By Stephen Cooney
Even as John Legend's lyrics continue to explore different outlets of love and lust, his music has constantly matured and explored.
On one hand, his lyrics examine the thoughts of a man deep in love, and on the other they explore the life and outlets for physical love but the music they have been laced to have continued to change from album to album. With his boldly titled "Evolver," Legend has found a new mix of soul and hip-hop to marry to his love-tangled lyrics. Throughout the album, he moves away from his more standard soul and piano-filled tunes to create more up-tempo songs. Instead of the piano ringing in the forefront there are more electronic beats and hip-hop influenced tracks to carry his strong voice.
Legend's lyrics on the new album continue to carry the heart of the music as they have throughout his career. The latest exploration of synthetic beats and quicker music are simply a new vessel for him to explore love and his own ideas of love. The music varies in a creative new way but his strong writing abilities and understanding of metaphors continue to draw in listeners.
Throughout the album, Legend manages to mix his lyrics with new beats without covering his words by thick synthetic drumlines like most other artists. His lyrics blare above the beats and on the more traditional Legend tracks, he continues to show his skill on both the piano and as a singer.
As he has done over his previous albums, the songs continue to be easy to listen to and extremely creative in his lyrics. "Evolver" has shown a new side of Legend's musical creativity but did not forget about his strong writing and emphasis on lyrics.
Legend continues to explore his own relationship and understanding of love but has done so over a quicker, more synthetic musical background. "Evolver" is a nice change of pace but still manages to adhere to Legend's lyrical creativity and musical understanding.
3 Stars