The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: John Legend On The Moments That Changed His Career & Why #1s Don't Matter

Episode Date: October 8, 2026

Today on The Breakfast Club, John Legend On The Moments That Changed His Career & Why #1s Don't Matter. Listen For More!  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast. The True Crime Comedy Podcasts, all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Each week, I bring on an amazing guest. Ooh, I scammed them.

What? I can talk to you for an hour. You're a generational yapper like me. That's why I had to make yapping a job. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on YouTube. Start listening to Scam Goddess on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Hamza.

And I'm Martin. And we're the host of Out of Character. The best podcast in the world. It's really funny and a good time. Really? Yeah, yeah. I think statistics just came back and we're one of the funniest two guys with mics. And that's pretty hard to beat right now.

But it's true, actually. Why should people listen to us? Tell them. Well, we're trendy. We're funny. We're topical. You get all your news here. Not, you know, the facts, but maybe our takes on it and everything in between.

So listen to Out of Character on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Lisa, tell them about our new show. We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me. I'm Lexi Youanu. We're two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa Di Giulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions. And at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all.

Now in my 30s, being the founder of new shoes, good taste is my best. business. Listen on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, this is Kylie Breakman, Angel Geratana, Jeremy Colhane, Patrick McDonald. And we're the hosts of the Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists Podcast.

The Improvised Character Comedy Podcast where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. Join us for a panel of Eurovision participants. And we do a little Halloween sometimes. Does the Pope dress up? He winks on Halloween. He gets right up next to

microphone. I hear you can almost hear the eyelashes hit each other. You never seen Italy so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween. Listen to artists on artists on artists every Thursday on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every day I wish. You all finished or y'all's done. Morning everybody is DJ NV.

Just hilarious. Charlemagne the guy. We are the breakfast club. Lawn the roses here as well. We got a special guest in the building. Yes, indeed. He's back. Ladies and gentlemen.

John Legend. Welcome. We're going to be back. I feel like you got to introduce John as Egot winner every time. I feel like if you're doing it with this service. You're right. You're right. You're right.

Let me do that right. Yes. All right. Now we have a special guest in the building. That's right. He's also an Egot winner. Yes, he is. Ladies and gentlemen, John Legend.

All right. That was better. That was better. That was better. Good morning, John. Good morning. How's everybody? That's black in Hollywood.

The reason I say that because he's the first black man that ever become an Egot. Yes. That's black history. I'm still the only black man to be an EGOT. There's several black women. I'm the only black man. Congratulations. Is being an EGOT winner, is it actually good for business?

Has it been good for the business of John Legend? I mean, it's good for my introductions. You know, I think it just puts an aura of prestige. I'm sure the private gig price was able to go up. See, that's what I wanted to know. Did it change your fee? Yes, yes, yeah. I feel like it just adds, you know, it adds.

it has to the price yesterday's price it's not today's price it's not today's price new album news until it's 23rd

now is the whole album produced by Farrell the entire album it was his idea he called me up out of the blue he lives in Paris I live in Los Angeles

so he is not always cognizant of the time difference when he calls He calls you three in the morning. He calls like four in the morning. And so I call him back when I wake up.

And he's like, what are you working on? I hadn't spoken to him in a while. I had just done the hook for the clip song. Birds Don't Sing. Yep. By the way, you killed that. Thank you. He produced that and he wrote the hook.

And so I think he loved hearing my voice singing what he had written for that track. And he was like, man, we should just do a whole album together. And so he was like, when are you coming to Paris next? And I was planning to possibly come that next month for an event. And so I was like, I'll do the event and I'll come and we'll do a few days in the studio and see what happens. And we started working on the album. And I loved what we were making. And I was like, let's make the whole album.

And it really came out beautifully. He had a vision for it from the beginning. He talked about making it cinematic, Black James, bond but with 808 drums we have orchestras we have credible horn arrangements but also hip-hop beats and and we made something really beautiful I'm really proud of it how long did it take off and on you know a little over a year and then this year we've been you know shooting the videos doing the photos and all that and the great thing about working with feral is you're not only getting his music input, but you're getting the visual input.

