.jpg)
*Kanye West, Raphael Saadiq and will.i.am are among the producers contributing to the sophomore album from John Legend, titled “Once Again.”
Due Oct. 24 via Sony Urban, the project includes seven songs written within the first five days of Legend collaborating with the above-mentioned producers. Among them is the track, “Save Room.”
"I didn't go into the new album thinking about the Grammys I had won," Legend tells Billboard. "It's one of the greatest challenges of writing music-for it to not sound like what you think it's supposed to sound like or sound like the last album."
"The mind state we kept while working on this record was one of hunger, humility and fear," will.i.am adds. "Since John and I first met, both of us have sold a lot of albums and won a bunch of Grammys. But we didn't think about that."
Legend says he has written some 30 songs during the six months he has spent working on “Once Again.”
"It was one of the most productive periods of my life," he says. "I was focused only on music. For the first time I didn't have to worry about school or a job."
Topics on the LP range from the pain of a cheating partner, to socially relevant tunes reminiscent of Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, particularly the song "Show Me."
"It's a spiritual love song," Legend says. "You could be talking to God or your loved one in bed at night. It asks real questions about what's happening in the world today -- about wars and people dying and why God takes some and not others."