Maybe the song works if I don't have the pre-chorus,

for instance, where I don't build from low verse

to mid pre-chorus to high chorus.

Every song is not going to follow the same form,

but you want the transitions to flow.

You want it to sound like they belong together.

You want the section that comes before another section

to suggest that section so it feels like,

OK, this makes sense.

So that's how I think about songwriting.

And, again, part of it's just taste,

part of it's just instinct, part of it's

just having this bank, this library of music in your head

that helps you figure out what works and what doesn't work.

[PIANO MUSIC]

When you structure the song, what you're trying to do

is build a story.

It's a musical story and a lyrical story.

So part of the build is, like I said,

a lot of times we start low, we go mid, then we go high.

But also the musical story is partly about space.

So a lot of times there's more syllables to verses,

whereas the chorus usually soars more

and there's fewer syllables per measure of the song.

The lyric in "Ordinary People," it's

talking about the relationship.

It's conversational.

Girl, I'm in love with you, but this ain't the honeymoon.

We're past the infatuation phase.

We're right in the thick of love.

At times we get sick of love.

It seems like we argue every day.

So it's really having a conversation with the person

you're talking to in the song.

We're just ordinary people-- it's more sweeping

and it's more of a grand statement.

That is the chorus, you know, the anchor of the song.

That's the thing that people are going to sing along to

and it should feel bigger.

It should feel more universal, more sweeping,

whereas your verses can be more specific.

And the pre-chorus of "Ordinary People" is very specific.

I hang up, you call.

We rise and we fall.

We feel like just walking away.

As our love advances, we take second chances.

Though it's not a fantasy, you know, I just want you to stay.

It's more rapid fire.

It's more storytelling.

And then the chorus usually tends

to be more sweeping in its themes, kind of summing up

the mood of the song, the theme of the song,

the message of the song.

So I've shown you traditional structures

for writing popular music.

And a project you should do right now

is go and learn some of the songs that you love.

Not just learn them to sing along to them,

but try to break down the structure of the song

so you understand what did they do for the verse.

What were the chords for that?

What do they do for the pre-chorus?

Did they have a pre-chorus?

What did they do for the chorus?

Did they have a bridge?

Did they have a vamp at the end?

Understand how some of your favorite songs are structured.

If you learn that about a bunch of songs that you love,

then it will help you think about how

to employ those same structures in the songs that you write.

It's important to figure out the subject

matter of your songs.

It's important to figure out what stories you want to tell.

And how you want to present your stories to the world

through song.

Sometimes, I don't know what the subject matter is

when I start writing the song.

So sometimes I'll start with a musical idea.

The musical idea may be a chord progression

that I play on the piano.

It may be a chord progression that a guitarist

plays that I'm co-writing with.

Sometimes I write with producers.

And in popular music, R&B, hip hop, a lot of music

is producer composed.

So the producer will come with what we call a beat.

The beat is not just the drums, not just the percussion,

but it's the entire instrumental idea.

We may add to it.

We may change it.

But it's a chord progression, it's

instruments, it's percussion.

It's just a full instrumental track often.

And that can inspire me to write a melody, and a lyric,

and come up with a subject for it.

There are all kinds of musical beds

that kind of pushed me toward certain lyrical ideas,

and subject matter, and melody.

And they can come from different places.

Some of them are coming from me individually.

Some of them are coming from my co-writers.

Some of them are coming from producers

who are also co-writers.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND, "ORDINARY PEOPLE"]

We're just ordinary people.

We don't know which way to go.

With ordinary people for instance.

I just started just humming melodic ideas

before I came up with the idea for "Ordinary People."

and once I said, we're just ordinary people.

We don't know which way to go.

Then I figured, oh, let's write about the ups

and downs of love.

I was informed by my parents getting divorced,

and remarried, and divorced again.

The ups and downs of love that everyone goes through,

that became the subject matter.

But it was driven by music, then melody, then me singing,

we're just ordinary people.

And then once I figured out that line,

I decided that line would be kind of the signature

line, the hook of the song, then I built the concept of the song

around that.

But I came up with the melody for that

before I came up with that lyric.

And then that lyric led me to a subject matter, to a concept,

to a context, that I would provide around

that lyrical hook.

And it's funny because Kanye, who

was my executive producer for my first five albums,

he didn't love the idea of "Ordinary People."

He was like, can we figure it out a different word

than ordinary?

But I was like, no.

I feel like this is going to be the right word

combination for this chorus.

And of course, I was right.

But he does give really good advice on music.

And I've listened to a lot of his advice,

and take it into account.

But for this one I disagreed with him.

But it's just instinct that tells you,

yeah, this works as of chorus.

This works as a lyric that I can build a song around.

And the only way you know that, only way you

develop that instinct, is one, you've

listened to a lot of music.

You've kind of built up a library of influences

that mean a lot to you.

And you see what works in their songs.

And then you start to try things yourself,

and see what works for you.

I want my subject matter to be relatable.

So that means when I'm telling my own story,

it may be based on my own personal experience

or what I've observed in the world.

But I want it to be something that resonates with you too.

And I want to imagine that my own specific experience can

be applied to your life, and can be something

that interests you, and inspires you,

and connects with your own experience.

So we take the specific and try to make it universal.

We take what's personal, and try to make it

in a way that is relatable to everybody out there.

And so I think subject matter is really important because it

means a lot to other people when they're

listening to your music, and they feel

like you're telling your truth.

And you're telling it in a way that

connects with their own truth.

What's interesting is you also can write about something

that's timely, that's in the moment,

that's inspired by what's happening in the moment.

But also write it in a way that it will apply

to many different moments.

And be timeless.

I was watching the Russians invade Ukraine.

Seeing the refugees fleeing their country.

I was seeing these troops come in trying

to destroy these communities.

I was seeing brave Russian protesters out in the streets.

I was seeing the way that African migrants

were treated differently.

I was seeing all of this.

And thinking about freedom, and thinking about what

it means to live in peace.

And for us to live together in a way that all of us

can live to our fullest potential.

And so one of the songs that I'm going to show you today

is a song called "Free."

So when I started writing "Free," again,

I started with a melody and a lyrical hook.

And the first thing I wrote was, "there is a God.

I'm just saying, Lord."

You know, I didn't know what I was going to say.

Then I said free, free, free.

And then when I sat down at the piano,

I started playing the chords.

And I started singing whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, on.

And then again, I'm singing in gibberish.

But the gibberish led me to Moses.

Now when I thought about Moses, if you

think about the Old Testament, the story of Exodus

is a story of the Jews being liberated

from slavery in Egypt.

And Moses was the leader of that exodus.

And that story has not only been meaningful

to the Jewish community, but it's

been very meaningful to the African-American community.

So the African-American community

is taught Christianity as they're enslaved in America.

Let my people go

But the effect was African-Americans

found inspiration in the story of Exodus.

And so a lot of our spirituals from that time period,

a lot of the songs that we sang about freedom, the songs

that we sang about being liberated from slavery,

were inspired by the Old Testament story of Moses

in Exodus.

And so there's a song called "Go Down Moses."

[MUSIC - "GO DOWN MOSES"]

Go down Moses.

Way down in Egypt land.

This of "Go Down Moses" is sung by Marian Anderson.

She was a groundbreaking African-American artist

who performed at the 1963 March on Washington

where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Gave his I Have a Dream speech.

She was an inspiration to African-Americans striving

for liberation and equality.

And back in the early 1920s, she recorded this amazing version

of the song.

And I wanted to include that line

to throwback to this timeless concept of Moses

and the Jewish liberation story.

I was also speaking about my ancestors.

And our liberation from slavery in America, and the way

that we connected the story of Exodus with our own liberation.

So you can see how the war in Ukraine

led me to think about the subject of freedom.

And how in different times throughout our history

we've had to fight for it.

Sing across the sky a chorus so high.

And everyone will know their worth.

I wanted "Free" to respond to this singular moment.

And I wanted it to be able to be played five years from now

when we have another moment that calls for this kind of song.

I wanted it to be played 10 years from now,

100 years from now, when we have another moment.

So it was a timely song that I wrote in a way

that I want it to be timeless.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND, "FREE"]

We're all free.

I want the song to work.

So I want it to work in all the ways that it has to work.

So musically I want it to work.

I want it to be musically astute, and something

I'm proud of.

That I love singing and that I hope

other people will love singing.

I want the lyrics to stand the test of time,

and not feel like they're so of the moment

that they will be useless 5 or 10 years from now.

I want it to connect with as many people as possible.

And if I have lyric in there that's distracting, or too

divisive, it might not work.

But you can't be afraid of being provocative.

You can't be afraid of being interesting.

You can't sand out all the rough edges.

You can't bleach out all the interesting things of a song.

You have to make it provocative and interesting.

If you're too worried about who you might offend,

or who might think it's appropriate or inappropriate,

then you may cleanse all the goodness out of the song.

If you think about Olivia Rodrigo.

The first song she comes out with

is this "Driver's License" song.

That's the one that blew up and made a big impression

on the world.

And it was about being a young person

and going through a breakup.

And seeing that person with someone else.

And I feel like it was such a perfect first song

to blow up for an artist because it was really well written.

It was a beautiful song.

But it said something about who that artist

could be in the world.

And what they could stand for in the world.

And then she made a whole album that kind of

had that same feeling.

And so every artist has to know what

they want to say in the world.

For me, the first big song that I had was "Ordinary People."

That song was a piano ballad.

It was about the ups and downs of love.

It was relatable.

And I think that became a signature for me.

And that signature is carried through my entire career.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND, "ORDINARY PEOPLE"]

This ain't a movie.

No.

No fairy tale conclusionm y'all.

So my advice for subject matter

is, one, think about what you want to say.

What you want to put out in the world.

Who you are.

All the influences that have informed

your thoughts, your musical style, all of that.

And then figure out how to craft a song that

channels all those feelings, all those inspirations, all

those influences.

And subject matter will be really

important for figuring out how you go out in the world.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND, "FREE"]

Rain down freedom.

Rain down.

We're all free.

We're all free.

I think your songwriting has to reflect who you are,

what you believe, your truths.

They have to come through in the music.

And my belief is that an audience can

tell when you're being yourself, when

you're being true to yourself, and when you're not.

And I think it's better, it's always better,

it's always more enjoyable, it always

makes more sense when you feel like the artist is

being themselves.

And what they're writing, what they're

singing, if they didn't write it, what they're singing

is true.

So let's talk about point of view, your point of view.

What is your point of view?

Part of it is just who you are.

So you are a 17-year-old kid living in the suburbs.

And you're in high school right now.

You might be dating someone.

You might have grown up listening to whatever your dad

and mom like to listen to.

So part of your point of view is informed by that.

Part of it's informed by what you're listening to now, so

the stuff you find that's current,

that's cool on the radio.

You may be a big Billie Eilish fan.

You may be a big H.E.R. fan.

Whatever you are, like that's part of your point of view too.

So you respond to certain kinds of music.

Certain kinds of music appeals to you.

Certain kinds of music speak to you.

And you feel like those artists know who you

are and speak your language.

So all of these things go to your point of view.

Then part of it is just the story

you're experiencing right now.

So you may have gone through a tough breakup just now.

So part of your point of view is in this moment,

you're feeling pain.

You're feeling lost.

You're feeling longing.

You're feeling insecurity, whatever that feeling is.

You may be in love right now.

So you're telling that story.

I'm a father now.

So I'm thinking about my kids and fatherhood sometimes when

I'm writing, not all the time.

But sometimes my point of view is

informed by being a dad to two kids

and thinking about the world I want them to live in.

So your point of view is informed

by all of these things.

But part of it is a musical point of view.

I think your musical point of view

is the intersection of your influences,

and then what you are able to create,

and what your voice is able to do.

So part of it could be you might love Stevie Wonder.

But you can't really sing like Stevie Wonder.

And you don't really express yourself like Stevie Wonder.

So maybe your point of view is not really Stevie Wonder point

of view because you're not able to kind of voice

that and channel that in a way that works.

But you just love Stevie Wonder.

But certain artists really do inform your point of view

because you're like, not only do I respond to their music,

not only do I love their music.

But it sounds like something that I

would love to create too.

It sounds like something I would sound good singing, something

that would sound good playing.

So I think all of that informs your point of view.

Your point of view as an artist

is formed by all of your experiences

and your musical inspirations combined.

And whether you're writing for yourself or for someone else,

the more you clarify your point of view

and write music from that singular perspective, the more

likely the sincerity of your lyrics

will break through the noise.

When we think about the artists

that we love, the artists that break through,

they tend to have a point of view that really

resonates with the audience.

And not only does their point of view resonate

with the audience, but it all works.

It all fits.

So the songs that they put out connect

with who they are, connect with what

they want to say to the world, and what

message they want to put out to the world.

And there's an audience out there that wants to hear that

and wants to feel that.

Nina Simone said the duty of an artist

is to reflect the times we live in.

And I think there's all kinds of roles artists play.

So part of it is to reflect the times we live in.

Part of it's to imagine a different future.

Part of it is to tell stories that resonate with people, that

connect with their lives, and help

them think about their own lives,

but also just help you as an artist tell

your own personal story and your own point of view.

Art can help people fall in love.

Art can help people think about love differently.

Art can do a lot of things.

And I think some of my music has been

about helping people think about love differently,

think about their relationships differently.

Some of my music has been celebrating love,

celebrating sensuality, celebrating romance.

Some of my music has been specifically

about imagining a better future, where we are more free, more

loving, more kind to each other, and where we come closer

to equality and a more empathetic world.

And music can do all sorts of things.

Art can do all sorts of things.

But I think you have to have some sort of idea what

you want your art to do.

Some art is just for fun.

I love songs that make me dance, and make me feel good,

and make life just more enjoyable.

And sometimes it's not some serious song

about the state of the world.

But it's just something that feels good, has a great groove,

has a fun lyric, a clever lyric.

And it makes me feel good when I'm driving in the car.

So I think art can do all sorts of things.

And I think every artist should have

a sense about what they want their art to do,

what they want to say, who they want to be in the world.

But there are multiple things you can be

and multiple things you can put out in the world.

If you want to make people dance,

if you want to make people feel good,

that will guide the way you write the song.

If you want to speak to a political issue in a way that's

really inspiring and moving, knowing

that as you're starting to write the song

will help you write it more effectively.

So if you want to write about love

and do it in a way that communicates

your personal feelings and some of the conflicts

and the complexities that you're going through right now

in your own relationship, if you want to do that in a way that

communicates that effectively with your audience,

makes them feel your struggle and also connect

with your struggle, then you need

to know that as you're starting to write the song because it

will help you think about what the lyric should be to help

both tell your story in a way that's

specific and personal to you, but also in a way that connects

with the universal themes that you're talking about.

(SINGING) And there is a God.

You can use your song writing as a form of activism,

if you're saying, how can I contribute, how can I

be a part of something.

And who knows what will happen with that song.

But that's one way that an artist,

that a songwriter can contribute to a movement.

My activism started-- my activism was inspired first

by reading.

So I started by reading about civil rights

heroes and abolitionist heroes in Black history in America

who stood up and said, we need to change this country.

We've been excluded for too long.

We've been oppressed for too long.

We've been denied our rights for too long.

And we're going to do something about it.

So they marched.

They formed coalitions.

They lobbied for legislation.

And they made significant change.

And I was inspired by them.

I read about them.

I chose to read about them.

We would go to the library.

I could pick out whatever books I wanted.

And I chose to read about them because they inspired me.

They made me envision what a meaningful life was.

And I think every artist, every person

can go through life looking for ways

they can make the world better.

And some of it may be in their day job.

But some of it may be things you do outside of your day job,

where you can see problems that you want fixed.

Maybe it's in your community.

Maybe you see you have a homelessness

problem in your community.

And rather than just complaining because you

don't like the aesthetics of seeing someone who doesn't have

a home living on the street, figure out a way

that you can do something about it.

And art is part of that.

It's not the only thing we can do.

There are other things that are important to do.

But I think art is an important way to respond to injustice

and respond to pain and anger.

Write, write something about it.

That will help you and might help somebody else too.

(SINGING) One day when the glory comes, it will be ours.

It will be ours.

One of the things that happened when I wrote "Glory",

I wrote that song with Common.

And we wrote it for a film called "Selma".

So one, we were inspired by Martin Luther King, inspired

by John Lewis and everybody else that

was marching with them for voting rights in Selma

back then.

Secondly, we were inspired by people

who were marching in Ferguson during that time,

mourning the death and protesting

the death of Michael Brown at the hands of the police.

Now, we were inspired by them.

We wrote about their work.

And then we made a song that in turn

was used by activists marching for later Black Lives

Matter rallies, when we were protesting the death of George

Floyd and other folks that are too many to name

in this conversation.

"Glory" was the soundtrack for a lot of people marching.

So did we make political change happen by writing that song?

I don't know if we did.

But we certainly inspired people.

We were a soundtrack for people.

And we wrote the songs inspired by the activists.

Before we dig deeper into "Glory",

I want you to think about your musical point of view.

What style of music do you listen to?

What style of music would you like to make?

Do you want to make music that's influenced and inspired

by those artists you love?

Who are you writing for?

What do you want people to feel?

What do you care about?

And what do you want your songwriting to do?

