Yes, you are talking to the real John Legend.”
“Why ask?” you ask. Don’t worry, I’m not pranging out like some hysterical, competition-winning John Legend superfan – the Legendries? – not yet anyway. You see, just before I speak to GQ’s Hugo Boss Most Stylish Man Of The Year 2018 I learn that Legend has this very week, in fact, been announced as the new voice of Google Assistant, essentially becoming to the tax-avoiding search engine tech giant what the sonic avatar Alexa is to the Amazon Echo or what the monosyllabic Siri is to the iPhone.
Imagine the ear-melty bliss of John Legend being your very own domestic PA. “Google, where’s the closest place to home serving frozen Margaritas on a Sunday at 8pm?” And then, in a voice as smooth as Jeff Goldblum doing tarot card readings at a women-only event on Venice Beach, the “All Of Me” hit maker will offer up suggested venues, directions and (quite possibly) rim garnishes. Not bad, huh? Yet, seeing as this interview is being conducted over the phone – from London to Legend’s base in Los Angeles – how can I be sure I’m talking to the man himself, rather than the virtual, voice-activated subordinate?
“No, it’s not my Google phone. Don’t worry,” laughs Legend, tickled by the idea that he’d get his automated device to do the interview rather than answering the questions himself. It’s early evening in London but early morning in Beverly Hills and across the line Legend’s famously soulful voice, one that spreads like almond butter to mend broken hearts and lift lovebirds, sounds somewhat hoarse, as if he hasn’t quite shaken off the fug of the Cali dawn. It’s a shame we’re not doing this mano a mano, I explain, as he could take me through his walk-in wardrobe. (You can learn an awful lot about a man from how he hangs his pressed shirts, for example.)
“Well, I don’t know what you’d find...” he tells me, sounding apprehensive about the state of his underwear drawer. (He needn’t worry: we all know John Legend keeps his briefs colour-coordinated and alphabetised by brand names.) “Although the clothing I have here in California would certainly be a slightly different vibe to the clothing I have back in New York. I mean the weather here is better, obviously, so the fabric needs to be more breathable and a little looser. With a more relaxed vibe comes more colour, you know? Sometimes when I was living back in New York, the sleek, chic, in-control power thing messed with your sense of style a little too much. It’s so uptight! You could never be off duty, you know?”
One has to ask: when does John Legend’s wardrobe ever appear off duty? The singer is to style what Roger Federer is to the tennis court: he has an effortlessness, a grace, an élan that ensures even his most relaxed, holidaying-on-a-super-yacht look appears to have been micromanaged by a team of savvy, urbane aesthetes – together, but not too try-hard. Take his new dad look (Legend and his wife, Chrissy Teigen, had their second child in May): narrow beige chinos matched with a pair of ice-white fashion trainers and a loose Breton T-shirt. It’s To Catch A Thief meets The Talented Mr Ripley, but with the modernity turned up to eleven.
What about when he’s performing? Whether in a white tux or tailoring that’s a little bolder – “I love Gucci’s thing at the moment and Harry Styles rocks that whole troubadour thing so well” – Legend goes out of his way to ensure nothing looks too “showbiz”. There’s a pop, but it’s still elegant – not unlike the man’s music, of course. “I always make sure I’m in something that can be seen from the back of the arena,” Legend explains in regard to what he likes to dazzle in.
“I try to consider that clothes reflect the person I am as an artist. I don’t want my style to scream ‘entertainer’. Fashion can be a really powerful visual shorthand. To be fair, any man that grew up as a teenager in the Eighties will have learnt this the hard way. I look back at the bagginess of my jeans sometimes and wonder, ‘What was I thinking?’”
So what’s the Hugo Boss Most Stylish Man’s cast-iron style rule? “Get yourself a tailor. Or find a local tailor that can help you take in and modify your clothing to suit your body shape. It’s unreasonable to think that clothing bought from a store will fit you perfectly; it’s rarely going to happen. My mother is a seamstress and my father went into business making hats, so I’ve had the notion of taking in and altering clothing – creating outfits – around me my whole life. How your clothes fit is the most important aspect of looking good. Oh, that and listening to your wife.”
As Legend acknowledges, looking sharp is an intrinsic part of what every international artist worth his own merch line needs to consider. Yet, while he’s aware of such superficial matters, you’d be foolish to think Legend’s acumen doesn’t run deeper. There is an unquestionable nobility to John Legend. Indeed, you can clearly tell he believes in being a role model: what he says and does matters and has impact, an issue he and his long-time friend and colleague Kanye West recently came to blows over.
“Kanye was being Kanye; this wasn’t just some press stunt,” explains Legend over the pair’s very public Twitter spat. This was back in April, when West made public private texts from Legend asking the rapper to consider “the harm that Trump’s policies cause”, as West continued to tweet his support for the Tango-hued president.
“I was surprised he put my messages out there without asking me, sure. I wouldn’t say that was a good thing for a friend to do. But I wasn’t ashamed of what I said and I stand by it. Kanye and I still disagree with one another, although we are civil. But the issue can’t just be swept under the carpet. For me, I don’t believe politics is just purely about debate or about who wins the intellectual argument. Politics and policies impact real lives. Kanye’s got his own conscience to wrestle with; I have mine.”
A good guy with integrity and killer style? John Legend for the win.
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