And, you know, he's a creative director, Louis Vuitton. He has such a great creative team around him. They've been helping me with every visual that we've been doing. And it's all coming out just so beautifully. Did you record it? Did you record it in the Louis Vuitton store? Because I've seen the clips recorded parts of theirs in the Louis Vuitton store. In the headquarters.

And the headquarters, yes. Yeah, so you go to Paris, you know, they have this iconic building that's their headquarters. and in the corner office is a studio. Just for Farrell? Yeah, they built it from Farrell. Yeah, he's, you know, and so you walk in and they're designing the outfits for the Met Gala and they're designing the next collection.

And then in the corner is a music studio with a piano and we made the record there. Sometimes I would do remote sessions with them. I had my studio in L.A. and we would Zoom, but a lot of the sessions happened in Paris at that office. At this point in your career,

what could Farrell hearing you that maybe you couldn't hear in yourself anymore? I think it's great to work with different producers because, like you said, they hear different things in you, they bring different things out of you, and it's good, I think, especially at this point in my career,

to shake things up, to challenge myself, and try a new approach. And that's what this album was. Is it your goal to top the last album all the time? Or do you just go in clean slate? Every time. I believe that my next album should always be my best album. And that's the mentality that I need to go into every album with.

And that means not reveling in the egot of it all. And I have 13 grammy. No. Like, I have to prove myself to my album. audience every time because they can always listen to my old records. Which I do. They can always listen to someone else. So I have to make a case for why this album is worth their attention.

And so I'm trying to make that case. Is it harder to make great music because you have less to prove or easier because you're free from proving anything? You know, I was fortunate, I think at the very beginning of my career that I came into it with Kanye and he had already succeeded with college dropout. I got signed right after the success of that album. And so I think, and coming into it with the production company with the team, I think the label just trusted us automatically and they didn't try to micromanage and they just let us make the record we wanted to make. And that worked. And so I think it set a trend with the

label that they could trust that we were going to figure things out and we didn't need a lot of over A&Ring, overhandling by the label and to let us do our thing. And we set that precedent at the beginning and it's just been the way my career's been throughout that we've had enough success that they let me do my thing and trust that I'm going to make the right decisions for my career. And you talk about like the ancestors and all these different things that inspired the work. What is inspiring you particularly in this moment from that ancestral background? Well, I think the artists that I love,

some of them are ancestors now like Nina Simone and Marvin Gay and Nat King Cole and we talked about them while we were making the album. And when you listen to the album, you hear their influence in the album. And the last song we released the newest video is called Firefly. and we talk about our ancestors, literally the first line in the song is ancestors' blood,

there's iron in the clay, we trauma bond, survivors pain, we felt our way through the dark where I was raised, the right moves made you smart where I was raised. And in the bridge, it says, I'm a candle in the dark, and I come from a divine spark, and I'm my ancestors' thoughts and their wildest dreams. and I finish anything that I start and I hockey stick every chart and I know it's hard for them to handle that part but look at me

I'm about to get away and it's... It's about you're referring to yourself It's about aspiration it's about having the vision to exceed where your ancestors have gone but to also be grounded

in what they did and to carry that legacy forward. Have there been points in your career where you've had to stop and be like, I need to ground myself right now? Not really. I feel like I've been pretty grounded and I think I never forgot

where I came from and I've been pretty focused on the art of it all. The reason why I'm here is because I'm an artist because I'm a singer because I'm a songwriter, I'm a musician.

And as long as I stay focused on that, I think, you know, that would keep me grounded. Be grounded in the work, be grounded in being an artist. Yeah. Do you still know when you've made a hit or has like the new digital world, just screaming world completely changed where the hit even feels like. It's hard to know. It's hard to know.

You know when it feels great to you. Yeah, yeah. But there's so many other factors that go into making things hits. some of its luck, some of its, you know, timing, timing, marketing, you know, there's all kinds of other factors that are involved. All you can control is what you do. And we want to make the most beautiful song,

the most beautiful video, and give the record the best chance to succeed. But there's going to be all these other factors that go into whether it's a hit or not. And there's so much out there, there's so much music out there. that's the blessing and the curse of this era is that anybody can put out a record

you don't need the label, you don't need the gatekeepers, you can market and promote yourself, you can be independent, all these things, but that just means there's more. There's more of everything, and that means it's harder to break through the noise. It's harder to connect, right? Yeah, because people have so much competing for the ear

and you guys are competing for the air. a podcast is competing for their ear. Them just scrolling down their Instagram feed is competing for their ear. So we're not even just competing with other music. We're competing with every other thing that someone could decide to listen to. By ordinary people, right? First of all, do you get tired of ever doing that record? I don't get tired of my records.

