Legend : act I & act II

"['Legend' is] a set distinguishable from the rest of his catalog mainly for its length and crowd of collaborators ... Effervescent songs like "Waterslide," "Dope," and "All She Wanna Do" seem purpose-built for amusement parks and fairgrounds to remind visitors that they're having fun ... Those and other numbers such as "Splash" (...) unload water and drug metaphors for sex to almost mind-numbing effect. Better are the leisurely and awed songs with a deeper soul foundation. "Strawberry Blush" is a strings-sweetened connection with Free Nationals, Anderson .Paak affiliates who answer the call with one of their breeziest grooves. The grittier "You" has delicate touches of Philly and Chicago soul - a little O'Jays, a little Curtis Mayfield - enlivened by Legend's very strong falsetto game ... Legend is at his best when entertainment isn't his objective".

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"På trods af en høj produktionskvalitet og et væld af habile gæsteartister er forudsigeligheden dominerende på John Legends nye og selvbetitlede album ... Forudsigeligheden er efterhånden lidt ærgerlig, for selvom det da bestemt er muligt at skrive nyskabende og originale sange om kærlighed, udforsker Legend sjældent nye perspektiver eller fortolkninger af emnet".

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"'Legend' is not a complete 180 back to the playboy territory he once dabbled in, even if his shirtless pose on the cover may suggest so. But it does bring more fun and funk into Legend's music than he has during the past decade. Part of that lightness can be attributed to the album's length: At 81 minutes and 24 songs, this is a proper double LP, and the added space gives Legend the opportunity to stretch his limbs and tap into more playful modes he may have usually cast off in favor of his doting family-man image. This, of course, can lead to some repetition - if one horny track called "Waterslide" wasn't enough for you, there's another called "Splash" - but the whole thing flies by with such carefree ease that it never feels overstuffed".

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