While John Legend may only be beginning to become a household name, the truth is that he has been putting in work for years. He collaborated with Lauryn Hill on “Everything Is Everything”, sang background vocals on Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name”, and along with Kanye West, is responsible for propelling singles from Dilated Peoples (“This Way”), Talib Kweli (“Get By”), and Slum Village (“Selfish”) into heavy rotation. But it was only in the last year that people began to put the name and face together, with the release of the “Used To Love You” single, which featured John’s trademark gospel-influenced vocals over his own hard-hitting, Latin influenced piano stabs. While this song got John’s foot in the door, people really began to take notice of his second single, “Ordinary People”, which featured Legend in his essence – simply playing the piano and singing his heart out. The new found popularity even prompted a deluxe Dual Disc release of his album, not even six months after it’s initial release.

      After the success of Kanye’s The College Dropout and Common’s Be, it would be easy to jump on the bandwagon by praising John’s Get Lifted as yet another West produced classic, but it’s strengths lie more in Legend’s own talents, rather than those of his collaborative partner. It’s easy to see why Vibe Magazine was quick to give the album a perfect rating, John Legend is one of the few truly multi-talented R&B vocalists – one that isn’t penning lousy club joints or gimmicky five-part R&B operas. Instead, the story told through Get Lifted is much more subtle, non-linear look at the ups and downs of his relationship with his lady. 

     The album begins with his relationship on the rocks. Although he pleads to make it work on “Lets Get Lifted”, he finds himself falling out of love on “Used To Love U”. Now reduced to seeing what else is out there, he plays the field on the harder edged “Alright” and then resorts to infidelity on “She Don’t Have To Know”, with smooth rolling basslines courtesy of BEP’s will.i.am. After being caught cheating, Legend realizes the error of his ways, and pleads to repair his broken relationship on the next set of tracks. On “Number One”, Legend rides the manipulated Curtis Mayfield sample, with interesting varying vocal cadences, while Kanye lends his own hilarious explanation of Legend’s bad behavior. He then finds himself sitting down with Snoop Dogg (of all people) for a pep-talk about how he shouldn’t let this lady go (“I Can Change”), and then discovers the key to making the relationship work is to “take it slow” (“Ordinary People”). 

      The deal is sealed on the break-up-sex inspired “Stay With You”, and then further on “Let’s Get Lifted Again” and “So High”, three ultra smooth grooves that suggest the relationship is repaired. There is a bright outlook on the horizon as Legend looks to strengthen what he has with his lady in the tradition of good old fashioned family values on “It Don’t Have To Change” – an impressive posse cut that features John’s entire family singing alongside him. The album closes with “Live It Up”, a celebratory anthem that finds John with his relationship back together and a new sense of peace, thanks to his predicted success he has found with Get Lifted.

      Brilliant? Absolutely. If fact, one could even say that this record will be looked at as a modern soul classic in years to come, as this record is likely to follow in the footsteps of Alicia Keys’ Songs In A Minor and Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation…, with several Grammy nods. Get Lifted proves that Legend is an undeniable talent, one that undoubtedly live up to his namesake.