Try to answer these questions and then continue on

with the class.

JOHN LEGEND: (SINGING) One day, when the glory comes,

it will be ours, it will be ours.

Oh, one day, when the war is won, we will be sure.

We will be sure.

Oh, glory.

Whoa.

The interesting thing about writing "Glory"--

one, I love writing for movies, because I

love an assignment where there's a little bit more clarity

about what we want.

Because writing a song otherwise can be quite open-ended,

and the open-endedness is actually harder than having

a specific intent.

Knowing exactly where it's going to fall in the movie,

knowing what the movie's about, knowing

what the motivations of the characters are in the movie--

it can help focus your songwriting in a way

that a more open-ended songwriting

exercise isn't as focused.

So when I got the assignment for "Glory,"

it was via a phone call from my friend, Common.

So Common calls me up.

He's an actor in the film, "Selma."

He's in communication with the director

of the film, Ava DuVernay.

And she's saying, I need a closing song.

I need something special that's going

to sum this film up and be our closing song for the film.

And of course, the film was about Dr. King.

I knew that.

But they sent me a rough cut of the film.

I got to watch it and really understand the tone of it

and the direction of it.

And then, Common and I got on the phone,

and we talked a little bit.

He said, I was thinking of a few different ideas for the song.

And he said a few different words,

and one of the words he said was "glory."

So his saying that word made me think,

oh, I want to write a song called, "Glory."

And so again, this is helping me focus my creativity,

because I have a kind of an anchor word

that I'm going to base the song on.

(SINGING) Oh, glory.

It was about the idea that we haven't won this battle yet

for equality, for justice, but we're going to win it,

and we're going to celebrate.

Oh, glory.

Again, this is another song that kind of hearkens

back to my background as a gospel singer and a gospel

songwriter.

And I'm incorporating some of the language of music

from the church and writing this song about the Civil Rights

movement.

Oh, glory.

One day, when the glory comes, it will be ours.

We're going to celebrate together

when we achieve what we're trying to achieve.

Now, part of me knows that we may never actually

achieve this utopian ideal of equality and justice

for everybody.

But the song is a song about hope, song,

about believing that it's possible

and aiming toward that hope being a strategy for activism,

saying, we don't know if we'll ever get there,

but we're going to keep fighting until we do.

And so that's what the song is about.

(SINGING) Oh, one day, when the war is won, we will be sure.

We will be sure.

Oh, glory.

So when I did the original version of the song,

it was just me singing that chorus,

leaving space for Common, me singing another chorus,

leaving space for Common, and then me singing a bridge.

(SINGING) Now, the war is not over.

Victory isn't won.

But we'll fight on to the finish.

And then, when it's all done, we'll cry, glory.

Oh, glory.

So I wrote that chorus, I wrote the bridge.

And a lot of times when you're collaborating

with a hip hop artist, that's all your job is to do.

And then, you let the rapper come up with their verse.

And so I send the instrumental and my vocals

to Common, and then in the space where I'm not singing,

he writes his verses.

And we have a song.

Now, sometimes as a singer-songwriter,

I'll maybe suggest some ideas for the rappers.

But most times the emcee will have their own point of view

and things they want to say.

I believe Common actually wrote a little bit of the verse

with Rhymefest as well.

They worked together on writing the rhymes.

But I was inspired by Common, because the first thing that

triggered me writing the chorus was

Common saying that word, glory.

And then, he was inspired by me, because he was writing

based on what he heard me sing.

And so I didn't have to interact with him as he was writing

the verse, but we were influencing each other

when we were writing our parts to the song.

He sent it back to me, and I was listening to it,

and I was like, man, this is--

this is amazing, what he did.

I just was like, this is out of this world.

Like, when I said I get that out-of-body experience,

it was that.

I just had this image of Dr. King reaching for the sky.

So I started the song off hands to the heavens.

No, man, no weapon, formed against,

yes, glory is destined.

I felt like I was writing for the people of the Civil Rights

movement and writing for the moment, what was happening.

Once we wrote the song, I called Ava and said, yo,

I got something for you.

And I played a little bit over the phone,

and she was editing the movie, literally.

I sent the music over to her.

We went over there, like, 15 minutes later.

She had put it at the end of the movie already

to see how I look.

And I could tell how happy Ava was,

and we all just felt the energy of it.

I approached my lyric for "Glory," the part that I sing,

trying to make it timeless, trying to evoke some

of the spiritual songs that helped fuel the Civil Rights

movement back in the '50s and '06s, trying to make it

inspirational.

And I didn't reference any time period in my lyrics,

but Common--

I think when you rap, you can be a little more specific

and detailed in what you're saying.

Because my part of the song is the chorus.

It's more sweeping and more open-ended.

And then, the rap verses can get into more detail

and tell the story with a little more precision.

So one style is more hymnal, spiritual, gospel,

intentionally more timeless.

And then, Common's style was intentionally more timely.

It was more in response to specific stories,

specifically Dr. King, specifically

Michael Brown, specifically Ferguson, specifically Selma.

And rappers, because there's just more content,

there's more syllables per measure,

they can just get more information out to people,

and it should be more specific.

(SINGING) Oh, glory.

Whoa.

There was no percussion in this track.

We wanted it to sound kind of simple and kind of like a hymn.

And we felt like having no drums was

the best way to realize what we're trying

to achieve with this song.

But we did record it to a click, which

is a recording trick that helps you kind of keep the time.

And especially when you're working with an emcee,

timing and the click is very important for them to make sure

their flow is right, and that they're riding

the beat in the right way.

So he was able to rap to a click.

I played the piano to a click.

A click as a metronome, essentially, that's

keeping the time.

And that was the recording technique

that we used to make sure that the recording came out right.

When you are given the responsibility of closing

a film about Dr. King--

we haven't made a lot of films about Dr. King.

And so one, it's a huge responsibility for Ava DuVernay

to take on as a director and for everybody involved.

You want to do this right, and you

want to honor the legacy of someone who's meant

so much to so many people.

So I wanted it to be up to that moment.

I wanted it to meet the moment that it was being asked to me,

to be able to close this film in a way that did honor

to the subject of the film.

And I wanted it to inspire people and move people.

And wow, it succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.

Not only did it help close the film,

but we won the Oscar for "Glory,"

for Best Song written for a film.

Recently, John and I got to go to Selma

and perform "Glory," on the same bridge

that Dr. King and the people of the Civil Rights movement

marched on 50 years ago.

This bridge was once a landmark of a divided nation.

But now, it's a symbol for change.

Thank you.

When I performed that song with Common,

and I looked out in the audience-- even at the Oscars,

with all these famous actors and people who have seen

everything-- they were just weeping out in the audience--

like, serious tears out there.

And it was an amazing, inspiring moment--

one of the most moving moments I've ever had in my career--

being on that stage and feeling the connection

that I felt with everyone in the audience, the connection to Dr.

King's story, the connection to this beautiful film--

and feeling like we had created something that really did

meet the moment.

(SINGING) Oh, glory.

When you think about point of view,

my point of view writing that song

was as someone who studied the movement, who

was inspired by the movement.

My point of view was also informed by watching the film.

So I got to sit there and watch it.

And then, it was informed by my upbringing

as a gospel musician.

I understood the structures and patterns and tropes

of hymns and spirituals, especially the ones

that were used as fuel for the Civil Rights movement.

And so my point of view, writing that song,

was informed by all that, all that upbringing, all

that information, all that study that I had done over the years.

Now, everybody's songwriting is informed

by their point of view.

And your point of view is all of those things,

all those inspirations, all those things you've read.

Maybe you've read great novelists and poets

that their language has spoken to you in a certain way,

and you're able to incorporate that

into the way you write songs.

Maybe you've been raised on certain songwriters.

Maybe it's Bob Dylan.

Maybe it's Stevie Wonder.

Maybe it's Lennon and McCartney.

So you're listening to them, and your point of view

is informed by them.

Because you start to think, well this

is how songs are supposed to sound.

And I understand the vocabulary and the vernacular

of this type of songwriting, and it informs

who I am as a songwriter.

So that's how you form a point of view.

All that information, all that listening, all that analysis,

and then you can take that and create your own music with it.

[PIANO PLAYING]

JOHN LEGEND (VOICEOVER): Anyone can write a song.

But how do you write a good song?

How do you inspire people to take action or fall in love

through your music?

I believe it all starts with knowing

who you are as an artist, what your style is,

and how you want to impact people

with your voice or your writing.

I started as a musician when I was a very young boy.

I grew up in a musical family.

I grew up in the church.

And I was exposed to music all the time.

I was surrounded by people who loved

music and who played it every week in our church services.

Music was such a huge part of the way we interacted

with each other, showed our love for each other,

and our love for God, and our community.

Music was everything.

It was such a core part of who we were.

I would watch television and see these big stars on television.

and I would want to be where they were.

I envisioned myself on the Grammys.

I envisioned myself on Star Search.

I wanted to be in those places.

And I wanted to sing for people.

And I wasn't great at it yet, but I was practicing piano

at home, taking piano lessons from a local music store,

learning gospel piano from my grandmother.

And then eventually, I became a songwriter.

I wrote romantic songs for the girls I was trying to hit on.

I wrote whenever I could.

And part of the reason I wrote was because I loved singing

and I wanted to compose the things that I was singing.

And more and more, as I kept singing,

kept being encouraged by being out there in front of audiences

and feeling their love that they gave me,

and feeling like I could successfully

put on a performance, the more I was like, yeah,

I really want to do this.

And then as I got older and older,

I started to zero in on what worked for me.

And part of it came through my collaborations.

So one of my early collaborators was a guy named Dave Tozer.

He loved classic soul and classic reggae

and a little bit of rock.

And then I started working with Kanye who loved classic soul

and merging that with hip hop.

And so when you listen to my Get Lifted album,

you'll hear both of their influences in my work then.

And then as I grew, I incorporated

all that they had put in me, and then

started working with different people as well,

and getting different ideas from different people,

and bouncing different ideas off of those people,

and kind of soaking up different people's creativity.

And all of their influence is what makes me who I am today.

[PIANO PLAYING]

"Ordinary People" was actually the second single we released.

"Used to Love You" was the first song we released.

It did OK.

It got a little play on the R&B charts.

But "Ordinary People" was the song that really broke through.

And "Ordinary People" broke through

I think because it sounded so different than everything

else that was on the radio.

(SINGING) Girl I'm in love with you.

This ain't the honeymoon.

We're past the infatuation phase.

There was no other piano ballad on any R&B stations

at that time.

It was just me by myself singing raw, unfiltered on the piano.

And in fact, "Ordinary People" wasn't the result

of a bunch of takes, like I normally do on a song,

because I was originally intending it simply

as a demo to send back to will.I.am

and he was going to produce it up and make

a full version of it.

But we ended up deciding that the demo was exactly what we

wanted to put out.

(SINGING) take it slow.

We're just ordinary people.

We don't know which way to go.

It took off in Chicago.

And then it started taking off all across the country.

And then, by the time the album came out,

it had started to take over for "Used to Love You,"

even though "Used to Love You" was a song we were promoting.

"Ordinary People" was going up "Used to Love

You" was coming down.

And then "Ordinary People" became a much bigger song

and really the signature song from the beginning of my career

that helped define who I was in the public sphere.

So as a songwriter, when you're listening to music,

you're not just learning how to play the song.

What you're doing is you're trying to understand

how these chords work together.

What kind of patterns do you notice

that really work for you.

When is a minor chord more effective.

When is a major chord more effective.

What chord leads to another logically.

And what feels right when you go from one chord to the next.

A lot of these things you can intuitively understand,

because you feel them.

You feel what this chord makes you sense in the song--

that it's getting darker.

That it's getting sadder.

That it's getting happier.

That it's getting brighter.

That it's opening up.

You can hear what these chords are doing.

But a lot of times, you're not thinking

about the theory behind it.

And so, once you start to pick out the chords,

then you can understand, oh, this

is what this chord makes me feel.

This is what this progression makes me feel.

And then you start to understand how songs are structured

and how they're put together.

So that's breaking down the chords.

But you can also break down the melodic structure of the song.

Some of them are more sweeping.

Some of them are more conversational.

And those are melodic choices, rhythmic choices,

that the songwriter is making.

And if you start to think about those things,

then you can start thinking about how

you would write a song and apply those structures,

those melodic structures, to your song.

First of all, don't be afraid of imitating.

So if you have favorite artists, and you love what they do,

you may start your early experimentation

by really doing an imitation of your favorite artist.

But what, hopefully, will happen as you are imitating some

of these artists, you start to figure out

what your voice does that's different from their voice.

You start to figure out what you like,

that may be some kind of combination

of your favorite artist and not just a direct imitation

of any single one of them.

And you just figure out how to bring things together, bring

different influences together.

And so, you'll eventually get to the point

where you're not directly imitating

one particular artist.

But I think early on in your experimentation

as a songwriter, as a performer, it's fine to imitate somebody.

My friend Quincy Jones says, steal from the best.

Basically, that means you'll start out by imitating.

Just learn their song.

Try to sing it like they sing it.

And then eventually, I think, what

will happen is you'll start to figure out,

well, I don't actually sing exactly like that person.

My voice does different things.

I'm better at this thing.

I'm not so good at this thing.

So you start to figure out where you fit in as you're

imitating someone else's style.

And then you start to develop your own style

and what works for you.

I love Stevie Wonder, but I can't sing as high as him.

I don't do all the runs that he does.

I have a different tone in my voice.

My tone is a little heavier and rougher than his.

So a lot of things are different about me and Stevie Wonder,

but I started out, early on, trying to imitate him,

trying to imitate Marvin Gaye, trying

to imitate Luther Vandross.

Those are some of the people I wanted

to imitate when I was younger.

But eventually, what happens is as you keep developing, keep

growing as a performer, all those influences are still

there but they become just you.

[PIANO PLAYING]

My greatest influence musically was actually my grandmother,

my maternal grandmother.

She was our church organist and she

was showing me how to play gospel piano, gospel organ.

So she was starting to train me pretty early on in my life

to take up the reins after she left.

When you're hearing me play the piano,

you're hearing my grandmother playing through me.

A lot of her stylistic choices, a lot of that gospel flavor

that I add to pretty much everything I do, it's from her.

And so, you're hearing her when you hear me.

[PIANO PLAYING]

All those influences are there, but they become your style.

You know I'm a coach on The Voice and one of the things

that we do is cover songs.

And a lot of times a way of defining

who you are stylistically when you're not

writing your own songs and singing your own original music

is what kind of spin do you put on the songs that you cover.

So you can make affirmative stylistic choices

that help define who you are and what

your style is to your listener.

When you're making a song your own, when you're

trying to cover it, one, you have to figure out

what key to sing it in.

And sometimes, your voice may not be the exact same range

and register that the artist you're covering is.

I'm going to cover Joni Mitchell's tune

and I have to change the key.

So first of all, you change the key.

Secondly, you start to fool around with it.

If you play an instrument, how are you going to play the song.

How are you going to sing the song that

may be similar to that artist but maybe different.

How does it fit within your vocal range.

And what are some of the things you

would do differently than the original artist would do.

Maybe you have a specific stylistic approach

you're going with.

Maybe you want to make it more gospel.

Maybe you want to make it more soulful.

Maybe you want to make it more country.

Maybe you want to make it more kind of folky.

So there are all kinds of approaches you can take.

And if you say, if you say, this is my treatment for this song.

I want to make it more folky.

And what are some of the tropes of folk music

that I can incorporate into my interpretation of this Stevie

Wonder's song, for instance.

You could do that.

You can make Stevie Wonder sound more folk

by changing the instrumentation, changing

some of the vocal styling.

Some of that stuff can happen.

And it's happened over the years and it's beautiful.

It's really cool when people kind of strip down the song

and make a new cover of it that reimagines the context for it.

And when you have that idea and you execute it really well,

it can be really beautiful.

And one of the songs that I used to cover,

that I used to study and listen to and was inspired by,

was a song called "Love's in Need," by Stevie Wonder.

So Stevie Wonder made this beautiful song

and it had some of the things that I love about music.

It had those cool harmonies.

(SINGING) Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo.

So that appealed to the a capella geek slash gospel choir

arranger in me.

And I love the subject matter.

I love that it was a song about making the world a better place

and spreading love around the world.

And I think Stevie did a great job

on a lot of songs of spreading that message of love.

[PIANO PLAYING]

And then, of course, I just love Stevie Wonder.

The chords are beautiful.

His singing is beautiful.

And I wanted to try to sing that song.

So I started learning to play it and learning to sing it.

(SINGING) Good morn or evening, friends.

Here's your friendly announcer.

I was a student at the University of Pennsylvania.

I was directing a choir at a church.

And one of my choir members, her name was Tara Michelle,

and she was friends with Lauryn Hill.

And Terra invited me to go to the studio with her.

We drove to where Lauryn Hill was recording her album.

And she was taking a break.

And Tara said, why don't you play

a couple of songs for Lauryn.

So I went over and sat at the piano and the first song

I played was "Love's in Need."

(SINGING) we know that love's in need of love today.

Then I played an original song.

And right after that, Lauryn asked

me to play on the song they were working on.

And that song happened to be, "Everything

is Everything," which was a big single on The Miseducation

of Lauryn Hill.