I'm glad to have hits. I'm grateful to have hits. And I love when I sing a song and everybody knows the words and... They know the ad lives. Yeah, yeah. And, like, that makes the experience for me better. So I'm grateful for my heads. I'll never get tired of singing them.

I look at those records differently, right? And I'll tell you what. So I'm a dance dad, right? So when you're at those dance conventions, right? I hear ordinary people at least 15 times. Oh, wow. Because girls, you know, from different areas, dance to it. And you makes you like the record more.

Oh, wow. You look at it differently because... I didn't know that. about it. I didn't know that people were using it for a lot of the dance competition. Absolutely. And they do their ballet to it and they do their spins. And it makes you look at the record differently. And the adlips and when the girls, it makes me look at it differently. Well, that makes me happy to know that that's happening. And then I started working in musical theater lately and the director and people that do auditions a lot. They're

like, man, John, if you only knew how many times we heard ordinary people as an audition songs for these actors that are coming in to audition for musical theater. And it makes me happy to know, because these are all artists, you know, they're dancers, their singers, their performers, and the fact that this song connected with them as artists, that gives me, you know, it makes me grateful. It makes me grateful. John, I've been listening to you, I've been listening to you through many different areas, right? Get Lifted, still one of my favorite time.

Thank you. Thank you. Now, you said there's no sense. that you don't like to perform. You love all your music. You had a lot of beef in my house, though. It was this one song. I had some cheating songs on getting left there. Because my father used to walk around.

Tell my mother, you can't say, I don't love you just because I cheat on you. And my mother loved you, but she hated the album. That would ring throughout the house. And are those songs, do you still like to perform those songs? I love it. And we did the 20th anniversary to Get Lifted a couple years ago. And I love performing the songs.

And, you know, I would say in the show, you know, some of y'all hated that I wrote these cheating songs on Get Lifted, but some of y'all loved it. We did, and I didn't even know what I was dancing. Some of you. Some of you. Those are honest emotions, though. Yeah.

And apparently your dad, those were his honest emotions. That's right. Stay divorced now. You didn't say. She didn't get divorced. You know what I. She didn't buy it. She didn't buy it.

You know. My parents were going through their second divorce. So they had divorced each other before when I was a kid. And they got back together right after I graduated from college. And then right when I was making Get Lifted, they were getting divorced for the second time. And so when I was writing like ordinary people and these songs about the ups and downs of relationships,

we were going through it in our family right at that time. You know, writing about real life. I love it. If 25-year-old John Legend entered the music business now, would he become John Legend? Because, you know, the music business is completely different. You get into the time when albums matted.

Yeah. Radio could still break R&B. It's hard to know. Like, I truly don't know. Just like I was saying before, it's harder to break through the noise. There's so many things competing for people's ears. The way things are marketed now is just different. I do not know. I'm just grateful that I've already established myself now

so that I'm coming from a foundation that I've already created, a relationship that I've already created with my audience. And so it gives me a leg up, but I have no idea. You hope that the music will win regardless. You hope that great songs will win and talented artists will sustain regardless. But it's a different era. You have a great voice. You can play the piano, but can you go viral?

Yeah, exactly. You just don't know. But you see artists that are winning that are true, you know, that are real artists that are going to be around. for a long time, like, you know. Or Sago. Yeah, Olivia Dean or Ray. You're seeing artists that are great songwriters like Siza, like people that, like, people that

really have a point of view and something to say and they're unique and they're interesting and they're winning. So I feel like it's still possible. Yeah. Yeah. Now, Black James Bonnesty. That's how you described the album. Was that intentional?

Yeah, that was like, when Ferrell called me that first day, he really laid out a vision and we really executed on that vision. And that was part of his vision. My black James Vaughn, what the hell you'd be doing that we don't know about? Yeah. I think it was just like the aura of that, making it cinematic, making it intriguing, making it feel urgent and all of that.

