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John Legend has enlisted Pharrell Williams as executive producer of his eleventh studio album and shared the project's first single.
On Tuesday, September 8, the EGOT announced the tracklist and release date for his forthcoming LP, MUSE. In a press release, Legend says he and Pharrell made the entire album at the Louis Vuitton headquarters in Paris after he contributed vocals to Clipse's “The Birds Don’t Sing." The project has a "Black James Bond aesthetic" and features a mixture of Black music, including gospel, doo-wop, classic soul, Afrobeat, and hip-hop.
“I wanted to shake up the formula and do something fresh and new," Legend said of the album.
“When Pharrell called me, I thought, let’s do this,” Legend added. “A lot of people would have imagined we’d done something like this already, but we hadn’t. It felt past due.”
Ahead of the album's release next month, John Legend also shared its first single, "Daylight." The uplifting, Afrobeats-inspired track will have fans rushing to the dance floor early in the morning. "Daylight" is one of 16 songs that appear on the album. Pharrell lends his vocals to six tracks on the project, along with Pusha T and Malice, who hopped on "Bodies On The Floor."
“There are plenty of artists who get to a point in their career where they don’t make anything new. We can just play the hits; we can stay in our comfort zone,” Legend said. “But I believe it’s important to keep the mindset that I have to continue to prove myself. I wanted this album to have that sense of urgency — to feel like something that needed to be made and is fully worthy of my audience’s attention.”
Muse is scheduled to arrive on October 23 via Republic Records. Listen to "Daylight" and see the entire tracklist below.
Muse Tracklist:
1. "Muse" featuring Pharrell Williams
2. "Pray For Ya"
3. "Her Introduction"
4. "Her" featuring Pharrell Williams
5. "Daylight"
6. "Get Back" featuring Pharrell Williams
7. "Are You OK?" featuring Pharrell Williams
8. "Under The Bridge Introduction"
9. "Under The Bridge"
10. "Next Time" featuring Pharrell Williams
11. "Bodies On The Floor – Taps Introduction"
12. "Bodies On The Floor" featuring Clipse
13. "Doing Me"
14. "Fireflies" featuring Pharrell Williams
15. "Everything"
16. "Sail Off"