It won all the Grammys.

It was just the talk of the music world.

And I got to say that I was on that album.

And that was the first album, I was ever a part

of that saw the light of day.

[PIANO PLAYING]

One of the things I do when I cover

Stevie Wonder is change the key because I sing lower

than Stevie does.

(SINGING) Good morn or evening, friends.

I put a little gospel style on it.

And then, you see what works when you play it live.

And then you work on it a little bit, tweak a little bit,

and then try to get better at it.

(SINGING) --to everybody what I'm about to say could mean

the world's disaster, could turn your joy and laughter to tears

and pain.

You know that love's in need of love today.

This type of reinterpretation of a song makes it yours.

And it's a good exercise as you start

to develop your own style.

Sing it slower, faster, play it on a different instrument,

and experiment with alternate phrasings of the lyrics.

(SINGING) Breaking many hearts.

Stop it, please, before it's gone too far.

I've written all kinds of songs.

But I think, at my core, I'm still

that kid that grew up in the church in Ohio

singing soulful gospel songs.

[PIANO PLAYING]

Finding your style is so important.

It's informed by the artists you've listened to,

the artists you love.

It's informed by your own abilities,

what your vocal range is, what your voice can do.

And it's inspired by who you want

to be in the world, what you want

to represent, what kind of music do you

want people to know you for.

These are the kinds of things you're thinking about when

you're defining your style.

(SINGING) We know that love's in need--

Now that you've been listening to your favorite songs

and identifying what makes them great,

it's time to perform your own cover.

And try switching it up from the original version.

Even if you don't play an instrument,

you can sing it a capella.

(SINGING) Amazing grace--

Covering songs is a great way to find your own style.

It's been a major part of my musical journey.

And I would like for you to share your covers with me.

(SINGING) But now I see.

Lyrics are crucial.

Obviously, they can strike to your emotional core

in a certain way.

The melody means something.

The music means something.

But you have to say something in the song.

You have to say something that connects

to what the feeling that you want people to feel is.

Some songs-- the lyric is more fun and playful and irreverent.

I've got a song called, "So Dope," where I'm just

talking about how fine a girl is, and how sexy she is,

and how much I want to be with her,

and how addicted I am to how great she is.

(SINGING) She's so dope.

Wanna be her dope fiend.

She showed me what dope mean.

And the song is not supposed to be as deep and as spiritual

as "Free" is, but it needs to be effective in doing

what it's supposed to do.

It's more of a party song.

It needs to be effective at that.

It needs to be effective at communicating the sentiment

that you're trying to communicate through that song.

And I have all kinds of songs.

I have songs that are sexier.

I have songs that are more playful, more party, more

dance-driven.

And then, I have songs that are these intimate, heartfelt

ballads about commitment, about love, about freedom.

All of those songs--

they have different moods, but your lyric

needs to really capture that mood, tell that story,

and connect with the music and the melody

to make a beautiful song.

So I approach lyric writing by starting with the melody.

I mumble those nonsensical mumble tracks.

[SINGS] And so it establishes a structure within which

the lyrics are going to live.

So I don't know what those lyrics are

going to be quite yet, but I know

what they'll sound like, what the bounce of them will be.

Like, the rhythm, the spacing will be the notes on the scale

that those lyrics will hit--

I know all of that.

And then, I usually write the lyric.

Sometimes I'll even write the chorus lyric and melody

at the exact same time.

So with "Free"--

(SINGING) There is a god.

I did not mumble that part.

I just sang that.

That was a line that came to me as I

was thinking about what the melody of the line would be.

It came at the same time.

(SINGING) There is a god.

And I'm saying, Lord.

So before I even sat at the piano,

I sang that into my phone.

But after that, I had to think about, well,

what exactly do I want to say?

I knew I wanted to write something inspired by what

was happening in Ukraine.

I knew that this invasion by Russia

had galvanized the world, and we were

seeing all these images that were so scary and harrowing.

And I wanted to write an anthem for freedom and for peace.

I started with that there is a god.

And when I first wrote it, I said, if there is a god.

(SINGING) If there is a god, and I'm just saying, Lord.

Eventually, I changed it to, that there

is a god, not because I'm trying to assert whether or not

god exists in the song, but I wanted the song

to be written like a prayer.

And so I thought, it will be odd for me

to say, if there is a god, but to make

an affirmative statement in this prayer

that I'm praying to someone that hopefully is listening and is

going to rain down peace and freedom on me.

So when I started writing the lyric to the rest of the song,

I start with the melody.

(SINGING) Bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom.

And then, in my mumble track, one of the things I said

sounded like Moses to me.

And it triggered in my mind, go down, Moses.

I thought of that and incorporated that

into the beginning of the lyric for "Free."

(SINGING) Go down, Moses.

Then, I said, hmm, what should I say have to, go down, Moses?

I want to stay with that.

I like certain things to repeat in my verses.

So--

(SINGING) Go down, Moses.

And I said, I'm going to change it, but not change it too much.

(SINGING) Way down, Moses.

And then, use the old spiritual line.

(SINGING) Go down to Egypt land.

So I'm basically borrowing the lyric

from "Go Down, Moses," the spiritual song,

for that first stanza.

And then, I'm going to complicate it and bury

it just enough in a way that rhymes with Moses,

but it's a new thought, a new idea.

And it's about peace, and not about liberation from slavery.

So--

(SINGING) Go down, Moses.

Way down, Moses.

Go down to Egypt land.

Then, my next stanza is, lay down, soldiers.

Lay down those weapons.

Let peace rush in.

So--

(SINGING) Lay down, soldiers.

Lay down those weapons.

Let peace rush in.

So I moved from the idea of liberation

from slavery as the first stanza.

The second stanza is about the idea

of being against war and for peace,

and telling the soldiers to lay down their weapons.

And then, I say, let peace rush in.

So I start to think of peace visually as a thing that

can rush in to a valley.

So--

(SINGING) Let it wash through the valley.

What could it also do?

What other topographical elements

could I include in this physical description

of what peace could do?

(SINGING) Let it wash to the valley, soar to the mountain,

fall in the deepest blue sea.

So let peace cover the earth, wash through the valley,

soar to the mountain, fall in the deepest blue sea,

and then go above the mountain.

(SINGING) Let it fly across the sky.

A banner so high--

A banner-- it's like the sky writers flying across the sky.

A banner so high, that even the rockets will see.

Now, I thought about rockets as rockets in outer space,

but also thinking again about these missiles that

are being rained down on innocent civilians

in the Ukraine, thinking about rockets in both the--

I wanted the banner to fly so high that they can see it

from outer space, but also even these missiles will see--

(SINGING) that there is a god.

I'm back to my refrain.

(SINGING) And I'm just saying, Lord.

I'm praying for rain.

Again, it's like a physical thing,

like the peace washing through the valley.

(SINGING) Rain down, freedom, rain down, till we're all free.

Free.

Free.

I wanted that--

(SINGING) Rain down, freedom, rain down, till we're all--

I wanted that to be as clean as it could be.

I had other lines that were a little more complicated,

but I decided to simplify to--

(SINGING) Till we're all free.

Free.

Free.

Now, why did I make that melody so kind of weird?

I wanted the melody on that part of "free" to be free,

so that it slightly changed every time.

It sounded like I was just flowing with the wind,

like letting the wind carry me, letting my notes be

free, just like the word, free.

I kind of thought of people like Joni Mitchell

when I was thinking of how I would sing that line, just

letting it be free and let it blow with the wind,

let that melody blow.

And the lyric is simple.

It's just free.

(SINGING) Free.

Free.

Free.

And then, land right back there with "free" one more time.

So now, let's talk about the second-verse lyrics.

So we've gone with the spiritual, beginning, go down,

Moses, way down, Moses, go down to Egypt land.

Then, we moved to talking about peace.

Lay down, soldiers.

Lay down those weapons.

Let peace rush in.

And then, we talked about what peace

was going to do to cover the earth with peace.

Wash through the valley, soar to the mountain,

fall in the deepest blue sea, fly across the sky--

a banner so high, that even people in outer space,

and even these missiles would see that there's a god,

and he's going to rain down freedom on the entire earth

now.

This is all aspirational, of course.

Because the whole world isn't free.

The whole world is in that peace, but it's an aspiration.

It's a prayer.

It's a hope that there's a power on this earth that will bring

peace and freedom to the world.

now the second verse, I wanted to cover different subjects.

So I want to think about poverty.

I want to think about people who are homeless and struggling.

I want to think about people who are locked up in our prisons.

So I said--

(SINGING) Low down, broken.

Notice, "go down, Moses," "low down, broken" basically rhyme.

So I'm keeping a pattern.

Even when they don't need to rhyme,

I'm keeping this pattern, because I

think it's an effective way to tie the song together.

(SINGING) Low down broken, homeless, floating.

Again, these lyrics sort of rhyme with our first verse.

But they're a new subject, and they

complicate this idea even more.

So we go from wanting freedom from slavery, to peace,

to addressing poverty, and then the next line is--

(SINGING) Caged bird singing, break chains

so we can do our holy dance.

Now, you notice, I changed the melody

slightly just to complicate it.

All the other melodies of the verses were--

[VOCALIZES]

But when I thought about the caged bird,

I thought I should free that melody from the other melodies

that I've been singing prior to that.

So I said--

(SINGING) Caged bird singing, break chains so we can--

Remember the poem, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"--

I was thinking of that.

(SINGING) Caged bird singing.

Break chains, so we can--

Again, break chains-- of course, the caged bird

is a person locked up in our prison system.

But also, I'm thinking about break chains,

as in our original inspiration, which

is the songs about slavery.

(SINGING) Break chains, so we can do our holy dance--

Do our holy dance.

I just had to throw that in there.

If you've ever gone to church, folks do a holy dance.

And you want to be free, so you can do that dance.

And I took this idea of singing and dancing to lead me

into the next pre-chorus.

So--

(SINGING) Let them ring through the valley.

So all those caged birds who are now able to sing and dance--

I want that song to ring through the valley.

And I'm still using the valley, the mountain, the core

of the earth, the sky--

I'm using a lot of the same lyrical ideas

that I use in the pre-chorus for the first verse,

but I'm changing them subtly.

So I'm saying, let them ring through the valley.

Then, I say, soar to the mountain,

like I did in the first verse.

And then, I say, pierce to the core of the earth.

So I leave the deepest blue sea behind.

And I say, let them pierce to the core of the earth.

I want this song to be so resonant

that it's covering the entire earth and piercing to its core.

And then, I say--

(SINGING) Let them sing across the sky.

"A chorus so high," instead of a "banner so high,"

in the first verse.

(SINGING) A chorus so high, that everyone will know their worth.

So all these people that society has deemed worthless

and forgotten about and left behind--

we want these caged birds to sing

a chorus that's so resonant, that everyone will

realize their worth, and that--

(SINGING) There is a god.

And we're just saying, Lord.

Rain down freedom, rain down.

We're back to the chorus.

So that's basically all the lyric for "Free."

The only thing we do at the end is,

we do a musical arrangement where there's a vamp,

and the choir is going--

(SINGING) Free, free, free, free, free, free.

And I start adlibbing.

(SINGING) Oh, Lord.

Free, free, free, free.

And these are just adlibs, but they add to the song.

(SINGING) Freedom to love, freedom to give,

freedom to live.

Then, I come back to, go down, Moses.

(SINGING) Go down, Moses.

Way down, Moses.

And I change this line.

I say--

(SINGING) Go down to every land.

I started with, "go down to Egypt land,"

but I ended it with, "go down to every land."

And then, I came back to our refrain.

Tell them there is a god.

And then, I suddenly changed this to,

"and I'm just praying, Lord."

(SINGING) And I'm just praying, Lord.

Made it personal again.

And I made it a prayer, instead of, "I'm saying,"

or "we're saying."

(SINGING) Rain down freedom, rain down, till we're all free.

And that's our song.

Those are the lyrics for "Free," and that's

how I thought about the subject matter, the lyrical patterns

of the song, and how to craft that

into an entire piece of work-- a work of art that told the story

that I wanted to tell.

There are a lot of things happening

when you're writing a song.

So sometimes you're setting up a scene.

So you want people to see where you are in this story.

You want to describe the club you're

in when you meet this girl.

You want to give details about the argument

that you're having with someone or the moment that you're in so

that people understand the perspective that you're

writing from.

And then sometimes the lyric has a conceit to it.

So let's talk about my song "Again"

and talk about the lyric writing for that.

So for "Again," the simple idea, the simple conceit

was about time.

So--

[PLAYS CHORD ON PIANO]

(SINGING) the first time we ever got a chance to be alone

we knew--

Telling the story.

But every time I'm talking about a time.

(SINGING) --it was wrong to do.

I guess that's why I was drawn to you.

The second time leads to the third, the fifth, the seven

time.

So I'm talking about the story as a series of times.

The first time the second time leads to the third,

the fifth, the seventh time.

Why did I skip from three to five to seven?

Honestly, because I needed a two-syllable number.

And the first one is seven.

So (SINGING) the second time leads to the third,

the fifth, the seventh time.

I didn't want to say the third, the fourth, the fifth time.

The seventh sounds better.

So you always have to think about how it sounds,

in addition to what you're trying to say.

So-- (SINGING) The second time leads to the third,

the fifth, the seventh time.

And someone pointed out my next three numbers

after the second were three, five, seven,

which is like a gun.

[LAUGHS] But I didn't do that on purpose.

But interesting that that ended up happening.

(SINGING) The second time leads to the third,

the fifth, the seventh time.

I feel so alive.

It won't last.

But it's all right.

And then the next part, I'm coming out of "it won't last.

But it's all right."

So what can I do with the next melding?

(SINGING) Fleeting joy and fading ecstasy.

So I already say--

I already establish it won't last, but it's all right.

I'm just going to enjoy this fleeting moment.

(SINGING) Fleeting joy and fading ecstasy.

Then (SINGING) Here goes again, oh.

Using again.

(SINGING) Sneaking fruit from the forbidden tree,

sweet taste of sin.

Of course forbidden tree--

I'm a church boy.

Forbidden tree, it's about Adam and Eve and fruit

from the forbidden tree and the sweet taste of sin.

(SINGING) And I'm doing it again.

Simple.

(SINGING) And I'm doing it again.

Repetitive. (SINGING) And I'm doing it again.

Said it would end.

But here it goes again.

So you notice the lyric is all about each time, this time,

first time, second time, third time, fifth time, seventh time.

So it's about doing something again and again.

Second verse, I start with--

(SINGING) This time you told me you saw me at the same hotel.

Same motel, sorry.

So we start with a couple that when

they start their relationship, they

were cheating on someone else.

And so that can lead to trust issues.

If you know that the person you're

with cheated to be with you, you're thinking,

oh, they might do that again.

So the second verse I start with, this time you told me

you saw me at the same motel.

You said you knew me well, and I had that familiar smell.

Ooh!

(SINGING) This time you told me you saw me at the same motel.

The No-Tell Motel. (SINGING) You said you knew me well,

and I had that familiar smell.

Everything rhymes.

But it's telling the story and it's fitting the melody.

Then, the next line, you ask me (SINGING) how am I ever

going to learn to put my trust in you like you

want me to 'cause I know what you're prone to do.

So I know what you're like because I

know how we got together.

That's why I don't trust you.

(SINGING) Accusations fly like bullets do--

my three, five, seven--

(SINGING) here we go again.

Oh.

But you know me because you're doing it too.

The cycle never ends.

It never ends.

Oh, you're doing it again.

Again, so that second verse, it complicated the story.

It started with, oh, we have this sexy relationship.

Ooh, it was forbidden fruit because we were

with somebody else when we met.

And that was all sexy and great until we get together,

and we have trust issues because what we know what

we did before to be together.

And so we're building the tension.

The accusations are flying like bullets do.

We're still using our time.

So we went from first time to second time,

third, fifth, seventh time to this time.

And then we go back to our chorus again.

Okay, then the bridge.

It is the climax.

(SINGING) Damn I love you, but this is crazy.

I have to fight you almost daily.

We break up so fast, and we make up so passionately.

Why can't we just trust each other.

You can't hate me and be my lover.

Passion ends.

The pain begins.

I come back, and we're doing it again.

So the bridge is, like, run, more rapid-fire lyrics.

It's building tension, building energy, and then landing again

at our chorus, (SINGING) doing it again.

And then what I did in this song,

that I don't do in a lot of songs,

is I end with kind of a closing verse.

So (SINGING) each time you call me home in a sweet refrain--

What did I do?

I came back to time.

So I had first time, second time,

third, fifth, seventh time, this time.

And then I started this verse with each time.

(SINGING) Each time you call me home in a sweet refrain--

and this part is mellower-- (SINGING) saying things

will change.

You'll take away the pain.

Ooh!

Then we flashback-- to the first time-- (SINGING)

you put your spell on me.

You envelop me.

You feel good as hell to me.

You feel good as hell.

So what am I saying there?

Of course I'm saying good as hell.

That's just an expression.

But of course, what I'm saying is, it's bad.

It's wrong.

It's-- something's bad about it, but if it feels good.

(SINGING) You envelop me.

Envelop?

Who uses that in the song? (SINGING) Oh, you envelop me.

You feel good as hell to me.