I think all of that was part of the aesthetic of making the out. Did you feel like something was missing from your music originally? I always think that there's more room to grow. And like I said before, the next album should be better than anything I've done before. That's the mentality I have to have every time. And that's, you know, I'm like, let's make the best album I've ever made. And you let Farrell write full songs on this. Yeah, some of the songs were, yeah, some of the songs were fully written by Farrell.

A lot of them were co-writes between us, and we had a couple other co-writers throughout the album. but yeah it was cool to like allow myself to be produced by someone else you know what I'm saying because I felt like it would create something new

and take me out of my comfort zone I saw you say that it required a level of trust yeah you and for real is it like playing that game when you fall back and somebody got to be well fortunately like he has such a track record

like you you you could trust for real um he's made great records uh for a long period of time he has great taste um and then he literally said at the end of our um time making the album thank you for trusting me um and it does require trust to to go in on a full album with a producer because in our business a lot of times we're just taking tracks you know get a track from this producer get a track from that producer and then you put the album together. But to go fully in on one vision with one producer does require trust and I trusted him and

I'm glad I did because I think the result is better for it. You ever get nervous? You know, because I see what vets. You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. Hello! My gosh. Watch all your favorite podcasts from start to finish right inside the free I-Hurt radio app. Catch every laugh and eye roll on shows like the Tom Green Farmcast and park the bus. Now with full video.

We're building a ramp for Tony Hawk. It's the same hosts and the same chemistry with all the hilarious moments you've been missing. Right on your screen. Cheers. Open the free IHRRadio app. Search video podcasts and tap watch. I'm Hamza.

And I'm Martin. And we're the hosts of Out of Character. It's a podcast. I know. There's a lot of them to listen to these days. How are you going to get to us? Well, there's a specific reason why you should listen to us. We are the best podcast in the entire.

entire world, I swear. I know, bold. But why don't we list some of the things we might talk about on a regular episode? So sometimes we'll talk about, I don't know, the Uber driver we just had. And how nice they were, or if we tipped them or not, come and find out. Sometimes we'll talk about that weird news story from last week. It's the one you're thinking about, trust me. Or maybe we'll talk about music and what's happening in the underground or drama in music or

TV shows or the Met Gala and what the actors wore. What we're saying is we're not afraid. to talk about everything under the sun. And if you want to see what that's like, come join us. It's a place where everyone can hang out, anyone. Wherever you're from, whatever you're like, you're welcome. Listen to out of character from Will Ferrell's Big Money Players Network. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Pods, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast. The True Crime Comedy Podcasts, all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Each week I bring on incredible guests like Conan O'Brien, Iowa Debris, Lamorne Morris, and Nicole Byer. Ooh, I scammed them. What? I can talk to you for an hour. You're a generational yapper like me.

That's why I had to make yapping a job. And the scams run the gamut. I'm talking about scams from the 1800s all the way up to today. I also warn you and keep you safe against scammers. Call your grandparents. Tell your parents to stop clicking on links, please. And now you can catch. full episodes of my show on YouTube.

If there's a scam, I'm here to protect you, and I'm also here to laugh with you. So if you like fun, if you like comedy, and you like learning and protecting yourself from criminals, start listening to Scam Goddess on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

Lisa, we should tell them about our new show. Oh my God, Lexi. We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me. I'm Lexi Youan. We're two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa Di Giulio, the old one,

which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. I'm not going to get anyone fighting. That is wild. I learned that about you today. Now in my 30s, being the founder of new shoes, good taste is my business,

and I've always got something to say. If men were just honest about this, there would be so much more peace in the world. We're going to talk about dating, relationships, beauty, getting older, and a little wiser. We're best friends, but we don't always agree. Because you told us how accommodating you are. Obviously, I would do what I think I could do to fight the fight, but there's only so much

fight I can fight. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. Liar.

Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I don't really care. It's in the industry. a lot of times they don't want to put out new projects because it's a scale right you got streaming before you do 150, 200, 300,000 records is easy. I don't say it's easy but you would see that

more often. Now you see a lot of the vets putting up 15,000, 20,000 and everything is monitored. It's different. Did that bother you or make you nervous at all? No, I don't get nervous about numbers. My career, like I never had huge first weeks anyway.

It was always like a slower burn. I never I had a number one album. Really? Even my top albums. I had one number one song, all of me. I've never had a number one album on the U.S. chart. Love in the Future was the number one album?

