John Legend on Pharrell’s musical push, Jay-Z’s praise and new creative challenges with ‘Muse’

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jay-Z once told John Legend, “You’re our voice.” But Pharrell Williams had another idea for Legend’s signature baritone: Sometimes, let it do more talking than singing.

On his new album, “Muse,” Legend dials back his powerhouse vocals on certain songs, adopting a more conversational delivery at Williams’ urging. It’s a departure for the EGOT winner, whose piano-driven ballads like “All of Me” and “Ordinary People” have helped define his career for more than two decades.

The 16-track project, out Friday, marks Legend’s first full album with Williams after more than 20 years of friendship. Recorded mostly at Williams’ studio inside Louis Vuitton’s Paris headquarters, it grew out of Legend’s appearance on Clipse’s “The Birds Don’t Sing,” which inspired Williams to build an album around his voice.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Legend discussed Williams’ creative influence, Jay-Z’s memorable compliment and composing his first original stage score for “Imitation of Life,” an off-Broadway musical opening at The Shed in New York in December.

Remarks have been edited for brevity and clarity.

LEGEND: I really want every project to be my best project. Every album to be my best album. That means continuing to push myself, continuing to challenge myself and not resting on all the work I’ve done before.

That also means trying new things. Working with Pharrell on an entire album was something new for me. I’m writing for Broadway now. Just finding new creative avenues to continue to throw some more challenges into the mix and seeing what it inspires in my creativity.

LEGEND: No, not at all. Honestly, I feel like my success has made me feel empowered. It’s made me feel confident and trusting my voice, trusting my instincts. It’s allowed me to have relationships with record labels and other business partners where they trust my judgment and don’t over-micromanage me. … I think it allows me to operate from not being in a place of fear, but a place of confidence and willingness to try new things.

LEGEND: One of the things that he encouraged me to do on specific songs was to talk-sing in a way where it was like I was more speaking and having a conversation.

Like in “Fireflies,” some of the delivery of the verses of the song is more like I’m orating, like I’m speaking, rather than like I’m singing a melody. That was his idea, and I think it really works. … That’s why you work with new people, because they may bring new ideas to the table that you hadn’t tried before.

LEGEND: Early in my career, I was signed to GOOD Music. Kanye (West) was very involved in executive producing all my albums, and so it wouldn’t have made sense for me to do a whole album with a whole other producer at the time. I’m more of a free agent now and able to just do whatever I want musically. My label, Republic Records, kind of lets me have free rein with whatever I want to do musically and wherever my muse takes me — no pun intended.

LEGEND: I think a lot of people know it and they acknowledge it to me. Jay-Z one time came up to me and said, “You’re our voice.” I think a lot of hip-hop fans know that these MCs bring me onto a song when they think that I’ll add something special to it. … I love that hip-hop is such a big part of my legacy and my body of work over the years.

LEGEND: What we found interesting was the challenge of writing it as Black creatives and centering the Black woman Delilah at the heart of our storytelling in a way where she was never centered before. Making it a musical when it never was a musical before was also an interesting challenge. It allowed us to write an era that’s really interesting in our musical history and our cultural history, the time of the Harlem Renaissance and the Jazz Age.

LEGEND: I don’t know if anything scares me. I would say I don’t want to get complacent. I want to continue to hold myself to a high standard, hold anything I release to a high standard, and I refuse to just rest on my laurels.

I guess you could call it fear, but I don’t think it’s really fear. It’s motivation and challenge that I put in front of myself.

FILE - Singer John Legend performs during the dedication ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

FILE - Singer John Legend appears during the dedication ceremony for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

FILE - John Legend appears at the 68th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2026. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Pittsburgh Penguins forward Ben Kindel is back in Pittsburgh and recovering after collapsing on the team's flight back from Utah earlier this week.

Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas said Thursday the 19-year-old Kindel fell ill about 10 minutes after the club left Salt Lake City on Tuesday at the end of a four-game road trip. Team medical personnel attended to Kindel immediately and he quickly regained consciousness.

The plane turned back to the airport for an emergency landing, and Kindel was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital for observation before being released on Wednesday.

Kindel had a vasovagal episode, which is marked by a sharp drop in heart rate and blood pressure, according to Dubas. Kindel was undergoing further testing at the team complex in an effort to determine what caused him to faint. Dubas said to his knowledge that Kindel had no previous history of collapsing.

Dubas, who met with Kindel on Thursday morning, described the teenager as “very clearly shaken.”

The Penguins placed the 2025 first-round pick on injured reserve, and while there is no timetable for his return, Dubas added the club is optimistic Kindel could be cleared to work out by the end of the weekend, pending test results.

“We will obviously follow very strict guidelines to ensure a safe return to training and play for Ben,” Dubas said. “That’s our primary goal and paramount to his future and health, so that’s how we will handle it.”

Kindel has two points and two assists in nine games this season for Pittsburgh. He played nearly 19 minutes during a loss to Utah on Monday night.

The Penguins canceled practice on Wednesday while the team provided off-ice resources for the players. The club was back at practice for a morning skate Thursday ahead of a visit by the Florida Panthers at PPG Paints Arena.

“Whether you like it or not, the show goes on tonight,” Dubas said. “And so we have to gear up and get ready for that. And that’s the number one: take care of our people. And the number two: put them in a place to perform.”

Kindel's medical scare marked the latest setback during a particularly difficult stretch for the Penguins both on and off the ice.

Pittsburgh forward Andrei Kuzmenko's father died in a remote part of Russia last month after being attacked by a bear while on a fishing trip. And the Penguins sit at 3-6-1 through 10 games, among the worst records in the Eastern Conference.

While the franchise is no stranger to navigating real-world issues — from Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux's cancer battle in the early 1990s to defenseman Kris Letang dealing with a pair of strokes potentially related to a heart condition more recently — longtime captain Sidney Crosby said there's no “blueprint” for how to handle things.

“I think everyone tries to do their best to support each other and be there,” Crosby said. “You know, it’s one of those things where they try to make the best of difficult situations. And we’re a family here.”

Crosby added it was a relief to see Kindel at the facility on Thursday after the jarring image of one of the team's young cornerstones momentarily losing consciousness.

“It’s one of those things you don’t really see happen that often," he said. “So everyone handled it great and we're happy to be here today getting ready for another game.”

While Kindel could be back in the near future, the Penguins will be without two-time Stanley Cup champion forward Bryan Rust until at least December.

The 34-year-old joined Kindel on injured reserve Thursday with a lower-body injury. Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said Rust, who has three goals and two assists in seven games, will be re-evaluated in six weeks.

The Penguins filled the open roster spots created by Kindel and Rust's absence by calling up forward Rutger McGroarty and defenseman Chase Pietila from their American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

FILE - Pittsburgh Penguins center Ben Kindel plays in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Oct. 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)