So probably the first song in the history of mankind

that rhymes envelop me with good as hell to me.

But it works in this moment because envelop is, like, sexy.

It's passionate.

It's intimate.

And then good as hell to me, it's like it brings it home.

It feels like it's a vernacular expression that feels, like,

familiar but also helps tell the story of it being

bad and good at the same time.

(SINGING) You feel good as hell to me.

One moment leads to another few--

one moment leads to another few--

(SINGING) here we go again, oh.

Again, playing with time, one moment leads to another few.

(SINGING) Leaving you, it's oh, so hard to do.

I just can't pretend--

can't pretend.

I keep doing it again.

Then we go back to the chorus.

And we just repeat that again and again

and end it with a-- (SINGING) oh-oh, oh, oh.

Oh, I'm doing it again.

I said it would end.

Oh-oh, oh, oh-- and finally break it down--

(SINGING) oh, I'm doing it again.

I said it would end.

But here it goes again--

again.

So that's the lyrical story to "Again."

You'll notice there are patterns that we

maintain throughout the song that help us--

help us write, in a way, because it gives you a--

it gives you a structure that helps guide your writing.

You're not just writing in a vacuum.

You're writing to a structure.

So the melody's giving me structure.

I've already established that.

You know what you want it to sound like.

But you also give yourself lyrical structure

when you have little patterns that you repeat.

With "Again," it was playing with time-- first time,

second time, third time, fifth time, seventh time,

each moment, each time, one moment leads to another few.

That was the lyrical structure and lyrical framework

that helped me write this song.

So when you're writing lyrics, one thing

to think about, after you've established the melody--

some people write the lyrics first, by the way.

I write differently from other people.

But some people write the lyrics first.

And then they write a melody to that.

Like, Elton John, he would get his lyrics from his co-writer

and then write melodies to make those lyrics work.

But for me, I always start with a melody.

It gives me the structure for my lyrics.

And then my lyrics, I figure out a pattern

that helps me tell the story in a way that

has some repetition and some constancy to it.

And then it helps me write the entire lyric.

Now it's your turn.

Using any song structure that feels right to you,

start a song that uses a lyrical motif or theme.

This can be the same song you've been working on

or a brand-new idea.

The more you write, the more likely

you'll be to stumble across greatness.

JOHN LEGEND: If you want to stand out as a songwriter,

you can use tools from the songwriters' toolkit--

rhyme schemes, word choice, and your personal

experiences-- to write lyrics that are unmistakably your own.

So let's talk about rhyming.

First of all, you don't have to rhyme your lyrics.

If you don't want to, you can just

let these lyrics float out in space, rhymeless.

However, you'll notice when you listen to songs

and the lyrics don't rhyme, it feels like--

you feel like you're kind of just left hanging,

and you feel a bit of unease.

Now, maybe that's what you're trying to accomplish

with your listener.

Maybe that's what you're trying to do.

So go for it.

Don't rhyme your lyrics.

If you don't want people to feel that sense of resolve,

you want them to be kind of hanging on the edge,

then maybe don't rhyme them.

But my advice is, generally speaking,

make those lyrics rhyme.

It works better.

It sings better.

It feels better.

The audience enjoys it better.

So you want your lyrics to rhyme,

but there are all kinds of schemes.

So you think about patterns.

You can do, like, an AABA, or you can do an ABAB,

or you can do a AABB.

So basically, all those letters mean are,

the two things that rhyme with each other

are in the same letter.

If you think about "roses or red,

violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you,"

the first and the third line don't rhyme with each other,

but the second and the fourth line do rhyme with each other.

So it's kind of like a ABCB rhyme structure.

So if-- (SINGING) first time we ever got a chance to be alone,

we knew it was wrong to do.

I guess that's why I was drawn to you.

So those all run with each other.

(SINGING) First time we ever got a chance to be alone,

we knew it was wrong to do.

I guess that's why I was drawn to you.

So you think about that.

I said, first time we ever got a chance to be alone,

we knew it was wrong to do.

And then-- so "do" rhymed with "new,"

but then I said, "I guess that's why I was drawn to you."

So "drawn to you" rhymes with "wrong to do."

So I, like, complicated the rhyme.

So-- (SINGING) first time we ever got a chance to be alone,

we knew it was wrong to do.

(SPEAKING) Just rhyme the last syllable. (SINGING) I

guess that's why I was drawn to you. (SPEAKING)

I rhyme the last three syllables. (SINGING)

And then, I start a new rhyme scheme.

First time leads to the third, the fifth, the seventh time.

Time.

I feel so alive.

Kind of rhymes with "time."

It won't last, but it's all right.

Kind of rhymes with "alive."

OK, so that one, I just rhymed time, live, and right.

And then-- (SINGING) fleeting joy and fading ecstasy.

Here it goes again, oh.

Sneaking fruit from the forbidden tree--

So the only thing I rhymed there was "ecstasy,"

and "forbidden tree."

(SINGING) Here we goes again, oh.

Sneaking fruit from the forbidden tree,

sweet taste of sin--

So "here it goes again," rhymes with "sweet taste of sin,"

and "forbidden tree" rhymed with "ecstasy."

So I found places to get the rhyme,

but it was kind of different each time.

And it all makes sense when you finish it,

and it all feels right, and it flows right.

And that's why we rhyme things.

Because we want it to feel right.

You want it to flow right.

And you kind of know it when you hear it.

(SINGING) Fleeting joy and fading ecstasy,

here it goes again, oh.

Sneaking fruit from the forbidden tree.

Sweet taste of sin.

There are rhyming dictionaries online.

So they're not as adventurous sometimes as I might be.

But you may get ideas by going to, like, Rhymezone,

or these different rhyming dictionaries online.

You may get ideas from consulting a thesaurus.

There are even songwriting programs out

there that not only help with rhymes, but all kinds

of other ideas, too.

So you can use some of those things as hacks and tricks

to help you come up with rhymes, come up with structures,

for your song.

But you know what rhymes.

And if you have a decent amount of vocabulary,

and you're well-read, and you've listened

to a lot of other songs, then you'll

have a lot of the vocabulary you need.

But sometimes you can go online and find some decent hacks

and tricks to help you finish that rhyme that you

want to finish.

When you think about the words you choose

to use, a lot of times, you're thinking

about the language, the vernacular,

that the rest of the song is in.

So me writing "Dope" is completely different

from me writing "Free."

The vernacular that I'm using--

I'm using more slang in "Dope."

I'm not being bound to, like, proper English all the time.

I start the song with, she roll up, it's automatic.

My mood is on ecstatic.

That's not really a sentence you would say in English, normally.

But in a song, it kind of sounds like it makes sense.

(SINGING) She lightning, straight to the vein.

She beautiful, she magic.

She chemical reactive.

Again, I'm cutting off the S from "she."

I'm just saying, she.

(SINGING) She beautiful, she magic.

She chemical reactive.

I'm burning out in her flame.

So the vernacular of "Dope" is different

than me writing "Free," which--

I'm adopting more of a hymnal, spiritual vernacular.

I'm singing about the mountains and the sea and the sky,

and it's all more florid language.

It's more spiritual language.

It's more traditional and classic language.

And so different songs that are trying

to capture different moods can have

different vernacular for them.

And then, a song like "Ordinary People,"

it's more conversational about the ins and outs

of a relationship.

And so it's like, I'm talking to her.

Girl, I'm in love with you.

This ain't the honeymoon.

We're past the infatuation phase.

We're right in the thick of love at times.

We get sick of love.

It seems like we argue every day.

Like, you could say that in a sentence,

and it would make perfect sense.

Some songs are less like a spoken sentence

and more singsongy, but "Ordinary People,"

the language is very everyday vocabulary,

everyday vernacular, the way you would

talk to someone in an intimate conversation about what we're

talking about, which is-- whoo, like,

relationships can be hard sometimes.

Let's talk about it.

So one of the things I always talk about

with great songwriting is the idea

of taking what's personal to you and making it universal.

What's so interesting about songwriting

is a lot of our songs are about some of the same subjects.

A lot of us write about relationships.

A lot of us write about love, about the connection

we feel to other human beings, particularly our paramours--

people we are dating or marrying or in romantic partnership

with.

We sing about what it's like to want them,

what it's like to lose them, what it's

like to have sex with them.

We sing about so many aspects of these romantic relationships.

It may be intimidating, because you're

like, how can I write something new about a subject that's

as old as our species is?

We've been mating and falling in love

and being connected to our partners for so long.

How do I write something new?

And the question is a good question,

and it's an intimidating question.

But you just kind of do.

And the thing about songwriting is

it doesn't have to be completely new.

Nothing's completely new.

You're listening to all these other songs.

You're stealing ideas from them.

You're borrowing ideas.

You're taking ideas and remixing them and flipping them,

and then writing your own version of that song.

And so the ideal song, in my opinion, has familiarity.

So some elements that we feel like we've heard before,

but also freshness.

So the combination of being fresh and familiar

is what we're aiming for.

The combination of being personal and universal

is also what we're aiming for.

So if you think about familiar and fresh,

I wrote a song called "So Dope."

I've never heard an R&B song that exactly said, she so dope,

as the main course.

But we've had a jillion songs that say, she's fine,

she's outstanding, she's beautiful, she's this.

But I decided I would call it, "She So Dope."

And then, kind of base the chorus around the idea

that I'm addicted to her, which, of course, plenty of songs

have kind of played on the language of addiction.

So I really leaned into it.

(SINGING) She's so dope.

I want to be her dope fiend.

She showed me what dope mean.

She's so dope.

She can be my dope queen.

We can make a dope scene.

So I play with this word, dope, because of course, we

use dope as an adjective, particularly in my generation.

We use dope as an adjective to say, it's good.

We love it.

Just like some people say she's bad,

she's whatever, people say over the years, she's fine.

She's dope.

So we've been saying that for years now,

and I decided to be a fun concept

to play with for a song.

And then, I also structured "Dope"

in different ways, of course, using

the idea of drugs and addiction, but in a fun, sexy way,

and we played with that.

Made her the dope queen, and I could be her dope fiend.

And we can make a dope scene.

All those rhymes work really well.

I want to be her dope fiend.

She showed me what dope mean.

And notice part of my rhyming is just using the same word.

I want to be her dope fiend.

She showed me what dope mean.

She could be my dope queen.

We can make a dope scene.

So we're using dope as part of the rhyme structure,

but we're changing that second syllable

to be another thing that rhymes with fiend, scene, queen, mean.

So "All of Me" was written as I was

about to get married to Chrissy.

So most of you probably know I'm married

to Chrissy Teigen. She's a wonderful woman,

and we have been together for quite a long time.

And we got engaged in 2011, and we got married in 2013.

So in between us getting engaged and us getting married,

I was working on my album, "Love in the Future."

And I wanted to write a song for Chrissy.

(SINGING) What would I do without your smart mouth

drawing me in and you kicking me out?

You got my--

I wanted the lyric for "All of Me" to be personal.

So I start the song with, what would I

do without your smart mouth.

I know from the first line of the song,

I know who I'm talking to.

She knows who I'm talking to.

And what would I do without your smart mouth?

Anybody who knows my wife knows that's personal.

And you're drawing me in, and you're kicking me out.

And we started to make this whole song about a push

and pull.

So you're drawing me in.

You're kicking me out.

You've got my head spinning.

No kidding, I can't pin you down.

So this love is kind of confusing,

and it's a little bit topsy turvy.

There's a push and a pull.

What's going on in that beautiful mind?

I'm on your magical mystery ride.

And I'm so dizzy, I don't know what hit me.

But I'll be all right.

So the whole idea of the song is that, yes,

this is a disruption, but it's a good disruption.

Yes, this is confusing, but it's a joyful confusion.

And so you're playing with that kind of push and pull

of it being a challenge, but it also being awesome.

And then, my head's underwater.

But I'm breathing fine.

Again, it's not exactly logical, but there is a push and a pull.

Because you're saying, like, this is a challenge,

this is difficult. But I'm enjoying it.

You're crazy, and I'm out of my mind.

Because all of me loves all of you.

And it's all about reciprocity, push, pull.

Love your curves and your edges.

So the things that around and voluptuous and beautiful,

the things that are edgy--

I love those, too.

Love your perfect imperfections-- again,

contradictory, oxymoronic things, pushing and pulling.

Give your all to me, and I'll give my all to you.

You're my end and my beginning.

Even when I lose, I'm winning.

So again, the pattern is, we're doing push and pull throughout.

We're saying, even when I'm challenged, I'm enjoying it.

Even when things are difficult, I'm finding the pleasure in it.

And then, the second verse is, how many times

do I have to tell you?

Even when you're crying, you're beautiful, too.

The world's beating you down, and I'm around

through every mood.

So that is about that time in our lives

when we need to be the shoulder that our loved

ones need to cry on.

And you know, I've seen Chrissy go through all sorts of things.

We've experienced all sorts of things together.

We've lost a pregnancy.

We've had family members or pets or whatever pass away.

And we have to be there for each other,

and that part of the verse is about what

it means to commit to be there for someone else.

You're my downfall, you're my muse, my worst distraction,

my rhythm and my blues.

So again, we're doing more push and pull.

Downfall, muse, worst distraction, my rhythm

and blues.

So you're like my inspiration, but you're also

my worst distraction.

So again, pushing, pulling--

using things that are kind of contradictory to say you're

all of these things.

And so you're my downfall, you're

my muse, my worst distraction, my rhythm and blues.

I can't stop singing.

It's ringing in my head for you.

So again, the final stanza of the verse is basically saying,

you inspire me, and you inspired me to write this song.

And then, we go back to the course.

A lot of times, we'll use the same pre-chorus.

My head's underwater, but I'm breathing fine.

You're crazy, and I'm out of my mind.

And we go back to the chorus.

All of me loves all of you.

So you think about some of the things I did in these lyrics.

So much of what I did was about push and pull.

And why did I do a push and pull?

Because it's the all that I'm trying to encompass.

It's the ups and the downs.

It's the same things we talked about in "Ordinary People,"

where we're right in the thick of love at times.

We get sick of love.

It seems like we argue every day.

So there's these ups and these downs

that we all experience and love.

And there's this push and this pull.

There's this challenge that you feel

when you're with someone that really does challenge

you, and make you think, and make

you question your assumptions.

And then, the joy in that is that if it works, all of that

is what makes you love the person.

And then, you hope that they love all of you

at the same time.

So the bridge lyric--

I use the same chord progression as I used in the pre-chorus.

So--

(PLAYING PIANO, SINGING) My head's underwater,

but I'm breathing fine.

You're crazy, and I'm out of my mind--

Same progression.

--'cause on the table, we're both showing hearts.

Risking it all, though it's hard.

So what I was able to do with that was, because there was

already a change in the chords for the pre-chorus,

I didn't want to introduce another change.

Because we've had the chord progression for the verse.

We've had the chord progression for the pre-chorus.

We've had the chord progression for the chorus.

So that's already three chord progressions.

I didn't want to introduce a new chord

progression for the bridge, so I just use the same one

as the pre-chorus.

And it feels right in the spot, because it feels new,

because I changed the melody.

(SINGING) Hearts on the table, with both showing hearts.

And it's more emphatic.

Risking it, although it's hard.

Because the notes are higher, and I sing it

in my full voice on the recording,

and it feels more emphatic, it kind of

is the climactic moment of the song.

And then, we go back to the chorus.

All of me loves all of you.

(SINGING) Because all of me loves all of you.

Love your curves and all your edges,

all your perfect imperfections.

Give your all to me.

I'll give my all to you.

You're my end and my beginning, even when I lose my

[INAUDIBLE].

It's personal, and it's specific.

But what the song has proven is that you

can take that specific experience

that personal experience and create

a song that's still really universal and really relatable.

So this song has been played at everybody's wedding.

It's been played for Valentine's Day

and any time someone's expressing this kind of love

to someone.

And if you do it right, and we're

lucky in our lives to have a song, one song,

that's a fraction of the success of "All of Me,"

but if you do it right, that's what you accomplish.

You take what's personal to you.

You take your point of view, take your experience,

and make something that is universal.

So let's just review what we've been talking about with lyrics.

First of all, when I write lyrics,

they are structured around a melody that I've already built.

So the melody is helping me write the lyrics by showing me

what the pattern, the rhythm, the flow of the lyrics

is going to be.

And then, I try to get the lyrics to tell a story.

A lot of times, that story is shaped by a lyrical conceit.

So in "Free," we talked about the spiritual.

We talked about "Go Down, Moses."

And again, we talked about the idea of time

and of repeating the same mistakes over and over again,

and about this cycle repeating.

It's sexy.

It's wrong.

It's ah.

And the lyrics reflect that.

So every song, I think, needs to have

an idea that's guiding the lyrics, a structure that's

guiding the lyrics.

And then, I think they should rhyme, too.

I mean, I've told you you can write songs that don't rhyme,

but pretty much, write songs that rhyme.

It feels better to the listener.

It feels better to everybody.

And I think if you think about your lyrics

doing multiple things, accomplishing

multiple things, which is singing well,

telling the story properly, and being well-written lyrics that

on a taste level are really good,

then you can write really good lyrics.

In this lesson, we learned about using your rhymes

and vernacular as tools to write songs about everyday moments.

To practice these skills, I want you to write lyrics

about a personal experience.