No, no, never. And so I guess it never set a standard of like, oh, I have to be number one this week or it's a failure. My albums always took their time to build with people, grew with people, word and mouth. people would listen to the whole album, not just a song. And so I've always had that kind of career. And so the pressure of I got to be number one this week never got to me because I never was. I literally never was.

But the music is so good. Thank you. And it's so funny that you say that, yo, I was in a barbershop. I was taking my son to get a head cut one day. And they had loving the future playing in the barbershop. And so like you said, that word of mouth and just hearing other people listen to it, that's how it built up. And even the Sounds of Seasons, the Christmas album,

I heard that at my grandpa about I was band playing, and that's just how it is. Like, people just hear other people listening to it. Yeah, and I want the albums to endure. I want them to be part of people's lives. And what all of you guys are telling me is that it's been a part of your life in these different ways. And that's what we want to make is music that lives with people

and that is part of their memories and part of their stories. and part of their stories and part of their relationships. And, you know, and I haven't had a number one. Hey, I'm always open to the possibility and maybe this next one will be.

I would have lost that bit. But I know I made an impact, so I'm grateful for that. Ordinary people only peaked at number 24. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, that song is like... I feel like I hear that.

I used to hear that all the time. Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, And like, I've never been defined by chart success. And so I just focus on making great music that is enduring and that's part of people's lives forever. Is that the artist in you or is that the humility, like the cloth that you're cut from in you? Because you take a lot of time with your music.

You play instruments, you do all these things. And you're like, I don't even care about the number one. Well, I think part of it's just the nature of the kind of music I make. Like, it wasn't like, it was never like the popiest music. It was never this or that. It was never chasing any particular trend. And I was always unique and I was cool with that, you know. And I knew that I was building my career for the long term.

I wasn't trying to be a flash in the pan. I was trying to be an artist that would be able to tour forever, make records forever and be timeless. And that means you may not always be the most pop-in, most popular thing. But you're in it for the long haul. You were turned down by a lot of labels in the beginning too. Oh, yeah. But I think everybody is.

But I feel like when hearing you, like, in your earlier songs, it's like, I'm not a label executive, but I can hear the artist in you. Yeah, I have vivid memories of being turned down. Like, by people that I still run into in the industry, and they're like, we messed up that time. Right. They said to you, they're just, my bad job. Yeah.

And they're clear this record for me now. I'm not a person that holds grudges, so I'm like, you know. It's cool. Okay. And God puts you in where you need to be at the right time. And I feel like you just can't let these nose make you feel. First, first of all, you can't get bitter because of it. And secondly, like the no was meant to be in that moment for you to have the right yes at the right time.

And so I felt like everything worked out the way it was supposed to work out. I believe in divine misdirection. Yeah. I believe like even when you get told no, It just leads you over here. Yeah. It's probably where you need to be in that moment. Exactly.

And you, and I was like, man, I don't know what they're talking about. They're wrong. They're incorrect. They're making a mistake. Like, that's what I'm thinking. But I'm also thinking, well, what can I learn from this? And what do I need to do to make a better case for myself? And things just, we just kept making more records.

We were like, let's keep working on the formula, getting it exactly right. Secondly, Kanye's success, like it just opened more doors because everybody was like, well, what's next from their camp? And then, like I said, it made it easier for me to make my album. Because if I would have gotten signed before that, I may not have had as much control or as much trust from the label. And so when I finally was signed, they were ready. They were excited. They were motivated. I got signed in May.

My album came out in December, which is unheard of. for it to be that quick because we had already prepared ourselves and the label was was sold you know I didn't have to like because a lot of times artists will get signed sit on the shelf for a while you know label executives will change and and they're not as passionate about it and so many things can get derailed even after you get signed. So getting signed is not the end-all, be-all of the situation. Like, you need to be able to put your music out to the world. And so I think when I got signed was the perfect time

because they were ready and we were ready and they were excited and they trusted us in a way that we weren't getting that trust before. I want to ask you about politics, right? You know, midterms are coming up. And there was a period where it felt like John Legend was like one of the, loudest artists having fundraisers at the house like yeah and we still are that that's the thing

don't feel as loud anymore though I think honestly the biggest difference is I'm not on Twitter and I feel like IG is not really like the same kind of medium for that kind of conversation and when I was on Twitter like I was always saying something and Chrissy was always saying something and and like we we just were in conversation with the public more And we still haven't changed our politics. We still do fundraisers at our house. I'm still going to go out on campaign for candidates in my home state of Ohio. I'm going to go down to Georgia and campaign.

