Hey Story Pirates podcast listeners, Lee here.
Today we have a very special bonus episode for you featuring an interview I did with the incredible singer, composer, and musician John Legend, who just put out his first album for kids and families called My Favorite Dream.
You'll even get to hear a couple of the songs from it on today's episode.
All of that coming up after a few words for the grownups.
Hey listeners, today's episode is sponsored by the upcoming streaming series, Skeleton Crew, a new Star Wars adventure from Lucasfilm and Disney Plus.
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Grownups, we're gearing up for the holidays with the new DJ Squirmalot holiday shirt and new features in Creator Club.
Give the gift of a premium Creator Club membership for a discount at the Story Pirates store all year long, a free Season 6 poster, and perks that keep on giving year -round with access to bonus and ad -free episodes, our Just Stories and Just Song feeds so that you don't have to fast -forward through episodes
to find your kids' favorites, and access to quarterly creative story zooms with Peter and me, where we write stories with members to adapt for the Story Pirates podcast.
Join now and shop new merch while there's still time for holiday shopping.
Visit storypirates .com slash podcast to learn more.
That's storypirates .com slash podcast.
I love Story Pirates!
I'm very different from everybody.
Confusion is the step for curiosity.
Okay, that's a really funny idea.
We have to send that in.
I find so much joy and fulfillment from songwriting.
I believe all the things in my story.
Human beings are just able to create.
The Story Pirates! Hey there!
Welcome back to the show.
Now you may remember that last week we had an episode about a music manatee.
Remember that guy? He wanted us to form a marching band and had a dark secret.
Well if you haven't heard it yet, you should because the music manatee was played by none other than Jon Legend.
And since I had Jon in the studio already, I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask him some questions about his music.
Jon and I talk about his new album for kids and families, his experience making and learning about music as a kid, and we even get some tips from him about how kids can write their own songs.
And of course, we share a couple of the tracks from the new album, My Favorite Dream.
Enjoy! Jon Legend, welcome to the Story Pirates podcast.
I'm so happy to be here.
Thanks for having me.
So Jon, I wanted to ask you a little bit about your amazing new album for kids and families, but I also wanted to just learn a little bit more about what your experiences with music were as a kid.
Did you make music when you were a kid?
I absolutely made music as a kid.
I was taking piano lessons once I was around four years old.
My first teacher was at a music school.
It wasn't actually a music school.
It was like a little music store that had a little music school in the bottom floor.
And so I would go there once a week and learn from a woman named Gloria Smith.
She would teach me more like classical stuff.
And then my grandmother, my maternal grandmother, was our church organist.
My grandmother started to teach me gospel music on piano.
I was surrounded by music and it's no mystery why I fell in love with it and it became a huge part of my life.
Now our kids, of course they have music all through the house.
They come to my concerts all the time and they absolutely love music.
The two oldest are always going back and forth on which songs get played in the car on the way to school.
So I'm usually driving them and I just hand them my phone to let them DJ.
And so they have to take turns picking songs.
But the two younger ones are still very much in the phase of, you know, my favorite dream is like their favorite album.
This album really came at the right time for them.
And it was the right time for me to write it.
And your kids, well, your whole family performs on the album, is that right?
So Luna and Myles and Chrissy sing with me on L -O -V -E.
And Esty and Ren, they didn't get a gig yet.
But Luna and Myles got a chance to sing with me.
This is their first time singing with me on record.
And what was it like to record with those kiddos?
Were you in the studio with them or did you do it at home?
I was producing the vocal session and I was in there with them in the booth.
It was all four of us in the booth.
We got a video of it.
We were all four together in the booth and, you know, I'm trying to get them to figure out the headphones situation.
You never realize how foreign it is to people that don't use it all the time.
What am I supposed to do with this headphone and the mic and all this?
So, you know, they were just trying to figure it out.
Sooner or later, we just figured it'd be easier for them to just take it off and just watch me and I'd give them the count and conduct them and all that.
Well, I think that's a great segue to play one of my favorite songs from the new album.
Listeners hear from John Legend's new album.
My favorite dream is the song L -O -V -E.
L -O -V -E, love. It's easy to spell, and if you know it for yourself, then everybody else.
Well, they can tell when L -O -V -E, love, gets into your heart.