How can you share this story in a way that is unique to you

as an artist?

Now, I've been talking a lot about songwriting,

but just know that even though I'm here by myself,

I cowrite a lot.

I'm a promiscuous collaborator.

I love to collaborate with other writers,

with producers, with other musicians.

I feel like I get great energy from other people.

I get great ideas from other people,

and it gets me out of any songwriting ruts

that I might be in because if you can be sparked

by another idea from another person,

it can push you in a direction you may not

have gone by yourself, and I think that's really helpful.

And I think it makes me more prolific as a writer,

and it makes the end result better.

So when you're starting out as a songwriter, you're thinking,

well, I don't know any producers,

or I haven't built these relationships yet.

I don't a bunch of other musicians.

Well, it's time to start going out there and getting

to know them.

So go to jam sessions, go to maybe--

to school.

People go to Berklee, people go to Juilliard for this reason,

so they can be around other musicians

and be inspired by them.

But it could also just be a group of folks you get together

with and jam with.

And so you start to make relationships

with other musicians.

You start to find people who speak your language musically,

who make you better, who you relate to personally,

who want to make the same kind of music you want to make,

and you start to create together.

Some of my best songs I wrote by myself, so a couple of the ones

I've been illustrating to you today,

"Again" and "Free", I wrote completely by myself.

But I wrote "Ordinary People" with Will.I.Am.

I wrote "All of Me" with Toby Gad.

I've written a lot of my newer songs on my new album

with other people, and I think it's really important

to find collaborators that you connect

with who maybe bring something different to the table

than what you bring.

So you have your own point of view,

you have your own background, your own experience.

I grew up in the church.

I grew up with soul music.

You know, so I have my own background,

but it's cool to work with people

who have different backgrounds and can bring something

different to the table that complements

your own skill as a writer and your own point of view.

And you can make something together

that's even more interesting and exciting than what

you would do on your own.

One of the things I like to do when I'm co-writing

with someone is we open a Google Document

so that we can edit live on the same document

and share those changes as we're making them.

But you need to be a good communicator

and a good collaborator.

And then sometimes, you may have written the full song,

but you need someone else to help you arrange it or produce

it, or you need a guitarist, or a pianist,

or a drummer to help you realize your vision.

You may need a producer to help you realize your vision,

so you need to start to develop a vocabulary for explaining

the things you want.

Sometimes we use the vocabulary of references.

So you're like, I want this to sound like "Got to Give it Up"

by Marvin Gaye.

I want this to sound like "Boogie On Reggae Woman"

by Stevie Wonder.

I want this to sound classic like Nat King Cole,

like a crooner.

I want this to sound like Aretha Franklin.

And so you'll maybe even play that reference for someone,

and say, can we make it kind of sound like this?

I want this kind of drum fill.

All of these references can be a part of your vocabulary,

the way you communicate what you want with your collaborators.

(SINGING) Girl, I love you.

JOHN LEGEND: I met Kanye through his cousin.

His cousin was my roommate.

I went to college with him.

So His cousin introduces me to Kanye.

Kanye had just moved to New York from Chicago.

I had just moved from Boston.

And we started working together.

We were different.

He made beats.

He didn't really play an instrument,

but he was really good at programming

and using samples to make dope hip hop beats that

had soul influence on them.

And I was really good at playing the piano,

and singing, and more traditional songwriting.

And he was rapping, I was singing,

and together, we were, like, a really great combination.

And so you find people like that in your life

where you've been practicing, you've been preparing,

but you working with that person makes you better

and complements the things that you're good at.

Then that's where you'll find these magical collaborations.

So to start finding those people,

you've got to go out into the world.

You've got to go to jam sessions.

You've got to go see live music.

You've got to make relationships with other creators.

And as you start to do that, you'll

find people that oh, OK, we vibe.

We vibe together.

Let's do something.

Let's create.

And you'll find great collaborators.

So when you're figuring out collaborators, one,

I have to say, I'm an easy collaborator,

so I get along with just about everybody.

There's almost no one I can't get along with and find a way

to connect with.

So I'm easygoing.

I'm humble.

Even though I've had a lot of success in my career,

I don't go in there trying to bigfoot other writers even

though they may be less successful than me.

I go in there open to their ideas, and I am kind to them,

I'm generous, and humble around them,

and I really listen to what they have to contribute.

So if you go into a writing session with that attitude,

I think you can write with all types of people

and you don't have to be so super selective.

But maybe you are a very particular type of person

and you need a particular type of person

in the room with you when you write, and a lot of people

won't mesh well with you.

That's fine too.

Just know who you are, and know the types

of people that work with you.

You want people that are good, so they need

to be good at what they do.

They need to have good ideas.

Good melodic ideas, good lyrical ideas.

That means they need to have good taste, good instincts,

and a good sensibility so that they

won't be like, yeah, that's dope when it's not really that good.

So you want people that are good,

but you want people that personality wise you mesh with,

and I think it's good to find people

who have different skills than you have so

that they'll push you to do things you may not

have done on your own.

A lot of times, I'll decide to write with a younger writer

because, like, you know, I'm 43, and the kind

of peak age for, like, popular music success

is probably your 20s and 30s.

And so, like, I know that I'm older

than a lot of current artists right now,

and I think it's good to bring, like, young energy

into the room to write with me to kind of push

me to be thinking more like a 25-year-old

would be thinking right now, or like a 32-year-old

would be thinking.

I have different experiences, and I

have a different musical background,

and it's cool to get other sensibilities, other points

of view in the room with you.

And I think it can make you better.

Particularly when I'm doing like an up tempo song that's

meant to be on pop radio or urban mainstream radio,

I want to write with someone who is

fluent in the vernacular of what's current

and what's of this moment.

And I still bring my timeless, you know,

I am who I am sensibilities, but when

I marry that with someone who may

be a bit fresher and a bit more current,

then we can come up with something

that's really cool for me.

Nice, John.

I bet some of y'all are wondering why--

these two up on stage together doesn't even make sense,

but we actually write songs together.

We write songs.

We wrote one before and we wrote one recently.

I feel like we should--

JOHN LEGEND: There are occasions when it doesn't work,

but even-- even times when I'm like, oh, I

don't know if this person is bringing

that much to the table, I end up finishing the song anyway

because I can finish a song by myself.

So sometimes my co-writer only gives me like a couple ideas

that I run with, and then I do the rest,

but those two little ideas may actually

be the key to unlocking the potential of the song.

So this is why I'm so open to collaboration

because even if I end up contributing

most of the creative energy, even if they do,

it doesn't matter.

Like, if we stumble upon something really great because

of our chemistry and what we-- what the collision of our two

styles and the collaboration of our two styles creates,

then we're all the better for it.

When writing music, think about embracing more than one genre

in order to expand your audience.

I started in gospel music, but I embraced other genres

like soul, hip hop, and R&B.

Sometimes, people blend genres.

So a common thing is for hip hop and soul to blend.

So that's a lot of what my career has been based on,

and especially some of my earliest work, where

I was working with hip hop producers who a lot of times

sampled soul music.

So they incorporated soul through their use of sampling,

and then they used hip hop, drums,

and some traditions of hip hop production mixed

with these soul samples and then me singing soulfully

on top of it.

That was genre blending.

I work with country artists, I work with pop writers,

I work with hip hop producers.

If you're working with different people

and bringing different energies and influences into the room,

then it makes genre blending even easier.

You may feel like you can't individually

do all the genre blending, but if you're

bringing someone else in the room, that's

part of what their role can be.

They can complement what you do.

I wasn't a hip hop producer, but I

was able to bring Kanye, and will.I.am, and Hit-Boy

into the room.

They brought some of that hip hop influence,

I brought my soulfulness.

And we made something beautiful together.

One of the defining things about soul music in the last 20 years

is that we work with a lot of people that work in hip hop

as well.

And so there's been a lot of back and forth--

some exchanges.

So now you hear a lot of rappers singing, for instance.

So you're hearing them kind of blend some of the tropes of R&B

into hip hop.

And then I think a lot of R&B artists

still blend a lot of the hip hop tropes

into what we do as R&B and soul artists.

So you hear that as a genre blend.

You'll hear some jazz influence in R&B as well.

In country music, you'll hear some R&B and hip hop influence

as well.

Some of the country singers are rapping and doing

more soulful things on their music.

You'll hear rock influence in some of these other genres

as well.

Pop and rock, I think, a lot of times blend together.

Pop and R&B, a lot of times they're

blended together as well.

So you kind of know it when you hear it.

You hear different parts of different traditions

kind of blending together.

I think Ariana Grande is a great blender of pop and R&B.

And I think genre blending is part

of what makes music, pop music.

Because when I'm saying pop music,

I'm not saying it in the genre since,

I'm saying it in the popular sense.

So part of what makes music popular

is that it's not just one thing that's targeted toward a niche

audience, it's more global and it pulls influences

from different parts of the music landscape.

So I think genre blending is an important way

of making your music have a broader reach.

Genre a lot of times is about the stylistic approach

to arranging and producing the song

more so than it is about the actual core song itself.

That's why you can hear Aretha Franklin cover

Simon and Garfunkel or you can hear

Nina Simone sing a show tune.

And she changes the genre by her style--

by her stylistic choices even though the song

was written for another genre.

[PIANO PLAYING]

[SINGING "AMAZING GRACE"]

Amazing grace.

The song "Amazing Grace," for example,

a traditional gospel song usually

performed in traditional gospel style.

[TRUMPETS PLAYING]

You can take that same gospel song

and arrange it to sound like Dixieland jazz.

[SINGING]

Twas grace that taught.

You can do a gospel song as a country song

if you arrange it like a country song.

Or change up the instrumentation into something more unexpected

and take the song into new directions.

[JAZZ PLAYING]

All you have to do is arrange it differently and sing it

differently and it becomes an R&B song or a country song

depending on who's doing it.

There are some songwriting tropes

that are part of a genre.

And so I won't say that songwriting isn't genre

specific, because there are some tropes that

are very genre specific.

And there's some traditions that are very genre specific.

[COUNTRY SONG PLAYING]

[SINGING]

Closing time and I'm just starting my--

For instance, with country music, there's often a story

being told with a twist at the end.

The storytelling is paramount and it's more personal.

[HIP HOP MUSIC PLAYING]

[SINGING]

Oh, you got that good good.

Hip hop is very autobiographical,

so it's a lot about who you are.

Built, of course, with slang and swagger,

those are some of the tropes that you'll notice

in different styles of music.

I think genre isn't as much a distinction in songwriting

as it is in arranging and producing.

Because when you start arranging and producing a song,

that's when you're starting to kind of send it

in a certain direction stylistically.

I think it's really cool if you're able to not just listen

to your core genre--

so my core genre is soul music informed by gospel, R&B,

whatever you want to call it-- that is my core music.

So that's the music that I grew up listening to.

That was the music I was making from the very beginning.

And it informs everything I do-- even when I collaborate with

other artists, when I work with pop artists, Latin artists--

whatever it is, I'm always coming from a perspective

as a soul singer.

And so every one of you is going to come

from a different perspective based on the music

that you love the most, the music that's

at your core, the music that represents the artists who

you love the most.

Everybody's going to have a different core

genre that is theirs, that they feel

like that's their home genre.

However, I think all of us should be listening

to other genres, all of us should

be studying what makes those songs work, studying

what makes those productions work, those arrangements work.

I have a core style, but I listen to other stuff.

And that stuff influences me.

Like, listening to Joni Mitchell influences some

of the things I do vocally.

Or listening to Jeff Buckley influences some

of the things I do vocally--

even though my main influences are Stevie Wonder, and Marvin

Gaye, and Nina Simone.

Some of them are just different.

And I will hear myself doing little things

that I know I got from listening to Jeff Buckley.

And I think that's cool.

I think it makes you a cooler artist

if you're able to do that.

Because music is music.

There's only 12 notes on this keyboard,

and everybody's making music from the same basic palette.

And we're finding different ways to express ourselves.

There's different ways to arrange songs.

There's different ways to make them feel like they're

more R&B, or they're more country, or they're more jazz,

or they're more that.

But music is music.

And so many songs work in different genres.

So many ideas and so many sounds just

feel good despite whatever genre they are.

And so I think any great musician

is going to have something that's at their core,

but also an understanding, and an appreciation,

and have spent some time listening to other genres.

When you know you want to write a song,

and you have subject matter, and you have something

you want to say, you have to think about who you are, first

of all.

So what do I sound best doing?

What am I comfortable doing?

What is the music that feels like home to me,

that I speak in that voice, I sing in that voice,

I write in that voice?

So I think you'll know that based on who you listen to.

If you listen to a lot of Joni Mitchell,

for instance, you may be more like a folky type singer

songwriter that does that kind of song.

And if you love that kind of song,

you sing well in that genre, then

you may want to write it like that.

If you are more into Dua Lipa, and you

feel like your vibe is more of kind of a modern disco thing,

and you're making basically dance pop music,

then that's your thing and you sound good doing it,

then maybe you should be writing in that genre.

I think once you understand who you

are, which is this confluence of all the things you've listened

to, the way you were raised, the music your parents played--

who you are is all of those things.

And then the artist that you love

right now, the artist you're responding to,

you're listening to right now, that will inform who you are

when you think about genre and the type of music

you want to do.

JOHN LEGEND: (SINGING) Go down, Moses, way down, Moses.

Welcome to the vocal booth.

We're here.

We have a mic.

We have headphones.

We have padded walls.

All of these things are here to make sure

that we isolate the sound that you're making with your voice,

so that no other extra noise corrupts that.

So you can hear exactly what you're singing,

and also, later be able to manipulate it

individually rather than as part of an entire recording.

So we're going to record the vocal, lead vocal,

and backing vocal right here in this vocal booth.

So what's in the vocal booth?

What am I using?

Really, it's as simple as the microphone and the headphones.

Usually, when you have a headphone set up,

you have some sort of controls for your headphones.

Some are just volume controls, where you want it louder,

or you want it softer.

Some actually allow you to mix the levels of the instruments,

or your voice, or the click track or the drums,

or whatever other elements are in the song.

It allows you to have some control over that mix.

So we have a microphone.

We have headphones, and sometimes, we

have a little, tiny mixing board for our headphones.

So we can control our own levels.

And then after that, have what you want in there.

I like to have water.

I like to have, sometimes, some tea,

depending on how my voice is feeling.

SPEAKER: All of that said, you don't

need a professional vocal booth to record your vocals at home.

Find a room to make the best sounding recording you can

and make sure you can communicate

the content of your song.

JOHN LEGEND: And you can still through engineering and all

the other things make it sound good,

but I guess the ideal circumstance for recording

vocals is in some sort of booth.

But don't let that stop you.

(SINGING) Yeah, yeah, oh.

I think everyone should warm up before you

try to record a song, before you try to sing any time.

I even warm up.

When I'm on tour, I warm up before my interviews,

because you have to get your voice used to working.

And particularly, when you're singing a two hour

show the night before and you've got

to do an interview the next day, your voice

is kind of tired and a little beat up.

So you've got to warm it up so you're ready to vocalize again.

So what I usually do, sometimes, I'll

do a live video chat with my instructor,

and we'll do, like, 45 minutes to an hour, where we warm up.

And we work on specific vocal techniques.

And then, a lot of times, I don't

have the time to kind of schedule with him,

but I'll use the recordings that he sends me.

And I'll listen to him in my car on the way to the studio,

or I'll listen to them, while I'm taking a shower

and sing in the bathroom, while I'm getting dressed.

But either way, I want to warm up for, at least,

a half hour prior to recording any vocals,

prior to me writing, prior to me going

to the studio for that day.

So some of the things we do, usually, I'm

listening to him tell me to do it, and then I sing it.

But it's things, like we start usually in a lighter voice.

(SINGING) Yeee.

So we start just kind of easing your voice into the day,

doing some falsetto things, and then

we usually do some things, where we transition from falsetto

to chest voice and back to falsetto,

just doing little things that will

help get us ready for the day.

So we'll go--

(SINGING) We, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we, we.

And then we'll start singing scales and different notes that

fall in your falsetto range and then

some that fall in your chest voice.

And then, finally, we start to build

to the heaviest and loudest part of your range.

So then we'll start doing some of those higher notes,

but in your chest voice.

So--

(SINGING) Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me,

me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me,

me.

And those are some of the things I

do as I'm really trying to open it all up, so my chest voice is

ringing out.

And I can hit some of those higher notes in my chest voice.

And then by the time I'm done with all

of that, usually, after about a half an hour or maybe

40 minutes, I feel like, OK, now, I'm

ready to do vocals today.

I like to be relatively close to the mic.

Some singers like to go kind of back and forth.

I make my engineer do all the work.

So if I'm going to be loud, he just

has to turn the pick up level of the microphone down,

so it doesn't distort too much.

I don't like to move too much.

I like to be pretty close to the mic,

and I like it to catch every little nuance

of every little thing I do.

But if I'm going to be loud, I have to tell him,

so that he turns the recording level down,

so that it doesn't blow the mic out and sound distorted.

So I usually stand about the same distance.

But I know some singers that, when they're quiet,

they'll come up here, and when they're loud,

they'll come way back here.

I'll do a little bit of that, but I

make my engineer do some of that work to.

But everybody's different.