And I'm still as passionate about it. But I think it just feels less loud because there's no Twitter for me. And that's where I was getting a lot of my thoughts out. What was the decision to get off Twitter? Was it Elon Musk? Purchasing it? It was just a negativity. It was Elon Musk and the Nazi of it all.

Like, it was too much. Like, I was like, I don't need this in my life. The energies. It got really dark. It got off in 2018. Yeah. I got off right around the same time. I don't remember when he bought it, but I got off Twitter.

The energy was too dark, too much Nazi nonsense. And I think my life is better for it. the cost of being outspoken changed because you have a president that will target you? I mean, he already knows we hate him. We've been his enemies since the first term. And so, you know, I don't feel like there's anything to be gained by us, you know,

laying off of him. And when I do talk about politics on Instagram, like I call him out, I talk shit about him. my wife does like we know we know who he is we've seen who he was from the beginning we saw it

you know living in New York and knowing he was on some bullshit then and so you know none of that has changed but I just think our where we say it has changed and I think

not being on Twitter it just makes it seem like we're less involved in the conversation when in our minds we're not. And it feels like, you know, even though I know your heart is in the right place, celebrity political activism seems less effective because people, for whatever reason, see celebrities as a part of the same elite establishment that they're mad at on a daily day. Yeah, I think there's definitely some of that. There's definitely some of that. I still think my voice matters because people know that I'm coming to it from an authentic place and a truthful place.

And I am not, like, new to this. Like, I, I, I, I study these issues. I pay attention to them. And when I speak out, I do it from an informed perspective. Like, I'm not just saying shit. Like, I'm saying it because I've actually, like, really looked into it. And my activism is very, very intentional. So we're doing things behind the scenes all the time.

And sometimes we do them in public. Like, we were walking the streets of Philadelphia recently with the mayor because I have an organization called Human Level that is working in the cities all the time. We're funding fellows who are working for mayor's offices, promoting equity, promoting affordable housing, promoting equal access to quality health care and groceries and all these things. We're doing that literally all the time. And it may not get the headlines all the time,

but these are things that are happening locally all the time. And so what I encourage people do, to do, especially when we don't have someone in federal office that is considering our needs and doing what we need him to do, focus on what you can control, which a lot of times is local and state. And so we've been very involved on that level consistently, and it's a little bit under the radar, but it's happening and it's actually affecting people's lives. Have you seen retaliation because of that?

going at the president? You know, he went after Chrissy when she called him a pussy-ass bitch. That's crazy. That's definitely Chrissy, though. I mean, like, oh, they can't put it to

reach it. We haven't had any, like, legal repercussions, no. But I think... What was his response when she called him a pussy-ass bitch? He kind of was a pussy-ass bitch about it because he tried to get it,

like, he tried to get Twitter to to take it down. She should have said, grab him by the pussy. And then he tried to get Twitter to take it down and Twitter censored it as a trending topic because of that, or maybe the profanity made them censored.

But one way or another, like they wanted to squash it because he was really embarrassed that it was trending on Twitter that she called him that. And that, and that, the wildest thing about that was, that was in response to some of the other work that I do, which is on ending mass incarceration. We were literally at a prison in a Sing Sing, upstate New York. And we did a special with Lester, Lester Holt.

And he was apparently watching MSNBC on a Sunday night. why? I don't know. But he was so upset that he didn't get enough love and credit because he passed that one criminal justice reform bill. The first step back. Yeah, the first step act. He was so mad that we didn't talk about him and show him enough love in that special

that he called me out through Chrissy astray and she wasn't even on the special. And then Chrissy said, you pussy-ass bitch, why didn't you at me? Damn, though. So you don't get an argument with Chrissy at home. Because he'd be throwing all types of words. I'm doing that right there.

You're crazy. And Chris would be throwing some words at you. And they literally they literally tried to censor it from Twitter because he was so, like, upset that it was, it was trending so bad. This is a fan question. Do you have a favorite album?

