John Legend The 13-time Grammy winner on revisiting his debut album 20 years later, his roots in the Black church, and being sung to in airports

The title of the album says a lot: Get Lifted. What does that reference?

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I have a natural sense of optimism. It's just the way my brain works. So part of it was having that sense of spirituality and connection to gospel music. And I had already written the songs, "Let's Get Lifted" and "So High." So it just felt like it was on theme.

Get Lifted blends gospel, R&B, and hip-hop. How did you land on that sound? We knew that neo soul had had its time. I wanted it to hit harder, sound bigger, have melodies that were less smooth and more sharp—more of an edge. A lot of neo soul at the time sounded more like ad-libs and open mics, like a poetry session and people were scatting their way through the song. I looked at The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as a big inspiration that mixed soul, hip-hop, reggae, and gospel.