So I'm never satisfied with the first take of anything.

And I believe that, if I'm going to deliver the best

final vocal for a song, and I'm going to do five, six, seven,

eight, nine, 10 takes of each section,

I'm going to go section by section, focus on it,

try different ideas, see which one feels better,

execute it to the best of my ability,

then move on to the next section.

And then I'll go into the control room,

sit with my engineer, and we'll make a composite track that

is the best of the best of each of those

takes for each section.

So when I'm recording vocals for free, I start with my piano,

because I need some kind of foundation to sing to.

And I have the chords and the accompaniment around my voice,

and now, I'm going to do a bunch of takes

of each section of the song, try to get it exactly right,

phrase it exactly right.

Sometimes, I rewrite the lyric in this moment,

because I'm like, ooh, that isn't sing

the way I thought it would sing when I was writing it.

I need to try a different expression in this moment.

I need to try a different phrasing in this moment.

I'll do a bunch of those things as I'm

doing multiple takes of that section of the song,

and then, when I feel like, oh, I've

got a few really good takes that are keepers, then

I move on to the next section.

Sometimes, I'll record the song, the chorus first,

because that's the thing I wrote first as we've talked

about with my writing process.

I usually have written the chorus first,

so I may have recorded the chorus early on in the process

and then go back in and do the verses later.

But a lot of times, I'll just record a very rough demo

of the chorus, and then a very rough demo of the verse

melodies, and then a rough demo of the verse lyrics.

And then, once I've done all those roughs,

I'll go back in and then start from the beginning of the song

and do my multiple takes section by section

in order of the song.

So now, I'm putting my headphones on.

This way, I can isolate the sound.

So I don't want to record these vocals

and have the piano track from the instrumental playing

in the mic that I'm singing in.

So I want this mic to only hear my voice,

so I'm listening to the piano in here in my headphones.

And then this mic is only hearing my naked voice,

so it's recording my naked voice in a track.

Like it can be isolated, and affected, and all the things

you want to do to manipulate it.

It could all happen in one track without being corrupted

by other noises, like the drums, or the piano,

or any other instruments that are part of the song.

So that's why we use headphones.

That's why we record the vocals separately

from the instrumental, so that we

can isolate them and manipulate them in isolation.

And I'll start doing takes of my first verse.

(SINGING) Go down, Moses, way down,

Moses, go down to Egypt land.

Lay down, soldiers, lay down those weapons,

let peace rushing.

So now, you've heard me do one take of the verse,

and I'm not satisfied with it.

I'm going to try a few different takes.

Keep trying a few different ideas.

I may do a slightly different variation each time.

I may do a little bit different rhythmic approach each time

just finding what works the best for the song,

so I'll do another take.

(SINGING) Go down, Moses, way down, Moses.

Go down to Egypt land.

Lay down, soldiers, lay down those weapons,

let peace rushing.

OK, so some of the things you may

notice about what I'm doing, I'm not singing very loudly

for this part of the song.

So I want to start this song in a very kind of prayerful mood,

so it's a little quieter.

It's a little more contemplative,

and it's not me singing full force.

It's me choosing to enter the saw in a very subtle, mellow,

understated way, and now, I'm going to get a little bigger

in the pre-chorus.

(SINGING) Lay down those weapons, let peace rush in.

Let it wash to the valley to the mountains,

fall in the deepest blue sea.

Let it fly across the sky, a banner

so high that even the rockets will see.

So that's a take of the pre-chorus,

and you'll notice that's a bigger section of the song.

It's more sweeping.

It has higher notes, and I still don't want to oversing.

I don't want to sing too hard.

But those big notes, I want to make sure

they pierce through, so I'm doing that with the song.

My engineer will play, usually, it's what we call pre-roll.

So you have a little bit of pre-roll

before you start singing, again, and what

you want with the pre-roll is just enough of what you've

done in the prior section to make

sure you're in the same space.

And then you want it close enough to the section

you're singing now that you don't

have to wait a long time every time you do a new take,

listening to what you've already done before.

So we have a little bit of pre-roll.

I usually do a measure or two, so a measure

is usually four counts.

And two measures is eight counts, unless it's six, eight.

But most songs are in the four, four signature,

so I usually have either a measure or two

before I start singing the next part,

listening to what we've done before.

(SINGING) Lay down, soldiers, just lay down those weapons,

let peace rush in.

Let it wash to the valley side to the mountain,

fall in the deepest blue sea.

Let it fly across the sky, a banner

so high that even the rockets will see.

All right, so now that I've done a bunch of takes

of the pre-chorus, now, I'm ready to move on to the chorus.

What am I trying to accomplish with the chorus?

Again, it's prayerful.

It's reminiscent of these spirituals and hymns,

and you want it to feel powerful and inspiring.

So I'm going to let my vibrato ring out when it's right.

I want to sound anointed as we used

to say in church, anointed.

You want to feel that anointing.

Here we go.

(SINGING) Let it fly across the sky, a banner

so high that even the rockets will see, that there is a God,

and I'm just saying, Lord, rain down freedom, rain down.

So we're all free, free, free.

So that free part of the song, where

I'm doing all those windy things in my falsetto voice,

I've made a choice to make each of those a little different

from the last one.

So those times when I'm singing free are literally free.

I want them to be a little bit freed from melody

and free from structure and allow my voice to just find

its place in the song.

That's how I'm singing that part.

Let's try that section again.

(SINGING) Even rockets will see that there is a God,

and I'm just saying, Lord, rain down freedom,

rain down till we're all free, free, free.

OK, so we've done a few takes of the chorus.

We've allowed ourselves to be free at that end of the course.

Let the freedom ring out, and now, we're

going to go to verse two and sing, again,

that melody, the whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

whoa, whoa.

We're going to sing that melody, again,

and again, I'm going back into a more subdued tone,

a little mellower, a little more prayerful.

And we'll see how it goes.

(SINGING) Free, low down, broken, homeless, floating,

lost and thrown a chance.

Yeah, caged bird singing, break chains,

so we can do our holy dance.

So you remember, when we wrote the second stanza of verse two,

we changed the melody a little bit.

It adds a little emphasis to this section,

and it's the idea of the caged bird singing,

like I want to break out of this.

And in some way, we're breaking out of the melodic structure

and saying, let's loosen it up a little bit for this last stanza

of our second verse.

Let's try it again.

(SINGING) Free, low down, broken, homeless, floating,

lost and thrown a chance.

A caged bird singing break chains,

so we can do our holy dance.

OK, so now, we're going to go back to our pre-chorus.

This pre-chorus is written a little differently,

but a similar melody, and similar tone,

and similar approach that we had to our first pre-chorus.

Let's try it.

(SINGING) Do our holy dance.

Let them ring through the valley side

to the mountain pierced through the core of the Earth.

Let him sing across the sky a chorus so high

that every one will know their worth and that there is a God.

OK, you notice I've done a couple of little, subtle things

that turned up the urgency a little bit.

I sang a little more emphatically on the pre-chorus.

I sang a little bit more emphatically

on the second verse, and all of that

is building the energy and the momentum

till we get to the next section of the song.

So now, we're going to do the second chorus,

and I'm envisioning that we'll have background

singers on this part.

It'll start to build the arrangement a little bit more.

So that's another reason why I wanted

to build up the energy for my lead vocal,

so that we set the stage for the choir to join in

and everybody to sing along.

(SINGING) Everyone will know their worth

and that there is a God, and we're just saying,

Lord, rain down freedom, rain down till we're all free, free,

free.

So you notice, I did some different things

on this chorus.

I changed the melody up a little bit,

and then, when I did my free section,

I even went higher on that last free.

I went to (SINGING) free, instead of (SINGING) free.

Again, I'm building up the song.

I'm building to a climax, taking some more liberties

with the melody, making it more emphatic and more

urgent in the second chorus, making it more free.

Let's try it again.

(SINGING) Everyone will know their worth

and that there is a God, and we're just saying,

Lord, rain down freedom, rain down till we're all free, free,

free.

You'll notice, I also am ending this free with an octave higher

than I ended the first chorus' free.

So (SINGING) free, free, that's how I ended the first chorus.

On this chorus, I ended it (SINGING)

free, and then up here, (SINGING) free.

So again, adding, elevating, taking the song places,

subtle changes that make each section a little different,

add complexity and layers to the song.

This next section is going to be more

of like a vamp that is led by what the choir, the backing

vocals are singing rather than what the lead vocalist is

doing.

So I would rather record the backing vocals first,

so that as a lead vocalist, I'm more responding and coloring

around what the backing vocals are going to do.

So I won't record this part as a lead vocalist,

until I've already done the backing vocals.

So we'll wait to do that, and then we'll

go to the end of the song, finish the song out.

Then I'll go back, and do the backing vocals,

and build the ad lib on top of that.

(SINGING) And that there is a God, and I'm just praying,

Lord, rang down freedom, rain down

till we're all free, free till we're all free.

So what have I done?

So now that we've had this climactic choir section,

I break the song down more.

So I sing fewer things.

My free part is less busy, and it's

more simple, and more intimate, and heartfelt.

So it's like the song is built from prayerful, intimate, built

up, built up, built up, built up, built up, choir comes in.

It's as big as it's going to get,

even though it never gets huge, but it's as big

as it's going to get.

And then at the end, I'm going to break it back down,

simplify it, make it more personal, and heartfelt,

and intimate.

And that's how we in the song.

Not all songwriters consider themselves singers,

but recording your lead vocals can

help you figure out if your melodies or lyrics are working.

So head into your vocal booth, whatever form that may be,

and record your demo with a voice recorder, or even

your smartphone.

Try to do multiple vocal takes for each line and experiment

with different vocal approaches.

[PIANO PLAYING]

JOHN LEGEND: So when you're thinking about,

how do I use background vocals to make this recording

sound better?

A lot of what you're thinking about

is, where do you need extra depth?

Where do you need extra color?

And when I'm arranging these vocals I'm thinking,

well what would I have had my choir

do when I was directing the music at my church?

And so, I'm thinking of some of those elements.

We used counter melodies, we used

having people sing the same notes together,

having people sing the same words together,

but harmonize with each other.

We would build up the arrangement when we

wanted it to be at its climax.

So, all of these techniques that we

would use in our church choir or in a a cappella group,

are the kind of techniques I want

to use when I'm building the backing vocals.

And I don't like to make too many backing vocals

to disturb from the lead vocal, to over complicate things

and to get too busy.

But if you use backing vocals in the right way,

you can really enhance the recording

and it makes everything you say sound more emphatic, or more

inspiring, or more powerful, based

on when you use those vocals to enhance the lead vocal.

So now I've done all of my lead vocals,

except for the ad lib's that will be on top of the backing

vocals during the vamp.

So I want to record those backing vocals first before I

do the remaining lead ad lib's.

And then I'll combine the whole thing

and make it into a final vocal recording.

So how do I build these backing vocals?

This is where my gospel choir and a cappella group training

comes in handy.

I have ideas for how to build these arrangements.

Have ideas for what's worked in the past for me,

and one of the things I want to do is have like a chant.

I've done it in songs like Glory

(SINGING) Glory, glory.

And this song I'm going to do

(SINGING) Free, free, free.

OK so we're going to do that first.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND]

(SINGING) Free, free, free, free, free.

Free, free, free, free, free, free, free, free, free.

So I recorded one layer of that.

But if I wanted to sound like a choir, and sometimes

I actually bring a choir in but sometimes I'm

like I could do all these myself.

And I just stacked my voice on one track, on top of another,

on top of another, on top of another.

So a lot of times I'll do four in one voice.

So it sounds like four people are singing the same note.

So I'll do a stack of what I just sang

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND] Free, free.

(SINGING) Free, free, free, free, free.

[PIANO PLAYING]

(SINGING) Free, free, free, free, free.

One little trick, when you're recording backing vocals

sometimes it's better to take one ear off

so you can hear your live voice, the voice that you're

singing at that moment in your naked ear.

And then you can hear everything that's

been recorded before that in your other ear.

So for me I like to take one ear off, record the backing vocals

so I can hear my live voice prominently in this ear

and hear what's going on in the recording in this ear.

I don't need to do that for my lead

vocal, because there's not as much going on in the track

already.

And so I'd rather hear my lead vocal all in my headphones,

like this.

Once the lead vocals are already there

and I'm recording the backing vocals,

I don't want to be too distracted

by the lead vocal and the other things going on.

So I only let them play in my one ear

and then my other ear is only hearing

what's coming out of my mouth.

OK.

So now I'm going to do an octave lower of the same note.

So free.

So what is an octave?

An octave is the same note but in a lower register.

So it's 12 semitones down or up from the note

you are already singing.

So I was singing free, free.

The octave is free, free, free.

So it's the same note but in a lower register.

Here we go.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND] Free, free.

(SINGING) Free, free, free, free, free,

[PIANO PLAYING]

(SINGING) Free, free, free, free, free.

And again I recorded those and I'm

going to do a stack of those as well.

So I'm going to do probably four maybe eight of those.

Four maybe eight of the higher notes,

and then it'll sound like it's a nice sized choir, with a lot

of people that sound like me.

[LAUGHING]

So that's how I stack these notes.

And now I'm going to build some counter melodies that

are going to complicate things.

Add tension, and add energy to what I'm doing.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND] Free, free, free, free, free.

(SINGING) Oh, Oh.

OK.

So what have I done?

1.

I kind of borrowed

(SINGING) Let it ring to the valley, soar to the mountains,

fall to the deepest blue sea.

So it's almost the exact same melody

but it's a more kind of straight version of that.

(SINGING) Oh Oh Oh

It's a more kind of choir-ified version of that lead

vocal I sang in the prechorus.

But what it's doing is, reminding

people of a previous melody they've

already heard, which is a useful trick.

And building a counter melody against the free, free, free.

All right.

Then I'll stock that.

And then I'll make it even more emphatic in the fourth time

through.

So that was the third time through.

The fourth time through, I'm going to harmonize those vocals

and do something similar to the

(SINGING) Oh

But even build it up even higher.

So this is our most climactic moment

before we strip it back down.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND] Oh free, free, free, free, Oh oh free.

(SINGING) Whoa

JOHN LEGEND (VOICEOVER): So harmony

is when two voices, or three, or four, or five,

are singing different notes that fit within the same chord,

but are different notes.

(SINGING) Ba and Ba.

JOHN LEGEND (VOICEOVER): That's a harmony, because those notes

fit in that same major chord.

(SINGING) Ba.

JOHN LEGEND (VOICEOVER): And they're different notes

but they sound great together.

I love harmony.

Now that we've recorded the backing vocals for the vamp,

now I feel like I can do a lead vocal that adds to,

compliment's, colors, what the choir backing vocals are doing.

So here we go.

We're going to try some of that.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND]

(SINGING) Yeah.

Til we're all free.

Oh, freedom to love, freedom to give, freedom to live.

Go down Moses, way down Moses, go down to every land.

Tell em'.

JOHN LEGEND: OK so you saw what I did there with the ad lib

vocal.

So not only did I just do a couple

of little runs and yeahs and oh's and stuff,

but I also went back to the verse.

So you remember with my backing vocal,

I hearken back to the melody from the pre-chorus

but for this lead vocal the final ad

lib before we head back into the final chorus,

I went back to go down Moses.

So I'm reintroducing these themes

that I've already introduced.

I'm bringing back these ideas, these melodic,

and lyrical ideas that have already been part of the song

and adding them on top of the other layers of the song.

They're in the same chord progression,

but now the choir is doing the

(SINGING) Whoa

And the

(SINGING) Free, free, free, free.

And I'm singing

(SINGING) Go down Moses, way down Moses.

So all of these melodies are working together,

and it's very reminiscent of some of the things

we used to do when I arranged my gospel choir vocals.

But all of these melodies are working together.

Some of them are hearkening back to what

we've done earlier in the song.

Some of them are new ideas, but they're all coming together

over the same chord progression that we use for the verse,

and that is our vamp.

It builds, it builds, it builds, until we finally

break it back down and go back to our refrain.

There is a God, and I'm just praying, Lord.

Rain down freedom.

Rain down til we're all free.

And I get down to the most intimate prayerful expression

of that chorus and we end the song.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND] Everyone will know their worth

(SINGING) And that there is a God.

And we're just saying Lord, rain down freedom,

rain down, till we're all free.

Free.

Free.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND] free, free, free, free.

(SINGING) Yeah.

Til we're all free.

Oh

(SINGING) Freedom love.

Freedom to give.

Freedom to live.

Go down Moses, way down Moses, go down to every land.

Tell em' there is a god.

I'm just praying Lord.

Right now freedom rain down, til we're all free.

Free.

Til we're all free.

So let's talk about arranging the vocals and the chords.

So you do have to have some kind of either theoretical or just

instinctual understanding of what a chord is, what

the notes that comprise a chord are,

for you to understand how to arrange vocals

within that chord.

Different chords, whether major or minor,

can communicate different emotions to your listeners.

For example, b-flat major can convey love, hope, and optimism

for the future.

So my song "Free" is in b-flat.

And a lot of the chords are b-flats, or e-flats,

or a-flats.

And these are all part of the structure of a song that's

in b-flat major.