Of mine? Yes, stuff your own. I recently... Don't lie, John. I recently decided... I'm not including the new album. No. But I recently decided that I think my favorite is bigger love.

Now, this is like a little bit controversial because a lot of people say get lifted. A lot of people say once again, my second album, which I'm in love with both of those albums. But I listened to Bigger Love recently and top to bottom, like production quality, songwriting quality, um,

like unskippability. Like I think Bigger Love is right up there with them. The problem with it, it came out during the pandemic. It came out in 2020, so we couldn't market it the way we wanted to. It did win best R&B album at the Grammy, so it did have some success,

but it didn't have the success. It deserved. And I think it is right up there with my best albums, if not the best. I thought you were going to say love in the future. Mm-hmm. No? Okay. All right. And do you have a favorite song on this album? This album? I love Fireflies. That's the video that's out now. I think

I think Fireflies is my favorite. So far, mine is daylight and get back. Okay. Fire. Thank you. Thank you. So you've heard more than the singles. I love it. Yeah. What do you want to hear right now? Let's play Fireflies. Okay. Fireflies feature for real. Well, let's get into it now. And I also got to let you guys know that John Legend is asking you're going to be at American Dream Mall this weekend. So Thursday they're doing a listening session and some lucky witness winners will actually get a chance to meet him

and he's having a pop-a-store there as well. Yeah, we're actually, you know, focusing on physical product these days, which is a little bit antiquated, but people are going back to vinyl, people are going back to having something tangible they can hold. And so as we're doing throughout the country, we're going to focus on the physical product,

bring people out in real life to get back together and we're doing some in stores. It feels very old school, but I love it because people need that connection and they need something tangible and, you know, I think we've had enough of everything being online. We need like in real life interaction.

Well, artists got to be willing to do it too, right? Because a lot of artists feel like they can go online and stream and that's it, but the fact that artists are actually coming out, meeting people, signing autographs again. And that's the main thing. Make sure you head out there. It's a VIP listening party, and some lucky winners will get the album and also get to meet John Legend. So if you haven't got it, definitely get your VIP tickets.

Now, um. Mew will be out October 23rd. Let's get into the joy right now. Let's see those around now. Which one here? Five. Five. Summertime.

Five flies. It's the breakfast club. Good morning. Hold on. Every day I wake up. You all finish or y'all's done? I'm Hamza. And I'm Martin.

And we're the host. of out of character. The funniest podcast an entire world. Rara, the thing. The Russian queen. I like that.

It's a good way to promote ourselves. We are two funny guys having fun enjoying ourselves and we just know how to have fun

unlike anyone else. If you guys like fun conversations, hot takes, what else? Not too hot. Just kind of lukewarm.

Lukewarm takes. Just to get your mind thinking a little bit. Listen out of character on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever we get your podcast. Lisa,

tell them about our new show. We have a new podcast. It's called Don't Lie to Me. I'm Lexi Yuanu. We're two best friends, 22 years apart, but so close at heart. And I'm Lisa DiGulio, the old one, which means we have wildly different references, occasionally different opinions, and at this point in my 50s, I've lived it all. Now in my 30s, being the founder of new shoes, good taste is my business. Listen on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, this is Kylie Brakeman.

Tana. Jeremy Colhain. Patrick McDonald. And we're the hosts of the Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists Podcast. The improvised character comedy podcast where each week a new panel of artists discuss their craft. Join us for a panel of Eurovision participants. And we do a little Halloween sometimes. Does the Pope dress up?

He winks on Halloween. He gets right up next to the microphone. I hear you can almost hear the eyelashes hit each other. You never seen Italy so quiet as when the Pope gets up to wink on Halloween. Hello. Listen to Artists on Artists on Artists on Artists every Thursday on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Lacey Mosley, author, actor, stand-up comedian, creator, and host of Scam Goddess Podcast.

The True Crime Comedy Podcasts all about robbery, fraud, and those who practice it. Each week, I bring on an amazing guest. Ooh, I scammed them. What? I can talk to you for an hour. You're a generational yapper, like me. That's why I had to make yapping a job. And now you can catch full episodes of my show on your show on your.

YouTube. Start listening to Scam Goddess on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.