It sparkles like a star and everyone can see how bright you are because love, love, love makes you feel better.
Love, love, love keeps us together.
Love, love, love, warm like a sweater.
Aren't you glad to know that you've got love.
L -O -V -E, love. It's my favorite word.
It sings out like a bird.
The sweetest song I've heard, sweeter than dessert.
And L -O -V -E, love, it don't cost a thing.
It's free for you and me.
So you'll give love and I'll give love, and we all can give our love, love, love.
Makes you feel better.
Love, love, love keeps us together.
Love, love, love keeps us together.
Warm like a sweater, aren't you glad to know that you've got love.
Love, love, love makes your day brighter.
Love, love, love, blows like a fire.
Love, love, love, aren't you inspired to live a life where everyday is love.
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
Yeah, love, love, love, love.
Love, love, love, love, love.
Let's live a life where everyday is L -O -V -E, love, it's easy to spell.
And if you know it for yourself, you can give it out as well.
So everybody else, it means love, love, love, love.
Yeah, love, love, love.
Hey, love, love, love.
Let's live a life where everyday is love.
Okay, that's L -O -V -E from the new album, My Favorite Dream by Jon Legend.
You know, speaking of the album, I mean it's pretty clear why you wanted to write something in that vein at this point in your career.
You're surrounded by kids all the time.
But I'm curious, like, for listeners and for kids, sometimes music feels like it comes out fully formed.
But I'm wondering if you could tell us a little bit about, like, what it takes to make a song.
What's that process like for you?
I love talking about songwriting because I find so much joy and fulfillment from the process of songwriting.
And starting with this kernel of an idea and finding my way to a completed song through that process.
And for these songs, some of the interesting things about the songs on this album, one is that I didn't co -write any of these songs with anyone.
This is the first album that I've completely written myself aside from the covers that I did.
And then secondly, this is the first album that I've written at home.
Usually I go to the studio, but this time I just felt like why not write in the place where I'm getting all my inspiration.
I'm around my family.
So it just felt like the right place to write this particular album.
And then I started with a list of topics, things we talk with our kids about.
And a lot of them are the song titles of the songs on My Favorite Dream.
When I Feel Sad, Always Come Back.
These are some of the ideas that I thought of when I was brainstorming.
And this was actually the first album where I did that as well.
And then I just sat down at the piano eventually and started mumbling things.
And literally I mumbled my way through the entire album in one sitting.
Wow. So every song that's on the album, it started with me sitting at the piano and mumbling a melody with a couple lyrics kind of filled in, but most of it not filled in.
And then eventually I would revisit that and write the full song based on those mumbled tracks.
This was kind of a unique production experience for you, right?
Who produced all the songs?
So Sufjan Stevens produced the entire album and I really wanted his sound to be the sound of this album.
I was writing all these songs at home, but when I was envisioning what the full arrangements would sound like, I kept coming back to Sufjan.
And I'd been a fan of his for literally 20 years.
I'd been listening to him and I was like, I wonder if he would ever do a children's album with me.
And we'd never met before.
But we were able to talk together on the phone and I just told him how passionate I was about the music and how big of a fan I was of his and how I wanted my album to sound like John Legend meets Sufjan Stevens.
And I even joked that since my real last name is Stevens, we could form a band Sufjan Stevens.
Anyway, that was my dad joke in our interaction.
But, you know, we talked the first time and I just told him what my vision was.
And then I was like, let me just send you the really rough demos that I recorded on voice notes in my house and see what you think of them.
And he loved the songs and wanted to do the project.
And he would just dream up all these beautiful ideas and he lived with the music for a couple of months.
And then he just started sending me demos and I'm just like, ah, this is amazing.
It's so cool. I mean, a lot of kids might not realize like the power of arrangements, right?
Like the same songs could sound totally different with someone else as they do with Sufjan.
And you know, one of the things I told him was I don't want people to listen to it and not hear you.
Like I want them to know that you're a part of this and I want them to feel your presence musically on the album.
And if we do that, then this will be exactly what I envision.
Is there a track on the album that you feel like in my heart?
I know it's like there's something really special about this one.
Well, there's a couple that I feel like could have been on any of my albums.
And those are when we fly and always come back.
When we fly, I feel like even lyrically it feels like it could have been on Get Lifted, my debut album.