And so when I'm choosing harmonies within any given

section, I'm trying to match the harmonies

that the vocalists are singing with the chords that

are the foundation of the song.

So when I'm in a part of the song

that the chord, that the piano is playing,

is a b-flat major chord, then I pretty much

want my backing vocalist to be singing notes that

are right within that chord.

They could be singing the bop, bop, bop, bop.

So those are the triad and the octave of that chord.

They fit within that chord.

And if they're singing there, it'll

sound pretty good usually.

And if you start to deviate, you can do like the fourth.

Or you can do the sixth of that chord sometimes,

and that can be effective.

But a lot of times the most effective way

to sing on a chord is to sing those important notes

within the chord, which are usually

the tonic, which in this song would be the b-flat.

And then usually the third above that would be the d-natural.

And then the f-natural would be the fifth.

And usually that's what most people consider the chord.

Sometimes you'll throw a fourth in there,

which would be the e-flat.

Sometimes you'll throw a sixth in there, which would be the g.

Sometimes you throw a 7 in there,

which would be the a-flat.

Or you could throw a major 7 in there,

which would be the a-natural.

All of those notes could be in the chord,

but they can create very different sounds.

And by doing that, create very different moods.

So they have to make sense in the composition of what

you're trying to say musically.

And you can kind of tell when you hear it when it's off.

And so you have to think about chord structure and the notes

that comprise a chord when you're thinking about how do I

harmonize in my backing vocals.

When I bring in backup singers, which I like to do a lot.

I like to have female voices on my songs a lot.

And so I will sing a demo version of the song.

And I'll usually sing all the parts

that I expect the backing vocalists to come in and do.

But I'll sing them in falsetto.

And falsetto is that higher part of your voice.

Sometimes they call your head voice.

That's falsetto.

Heee.

That's my more natural voice.

Chest voice we call it.

So when I am singing the parts that I intend

for a female backup singer to sing,

then I'll usually singing in my falsetto.

And then I'll bring them in usually in another session.

A lot of times what I do for an album is have a day where

I just go in and re-sing all the backing

vocals that I have demoed, and have my ladies

in my band come in and re-sing those.

So they're amazing.

They sound great.

They hear me doing it once or twice, and they can go in

and re-sing what I sang.

And that's how I usually do it.

I don't always use the same backing vocalists.

But I often do.

And I like to use my singers on tour.

They're amazing.

They sound great.

And they're part of my sound.

The sound we go on the road with.

We'll be in Vegas with.

All those things.

And so I'd rather they be on my records than anybody else.

I know they're good.

I've auditioned them.

I've traveled the world with them.

Why not put them on my record?

And when you're picking backing vocalists,

you think about the different textures they might bring.

So part of the reason I don't like all of my vocals

to be stacks of myself, is that I want to hear another texture.

I want to hear a female voice.

I want to hear a person that might be raspier than me,

or less raspy than me.

I want to hear different tones and them together with sound

better than I would sound with my voice sounding

kind of uniform.

So that's what I think about when

I'm thinking about who I use for backing vocalists,

when I use someone else other than myself,

and how to give them the roadmap to being

the most effective and most efficient when

we're recording the backing vocalists in the studio.

So by the time I'm recording the backing vocalists,

a lot of times we have a really good idea what

the arrangement of the song is.

Usually, we've recorded all the instruments

that we plan to record.

We may have not done the string arrangement or the horn

arrangement.

But the main rhythm section of the song is usually recorded.

And so the backing vocals are one of the final touches

that we put on the song.

Even though I've done a demo version.

Doing it with the final vocalists on there

is kind of like a final flourish for recording the song for me.

So there you have it.

You've see me record my lead vocals.

I did a bunch of takes.

I thought about tone, and color, and mood for each section.

And how to build the story vocally.

Not just through the way I wrote the lyrics,

but the way I express each section of the song.

Building the story.

Elevating things.

Building tension.

Building urgency.

Climaxing.

And then coming back down.

Rain down freedom.

Rain down.

Then I talked with you about how to arrange backing vocalists.

Thinking about the chords.

Thinking about when the voices sing together.

When they harmonize.

When they sing in unison.

When they sing octaves.

All of those things can be important decisions to make.

How many of each note you want in the song.

So sometimes it sounds better when there's

like 12 of the same voice.

Sometimes it sounds better when it's just one.

One voice on each note.

It sounds more intimate.

It sounds closer.

But if you want it to sound like a choir,

then you want 8, 10, 12 voices on each note in the harmony.

So we're thinking about all of those things.

Putting it in the right place.

Not overdoing it.

Making it complement what the lead vocal and the rhythm

section are doing.

All those things matter when you're

thinking about making your song into a recording.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND, "FREE"]

Free.

'Till we're all free.

One of my rules is you can't rely

on how you feel about a song right

when you finish it because part of what you're feeling

is the joy of having completed it.

And so, I finished the song, and I'm just happy that I'm, like--

I feel like I've put all the puzzle pieces together.

Everything fits.

It feels right in this moment.

And I'm happy that I've completed this project today.

But you can't mistake that happiness for, oh, this song

is amazing.

You need to give it some time, maybe

play it for some other people.

But also, just wait a week.

Listen to it again and you might have some notes for yourself

on the song once you've had a little distance from it.

So I think no one should base their final opinion

on a song on their reaction in that moment

when they've just finished writing it.

Most of my songs, I will write the bulk of it--

often the entirety of it-- in one session.

So three, four hours I sit there,

get from mumbled track to finished song in 3 or 4 hours.

But that does not mean the song is done.

Sometimes you'll listen to it, you'll

think about it some more.

And you'll be, like, mm, I want to revise this lyric.

I want to edit this.

I want to say this in a way that works better.

Sometimes I'll play it for someone,

and they'll say, uh, it sounds like you're

saying blah, blah, blah.

And once I hear that, I can't unhear it.

There's one where I wrote a lyric,

it was like it sounded like something more vulgar

than what I was trying to say.

And I couldn't unhear that misinterpretation

of what I was saying.

So I had to change it just because I didn't want it

to sound like the wrong thing.

So occasionally, I'll write a lyric

and think, oh, I need to change this.

I need to change that.

I changed some of the lyric on "All of Me."

I changed some of the lyric on "Free."

I changed some of the lyric on plenty

of songs that have been some of my bigger songs over the years.

And that happens usually within the next two or three weeks.

I live with the song a bit.

I listen to the demo.

And I'm, like, this feels a little uneasy.

And a lot of my editing process is

about getting to the point where nothing feels uneasy anymore.

So I'm like-- I keep listening to it and I feel like

it's not--

the circle is not complete.

What feels like it's leaving me hanging here?

What feels awkward?

What feels weird?

What makes me feel, uh, like everything's not--

it's like Feng Shui for a song.

So it's like when you're thinking about the room,

and you're thinking about the colors and the balance

and the different parts of the room that

make it feel like it's completely

Feng Shui, like everything's in the right place

and at the right balance.

You want the song to feel like that, too.

And until it feels like that, you're not done editing.

And as long as you're feeling uneasy

and you feel off about it, then you

try to find ways to resolve that tension

and get it to actually gel and come together.

And when that Feng Shui is achieved,

all the balance is achieved in the song, then you know,

okay, we've got it right.

And sometimes that might not happen until the mix.

So maybe all the arrangements are in place,

all the notes are there, all the instruments are playing

what they're supposed to play.

But you need an expert mixer to come in, play with the knobs,

play with the reverb, the delay, the everything.

Get all the levels right and then everything

sounds like it's in balance.

So when I think about playing my songs for other people,

and then getting feedback and thinking about revisions

based on that feedback, I have a circle of people I trust.

A lot of times, they're are producers.

So I've had people like Ryan Tedder or Raphael Saadiq

or Kanye around as executive producers

who helped me kind of edit.

These are people who have been in my life

who I think are really great musicians, who

have a great ear, and can just, like-- mm,

I don't know about that, John.

Why don't you say it a different way?

So I have people in my life like that.

Also my team, my manager, my--

all the people around me that kind of helped me creatively.

My A&R at the record label.

And then, of course, just friends and family.

So you might play it for your wife or even your kids.

And just people in your life who aren't professionals at this,

but just--

they're representing the ordinary fan

out there that may be listening to something,

and you hear what their thoughts are, too.

And so when I'm in a demo process, people in my life

will hear the music and they'll give me feedback.

And sometimes I agree with it, sometimes, like, no.

I know better than you know.

But, you know, I think you take all that feedback in

and it helps you come to a better version of the song.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): Way down Moses.

JOHN LEGEND: Oh, I like that one.

Let's use that one.

Okay.

TIM MCCLAIN: Continue?

JOHN LEGEND: Yeah.

TIM MCCLAIN: Here's 7.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): And I'm just saying, Lord.

JOHN LEGEND: Oh, I love that one.

OK.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): And I'm just saying, Lord.

TIM MCCLAIN: OK.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): I'm just saying, Lord.

JOHN LEGEND: I think three was probably my favorite.

Okay, let's go to the next one.

Hey, everybody.

So now we're going to do a comp vocal.

And my copilot in this process--

I'm really the co-pilot, he's the pilot--

is Tim McClain.

He's my engineer.

We work together on everything.

He knows me very well.

I know him.

I know how to talk to him.

He knows how to listen to me and know

what I want to do without me even

having to say it half the time.

And that's what you want from a good engineer.

You want them to understand you and to make

you not have to think too much, and they can figure it out.

Right, Tim?

Thanks for having me.

Of course.

So Tim McClain's here.

He's going to help us demonstrate how we comp vocals.

TIM MCCLAIN: Here's take 7 of verse 1, the first stanza.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): Go down Moses.

JOHN LEGEND: Vocal comping is the process

of making a composite take of all your different takes.

That would be the master vocal take

that combines all the best moments of the different

takes that you've done.

So what I tend to do, I'll record maybe 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,

10 takes of a verse.

And then I'll record 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 takes of the pre-chorus.

And then I'll record 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 takes of the chorus.

Let's go to five.

Here's five.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): Go down, Moses.

Way down, Moses.

JOHN LEGEND: And we go through each take

and see which is the best version of each line.

So I'm literally going line by line, and saying,

what was my best interpretation of that lyric?

What was my best execution of that lyric?

And I want that to be the take that we use

for that portion of the song.

I loved all of that, except maybe land was a little flat.

And what I'm doing on my paper, I

make a little makeshift spreadsheet.

So I start with 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 since I have 7 takes.

And I'll make a little spreadsheet,

where I'll, like, maybe I'll just

check it if the whole take is really good.

Or sometimes, I'll do, if there are three lines-- so (SINGING)

go down, Moses.

Way down, Moses.

Go down to Egypt land.

I'll do 1 and 3 are good, because "go down,

Moses" and "go down to Egypt land" were really good.

But I didn't love "way down, Moses."

Or I'll just do 1.

Or I'll just do 3, that I like that third phrase

in the section.

Okay.

That was 4, this is 3.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): Go down, Moses.

Way down, Moses.

JOHN LEGEND: My key advice revising and editing

is you're not done with the song until it feels great.

You want it to feel in balance.

You want it to feel like every moment works and is effective.

And that is just an iterative process.

You have to be open to criticism.

You have to be self-critical.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): Go down, Moses.

Started too early.

Listen to it and think, what's off about this?

Is there something I need to fix?

And then go back in and do the revisions.

Do the editing.

And then it's ready for the world.

When you feel like, ah, all the things

that needed to be smoothed out are smoothed out.

All the things that needed to be rougher and edgier

are rougher and edgier.

All the balances there between the more sweeping sounds

and the more staccato sounds, all those things

together are fitting into this beautiful picture.

And the song is ready.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): Go down to Egypt land.

Okay.

I like the last line of that.

So here's the comp take that we chose

for this part of the verse.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): Go down, Moses.

Way down, Moses.

Go down to Egypt land.

JOHN LEGEND: So I think what that

was a composite of the first line from 7,

and then the next two lines from take 3.

And that was our master take that I

want to be the final version of the song.

And then now we're going to go to the (SINGING) free.

Okay.

Let's hear how that sounds.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): Free.

Oh, yeah, I love that one.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): Free.

Free.

I didn't quite execute that run.

And you hear it, when I was going down, descending,

I didn't execute it well like I did on take eight.

So let's hear what takes 6 sounds like.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): Free.

Ooh, I love that one, too.

That's a little bit different melody,

but that one works, too.

I could use that one.

So what I've decided is 2, 5, 6 and 8

are my favorites on first listen.

Then I'll go back and listen to them again.

And all of them are probably keepable,

but I'm deciding which one is more beautiful.

Which one just feels like it fits everything else.

Which one feels like it's telling

the story in this space of the song in exactly the way

it needs to be told.

So part of it is some of them may be really well-executed,

but they're a little too busy.

Some of them may be a little pitchy,

so I'm not going to use those.

These are some of the considerations

that I'm making when I'm thinking about the comp.

So I'm thinking about did I time it right?

Did I phrase it in the most beautiful way?

Did I execute the notes well?

And then once I figure that out, I pick what I love.

So let's play the comp of the chorus.

Chorus one for "Free."

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): That there is a God.

And I'm just saying, Lord, rain down freedom.

Rain down till we're all free.

Free.

Free.

Okay.

So that's our comp for the first chorus.

And what I feel like we accomplished with that chorus,

we sang it melodically true to what I was thinking.

The times when I go free, I didn't use all of my sauce

on it.

I kept it relatively simple, so that we left room

to do more interesting things in the second chorus

or at the end to develop the story a little more.

And so these are some of the considerations

I make when I'm thinking about what

the comp should sound like.

Is it the best note, the best moment

in that part of the song to express the thought that I

want to express in that moment?

And so, sometimes, I won't pick the take

that's the most intricate or the most exciting,

because it's not time for intricate and exciting yet.

Let's save that for later.

So these are some of the things I think about when I'm comping.

And then I'm going to go through every section of the song

and do the same thing-- verse 2, pre-chorus 2, chorus 2,

the vamp, all of that-- until we have a final composite lead

vocal take.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): Go down, Moses.

Okay, I think I'll use 7, but I want

it to land a little earlier.

And then let's-- for the second line, my favorites are 2, 3, 4,

5, 6, 7.

JOHN LEGEND (SINGING ON TAPE): Way down, Moses.

Way down, Moses.

Oh, I like that one.

Let's use that one.

And then, go down to Egypt land, I liked--

JOHN LEGEND: Now, sometimes, takes

may be the best take individually

within that specific moment, but they might not

fit with the other takes that you use in later moments.

So you not only have to find the best take in that moment,

but also the best take in that moment that

will fit with the other best takes

in their respective moments.

So comping is a process that usually takes us

about 30 to 45 minutes after I've recorded a song.

And we're just going through, line by line,

trying to find the best takes and make it sound seamless,

like it was all one beautiful, flawless take,

which I never do.

In this era, there are all sorts of ways

to make a song sound different, to elevate it,

to complicate it, to make it sound more commercial,

to make it sound more interesting.

There are all kinds of tricks.

Of course, a lot of people use auto-tune now.

Auto-tune is a device that's often

used to measure and control the pitch in vocal and instrumental

recordings, as well as live performances.

We sometimes use it.

I don't use it a lot because it makes

my voice sound a little too synthetic for my taste.

And I like the timbre of my voice.

I like the tone of my voice.

And most of the time, I'd rather it

sound more raw and more rooted and more soulful.

And a lot of times, auto-tune takes some of that away.

But I do think auto-tune is useful sometimes.

And for certain types of songs, I

will use auto-tune because it makes it fit with the beat,

and makes it fit with the genre a little bit more.

So some songs that are more pop-leaning,

some songs that are more dance hall or hip hop

or reggae-leaning, sometimes auto-tune actually

is just better because it makes it sound more of that genre.

It makes it sound more in place with the beats that

accompany it.

So I will use auto-tune for that, but old school,

folks just used things like reverb and delay.

And those are just things that kind of

create a bit of space around what you're doing.

So reverb and delay are simply different versions

of echoing your voice so it sounds like you're

singing in the bathroom, or it sounds like you're

singing in a beautiful hall.

And so reverb and delay have been around for years.

And those things sweeten your vocal.

They make it sound better.

They make it sound less naked and raw, and more resonant

and beautiful.

So these are some of the tricks we use with vocals.

But then there's all sorts of things

you can do around your vocal.

So with the instruments, with the beats,

with everything that goes around your voice,

these are all the colors that your producers,

your arrangers are painting with.

And sometimes, the artists themselves

are doing these things.

But I tend to use producers and arrangers to help me.

They help bring the colors and the different vibes

that we need.

I'm not a drum programmer.

I'm not a drum player.

I'm not a guitarist.

I want people around me that can do those things

and do them well, and create the right feeling around the song

so I feel like everything's right, everything's in balance.

And all the things that surround the song

are supporting the song in a way that

makes the song more effective.

So how do you make a good song great?

Here's a start.

Using the demos you've been recording, revise your songs

and experiment with vocal comping.

Try adding some of the effects we've

mentioned-- auto-tune, delay, reverb.

You can explore countless techniques

as you continue to write and record songs.

And if you go to your class guide,

you'll find more editing resources.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND, "ORDINARY PEOPLE"]

(SINGING) Girl, I'm in love with you,

but this ain't the honeymoon.

I love performing live.

