John Legend brings old-style soul harmonies to a gospel-like rendition of Used To Love U, the first single from his upcoming album Get Lifted. The video features John's message to his love in a church and his inability to do more than merely love her. The churchgoers are uplifted and participate lustily.
Much bling-bling sparkles in the video, with a visual style that effectively uses shadow to focus on the subject of the singer's attention. Additional characters, possibly relevant, not detailed in the limited format of the video - a competitor, another lady.
The lyrics have humorous digs at other artists, not in an Eminem way though. John expresses his inability to shower bling-bling on his love
Maybe baby, puffy, jay-z
would all be better for u
Cos all I can do is luv u
.............
Maybe, I should rob somebody
So we could, live like whitney and bobby
It's probably my fault, my bad, my loss
The language used is patois, making it all the more credible. John's expressiveness and emotive talents are a refreshing change from more generic singers. The Ohio-born singer was a child prodigy, singing from the age of post-diaper bliss, and combines soulful singing with old-style songwriting. Long a legend, pun intended, among college audiences and as a sessions musician on songs such as Lauryn Hill's Everything is Everything(1998), and others, John's debut album is worthy of note.
On a similar note: Angie Stone, Floetry, Erykah Badu
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
Kind reviewer, (male/female?)
This review is now up at Advance.net
Click here.
Let the artist / record company know, perhaps?
- Temple (male not female)