And then Always Come Back, I asked a string orchestrator that I use a lot, Matt Jones, to write the string arrangements.
We were nominated for Best Arrangement for vocal and instrumentation for Always Come Back.
So I'm really proud of that.
Well, I think this is a good opportunity to listen to that song.
Listeners from John's new album My Favorite Dream, here's Always Come Back.
I may ride the planes and trains and distant highways But I know I'll be finding my way home Though I'm gone, just know it's not for long And no matter where I'm I'm wrong I always come back to you Always come back to you Always come back to you I'll be just a call away when I'm not with you When you're
down, then love will lift you Up, my love, our love's enough Each and every star we wish on is the same No matter where we are on Earth, it won't change When I can, I'll be back there again And no matter where I've been, I'll always come back to you Always come back to you Always come back to you Like
the dawn always brings us the sun Like the moon comes when the day is done Oh, it's true, I will always come home to you Like the rainbow that follows the rain The joy is coming right after the pain While I'm saying I'll be back home again Again Oh I'll be back home again Again Oh Oh I'll always come
back to you Always come back to you Always come back to you We'll be right back after a few words for the grand up.
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Aren't adventurers supposed to have a specific purpose?
What are you doing on this quest?
Just meeting strangers?
Yep, my purpose is to have no purpose.
Though, I sort of find purpose as I go.
My basket! It's missing.
I have tried many means of defense, but none have yet proven successful.
I just wish someone would succeed in getting that darn sword.
I am under attack by this ruffian!
I want to be big and strong and fight evil.
I have hope that if you show up at her door, she might listen.
Want to help me yell at them?
With your sword? In a threatening manner?
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Welcome back, listeners.
Here's more of my conversation with John Legend.
So, The Story Pirates Show is all about creative writing, and I'm wondering if you have any advice for kids who might want to write a song of their own.
Maybe they're musical, maybe they don't play an instrument yet, maybe they've written some funny stories before, but they kind of want to know, how do I start writing a song?
Do you have any advice?
Well, I think one way is like I did with this album, just write down the ideas that you have and try to think about them as lyrical ideas, too.
Because there's certain things you can say in prose storytelling format that you can't necessarily say in the exact same way when you're writing a lyric.
It needs to be a bit more poetic.
Most of us like it to rhyme.
You know, you don't always have to make it rhyme, but it's usually nice.
It usually works pretty well when it rhymes.
And then it also has to land well rhythmically and melodically in the song so that it flows and it sings nicely.
And you've got to just brainstorm and try to record everything that comes to your brain.
If you have a phone, you use a voice note, just record your ideas so that you can come back to them.
I think that's important.
And yeah, iterate, keep trying, keep working on it, and keep singing it until it feels like it really sings well and fits.
And you could hear other people wanting to sing it, too.
So I imagine, you know, like speaking about families and the way they listen to music together, I know a lot of families that sing around the house and like make up dumb songs together.
My dad was like that.
He always was singing little made -up ditties around the house.
And actually, Chrissy is like that around our house.
She's always coming up with little jingles and ditties.
And I feel like she could write a children's album, too, if she wanted to.
I feel like so much about creativity is about play and those moments where you can feel free to just say something, even if it's silly or dumb like that.
That's the essence of play and that's also the essence of creativity.
Yeah. And I think when it comes to both my dad and my wife, both of them are the more playful members of the couple.
And so, you know, it makes sense that they'd be the ones making up little fun ditties around the house all the time.
You know, I think one of the coolest things about your album is you're talking about how like your younger kids are involved, but maybe the older kids are into like pop music, like stuff they hear out in the world.
But I feel like your album really feels sophisticated in the best way that family music does when it can appeal to everybody.
And you don't even have to really be a kid to enjoy it.
Do you feel like that was part of the mission?
Yeah, I feel like it's really good for adults and it's really good for the young ones.
So like my older kids, I feel like it's not cool for them.
But once they become adults, I feel like they'll think it's cool again.
John, thank you so much for spending this time with us today.
We're so honored to have you.
We're so excited about your new album.
Thank you so much. It's such a pleasure.
Listeners, thanks for checking out today's episode.
I really can't recommend John's new album enough.
So grownups, check it out.
We'll be back later in the week with another new episode.
Until then, stay creative and stay kind.
Bye.