In fact, I write songs really because I

want to play them live.

[LAUGHS] I love making the record.

I love writing the song.

It's a beautiful experience, completing a song

and-- and seeing a record come together.

But the culmination of all of that work

is when you get to play it in front of people.

And you get to see them experience it.

You get to feel them experience it.

And eventually, once the record's

out there in the world for a while,

you get to hear them sing with you.

You get to hear them connect was the song in the way

that they connect with it.

And it's a beautiful experience for a songwriter

to be able to go from this idea that you created,

this new idea that you created in a room

by yourself or with a couple other people,

and then see it experienced by a few thousand people in a room.

It's pretty amazing.

[PLAYING PIANO]

When I perform my songs live, one,

I'm trying to communicate directly with them.

So I want them to feel my presence, hear my voice,

connect with me.

I want to look in their eyes.

I want it to be an experience where

we're experiencing each other.

We're communicating to each other,

we're feeling each other's presence.

I want the music to sound great.

So I have a great band, I have a great musical director,

great backing vocalists-- everybody is

really great at what they do.

So they're able to execute, not only what we put on the record,

but elevate what we've put on the record

and make it sound even better live

than it sounds on the record.

And then you want to feel that energy.

You want to feel the beat.

You want to feel the roar of the crowd.

You want all of that to contribute

to this euphoria, this inspiration, this joy

that people feel when they get to experience live music done

right.

Some of that is through interacting with the crowd.

We do call and response.

I get them to sing some of the song.

I get them to sing "take it slow"

when we do "Ordinary People."

I get them to sing the chorus back to me,

because they feel something when they hear thousands

of other people singing the same thing as them

without me singing with them-- just all of them

together, like a big choir.

It's a beautiful feeling.

Sometimes we strip things down so that the essence of the song

can be really heard.

So maybe we'll do a version of the song that's

acoustic, even though it's recorded differently

on the album.

So there's different techniques that you'll

use to make it feel more alive in the-- in the audience.

Sometimes you'll give some color commentary before or after

the song that contextualizes, you know,

what you were thinking when you wrote the song.

So there's all kinds of ways to make the live experience

elevate from what the recorded experience was.

For the live performance for "Free"

I want a choir to sing with me, because I

sang all these backing vocals and staked them up.

And they help color the song, they

help build the song to its climax.

And I can't do all those things live,

so I need a choir to sing with me.

(SINGING) Free, free, free, free, free, free.

Hello!

Hey!

Welcome.

Thank you for being here.

Y'all ready to sing?

Yes.

We're ready to serve.

All right.

So let's just practice the choir parts before we do the--

the actual performance.

[PLAYING PIANO]

So we'll just start at the "there is a God" part.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND, "FREE"]

So, (SINGING) everyone will know their worth,

and that there is a God.

And we're just saying, "Lord, rain down freedom,

rain down til we're all free."

Free.

Free.

(SINGING) Free.

JOHN LEGEND: So the components of the choir,

usually you have a soprano voice, an alto voice, a tenor

voice, sometimes a baritone and bass voice.

And you'll usually have a few singers

on each of those voices, hopefully all together

sound like a powerful choir.

(SINGING) Oh.

(SINGING) Freedom to love.

(SINGING) Free.

(SINGING) Freedom to give.

(SINGING) Free.

(SINGING) Freedom to live.

Go down, Moses.

Way down, Moses.

Go down to every land and tell them there is a God.

So that's it.

So let's work on that--

the division of labor there.

I think it's good to have eight, because then you can

have two on each voice part.

Ideally you have even more than that.

But when you have space constraints,

when you have budget constraints,

eight is a good number.

That's a good minimum so you can have a couple of people

on each part.

So for the unison, I would rather

have maybe four voices on the (SINGING) oh, oh, oh, oh.

OK, so who's the four gonna do it?

So I'll stay.

We can stay.

Yeah, we can.

JOHN LEGEND: Usually there's three or four voice

parts to a song.

And if you can have a couple people covering

each of those parts, that'd be great.

OK, cool.

And do it kind of lightly, kind of smoothly.

So (SINGING) oh, oh.

It can be-- and the ladies, do it in your chest voice,

but like a light chest voice.

And then, gentlemen, do it in your head voice, OK?

So one, two, three, four.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh oh.

(SINGING) Free.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Free.

(SINGING) Oh, oh.

(SINGING) Free.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Free.

Yeah, that's good.

Yeah.

And then--

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

So--

There should be more voices.

So it should be more--

more people harmonizing with her on that what she's doing.

So maybe-- (SINGING) oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Is that what you're doing?

Uh-huh.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Oh, I wasn't leading into it, but I can.

Let's go.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

I don't remember what I sang, so.

[LAUGHTER]

OK, we-- we were trying to figure it out.

So (SINGING) oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

So (SINGING) oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

So do you want the altos in?

Yeah. (SINGING) Whoa, oh.

Do that instead.

(SINGING) Oh.

Yeah.

So (SINGING) oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Oh, oh.

Yeah.

Just hold it.

Yeah. (SINGING) Oh, oh, oh.

Yeah, so let's try that.

So let's try those two "oh, ohs."

One, two, three, four.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, ah, ah, ah.

(SINGING) Ah, ah.

Yeah.

You guys, just one-- the one time in the unison, and then

the one time split up. (SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh.

OK.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh.

And so instead of doing the unison line,

just do a new line.

So-- so you go, (SINGING) oh, oh, oh.

So whoever my altos are.

So (SINGING) oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

And then you go (SINGING) oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Then (SINGING) oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

So rather than repeating the unison line,

you're doing a new line.

So (SINGING) oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

So that's kind of your second soprano line.

So (SINGING) oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh.

Yeah, and then the alto line would

be (SINGING) oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Let's do the first one first, and then the second one.

So, one, two, three, four.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

Yeah.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Yes!

So again.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

And then the split up.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

JOHN LEGEND: Again.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

I just want to hear that bottom note.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh.

So (SINGING) oh, oh, oh, oh.

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh.

JOHN LEGEND: So who's taking that bottom note?

We'll do that.

JOHN LEGEND: OK.

Yeah.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Yes.

And once we have that, we'll have everything.

So let's do it together-- unison first, and then split.

One, two, three, four.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh,

(SINGING) Free.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Free.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Free, free.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

OK, we got it.

So we'll go from "everyone will know their worth."

So (SINGING) everyone will know their worth,

and that there is a God.

And we're just praying, "Lord, rain down freedom,

rain down 'til we're all free.

Free.

Free.

(SINGING) Free, free, free, free, free.

(SINGING) Yeah, 'til we're all free.

(SINGING) Free, free, free.

(SINGING) Oh.

(SINGING) Free, free.

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Freedom to love.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Freedom to give.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Freedom to live.

(SINGING) Oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Go down, Moses.

Way down, Moses.

Go down to every land.

Tell them there is a God.

OK, beautiful.

Shall we try a take?

We shall.

We shall.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND, "FREE"]

(SINGING) Go down, Moses.

Way down, Moses.

Go down to Egypt land.

Lay down, soldiers.

Lay down those weapons.

Let peace rush in.

Let it wash through the valley, soar to the mountains,

fall in the deepest blue sea.

Let it fly across the sky, a banner

so high that even the rockets will see that there is a God.

And I'm just saying, "Lord, rain down freedom,

rain down 'til we're all free."

Free.

Free.

Low down, broken, homeless, floating, lost and thrown

to chance, yeah.

A caged bird's singing, break chains

so we can do our holy dance.

Let them ring through the valley, soar to the mountain,

pierce through the core of the Earth.

Let 'em sing across the sky a chorus

so high that everyone will know their worth

and that there is a God.

And we're just saying, "Lord, rain down freedom,

rain down 'til we're all free."

Free.

Free.

(SINGING) Free, free, free, free, free.

(SINGING) 'Til we're all free.

(SINGING) Free, free.

(SINGING) Oh!

(SINGING) Free, free.

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

(SINGING) Freedom to love, freedom to give,

freedom to live.

Go down, Moses.

Way down, Moses.

Go down to every land.

Tell them there is a God.

And I'm just praying, "Lord, rain down freedom,

rain down 'til we're all free."

Free!

'Til we're all free.

Thank you.

Thank you!

Thank you!

[APPLAUSE]

Beautiful!

We love you, John!

Love you back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

He said, we're done.

[LAUGHS]

So the first thing you should do after you watch this class,

maybe go pick apart a few songs--

analyze them, listen to how they're structured.

See if you can identify the intro, the verse,

the pre-chorus, the chorus, the post-chorus, if there

is one, the bridge, the vamp, all these things

that I talked about today, and think about how they apply

to the songs that you love.

Learn how to play them so you know

what the chord progressions are if you play an instrument.

And then compare them to another song.

Do the same thing for another song you love.

Then do it again.

Then do it again.

And then you'll start to see some patterns in the way

that music is created, and the way songs are written,

and you can apply those patterns and structures and processes

to the way that you create your own music.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND, "ALL OF ME"]

(SINGING) Because I give you all of me.

And you give me all of you.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND, "GLORY"]

(SINGING) Oh, one day when the war is won, we will be sure,

we will be sure.

[MUSIC - JOHN LEGEND, "ORDINARY PEOPLE"]

(SINGING) We're just ordinary people.

We don't know which way to go.

Hopefully you've enjoyed my class

telling you how I write songs, and hoping

you can apply some of those concepts,

some of those structures, some of those processes to the way

that you write songs.

You can write a song.

You can do it.

You have to try.

You have to understand some of the musical theory

and the musical underpinnings.

You have to understand some things about song structure.

And hopefully I've provided some of that foundation,

some of that structure and process

you need so you can harness the best of your creativity.

[PLAYING PIANO]

Good luck!

You can write a song.

Go write it.

If you've made it this far and followed my framework

for writing songs, congratulations,

you're well on your way to becoming

a professional songwriter.

I want to leave you with a few lessons I've

learned that helped me in my daily life

as a songwriter, performer, and artist.

I think of songwriting as a job.

I like to put some structure around it.

I like to schedule my songwriting time.

I have a family, so I wake up in the morning

around the same time my kids do.

I take them to school around 8:30 every morning.

And then maybe I'll take a few calls.

After the kids go to school, I'll have some breakfast,

warm up my voice, usually on the way to the studio

or write when I get to the studio,

and that'll be around noon.

And then I'll write.

And a lot of times, I'll have collaborators

come meet me there.

We'll write together for a few hours.

And usually, we'll have a song.

And I record it around maybe four or five o'clock.

And then I try to get home in time

for my kids dinner, which is around 6:30, seven o'clock.

Now, I write songs really quickly, probably quicker

than most people.

I usually will start a song maybe at like 1:00 PM

and go home with a finished demo in time for dinner with my kids

at 6:30.

So that may not be normal.

And don't expect yourself to do that,

especially if you're early in your songwriting process.

It might take longer for you to do it,

but you could still follow this same process.

And there are other ways of songwriting and other processes

that people use, but this is what works for me.

And I think it helps me write more quickly because I

write with this kind of structure and process.

And you might take longer to do that in the beginning.

But this actually may help you write more quickly

in the future.

But the goal is not, I want to do this quickly,

it's to produce something beautiful,

produce something great.

And if you need to take your time to do,

that take your time.

You should try to write as much as you possibly can,

and a lot of great prose writers think the same way.

I've heard them say it too.

They say the best way to get better at writing is to write.

And the best way to get your writing done is to write.

Everything you create is not going to be amazing.

You may not be as quick at writing as I am.

But if you keep trying, if you keep working,

you'll get better at it.

You'll create a bunch of things.

And some of them won't be amazing.

A bunch of my songs don't come out.

But the ones that do, the ones that rise to the top,

hopefully they're really good because you've

spent so much time creating, so much time

trying that you're going to stumble on some greatness.

I almost always finish every song I start writing.

Occasionally, I'll just kind of hum something in my phone

that I won't finish.

And my phone has so many voice notes in it.

I started "Free" with a voice note.

I started a lot of songs with voice notes.

So I'll hum something in my phone that I may not finish.

But once I set about writing it in earnest, which

means me going to the studio, me sitting down

at the piano to work on it, I almost always finish it.

I may not use it, though.

I have a bunch of songs that I've written and written

a full lyric to that haven't made

an album, may never be heard.

So in that sense, I don't finish them.

I don't finish them as full records.

I don't finish them as recordings

that we put out in the world.

And so there are plenty of songs like that.

But I almost always finish a version of the song.

I almost never don't finish the song

unless it's just something I've sang into my phone.

I don't like to let things linger.

I like to finish things.

Even if they're not the final version of the song,

I like to leave the session knowing I

accomplished the thing that I wanted to do,

which is I wrote a song today.

And it's kind of an amazing feeling

because you start the day with nothing.

And you end the day with a brand new thing

that could change your life, that could be heard by billions

of people around the world.

It's kind of an amazing thing to be able to do.

And I want to accomplish that every time I start a song.

So when I start writing a song, I usually finish it that day.

Occasionally I'll go back to the vault and say,

ah, this song is better than I thought

or the song works better for this album

than it worked for a previous album.

For instance, for my next album that's coming out soon,

I've probably written like 80, 85 songs, not just by myself,

but I've co-written most of them.

And we've recorded a demo version of all those songs.

Even if we don't make a final version that goes on a record,

even if it never sees the light of day,

we've written that many songs.

And I don't like to not finish.

I'm a finisher.

I try to be consistent, no matter where I am.

I go to the same warm up ritual.

When I'm touring, I don't talk a lot during the day,

so I would not be doing a MasterClass

in the middle of my tour.

When I'm touring, I also drink a lot of water

or drink a lot of tea.

I don't ingest a lot of things that are very acidic.

I don't do a lot of alcohol drinking on the tour.

I don't eat a lot of spicy food because I have acid reflux.

And a lot of people have acid reflux,

but singers notice it because it affects their voice.

And of course, I warm up and cool down

before and after each show.

I also like to eat before I go out on stage.

I like to have some warm food in my belly.

It makes me feel a little more like grounded.

It also makes my voice feel a little better.

I don't feel as dry.

So I always request the same meal.

It's my ritual.

I have roasted chicken and some vegetables

sauteed in garlic for every meal right before my tour dates.

So I guess that's my one superstitious

ritual that I stick to.

The best way to build confidence in live performing

is practice, practice, practice, practice, practice.

So a lot of your practice should be private.

It should be with your band or by yourself

or with a few other people.

But then develop your chops before live

performing by playing for small audiences,

playing for open mic nights, playing for lower stakes

live events that aren't as high pressure

so it kind of warms you up into the moments

when it starts to feel like it really is high pressure.

(SINGING) We rise and we fall and we feel

like just walking away.

And the more you practice, the more natural

you will become as a performer and the less you'll

have to think about it, the less your nerves will affect you.

(SINGING) I give you all of me.

You'll still possibly be nervous.

I'm not going to guarantee you won't feel nervous.

But your practice, your preparation,

is going to be the thing that helps you

power through the nervousness.

There were times when I was discouraged

because people would say no.

They would tell me, you're not ready yet.

And in some ways, they were right

because I had to keep working and keep honing in on my sound.

But I really felt like we were on to something

that we had a special sound and I had something

special to offer to the world.

And I was ready.

And some of the labels weren't ready for me,

partly because they didn't know exactly what box to put me in.

I'm kind of a little different from everybody.

There were a lot of neo-soul artists that were doing well,

but I was a little different from them too.

Alicia Keys was a godsend because then they

could see a direct analog for the kind of artist I could be.

And they started saying, yeah, you're

kind of like a male Alicia Keys.

And then Kanye was a godsend because they could see,

as a producer, what he could add to my music to make it edgier,

to make it more hip hop influenced.

I think the combination of people

like Alicia Keys showing that this kind of music

could work and then Kanye having such success with his project,

it made it more clear to the record labels, okay,

we can make something like this work.

We can make something like John Legend work.

Sometimes you can get discouraged by all the nos

that you're hearing.

Sometimes you can think, well, maybe

I just need to fit in better.

Maybe I just need to be like these other artists that

are already doing well.

And sometimes that can work.

But a lot of times, the thing that's

going to make you succeed is the fact

that you're not like everybody else.

And when you come with something a little different, something

fresh, something that feels new to people,

sometimes that's the thing that's

going to make you succeed.

And if you think about all the artists

that have really broken through, the artists

that have really made an impact, not just also-rans

that had a little bit of success and kind of

were following a trend, but people

that really broke through and lasted,

a lot of times it's because they were different,

because they were doing things that the labels told them,

mmm, I don't know if this is going to work.

It's hard to stand out from all of the rest of the noise.

And some of the ways people are standing out are brand new.

We didn't have social media back then.

So all I had when I was getting signed was a website.

And you could order my CD online.

And I would personally mail it to you

because I was my own whatever.

And that was how I was getting my music out to people.

But now you can put something on TikTok,

you can put something on all these other social media

outlets, and songs can catch on.

And it allows artists to be creative and self-driven and

entrepreneurial as they're promoting themselves.

And they can establish their ability to succeed out there

before they even get any support from a record label

or any support from anybody with a lot of money

that can help market and promote them.

So it's quite an interesting time.

I think it can be tough and confusing and hard

to break through the noise.

But it's also exciting because there's

so much opportunity out there.