Speaker 1: Pushkin m M good Now from hide Loe. Just say
Speaker 1: ohoo woo woo woo. Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa
Speaker 1: whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. That's me with John Legend, singer, songwriter, actor,
Speaker 1: record producer and film producer too and rolling your head
Speaker 1: to keep your neck relax. Who rolling your shoulders? Who
Speaker 1: moving your arms? This is backstage passed with me Eric Vitro,
Speaker 1: And I have to say I really love my job.
Speaker 1: I'm a vocal coach to some pretty famous singers and
Speaker 1: on this show, I'll talk to them about their lives,
Speaker 1: their craft and what it takes to make it really big.
Speaker 1: So we met backstage in the green room of one
Speaker 1: of Arianna Grande's concerts in La and I love meeting
Speaker 1: people who I think are talented and accomplished self. Of course,
Speaker 1: I was really excited to meet you. I was calmer
Speaker 1: than I would have been, only because it all happened
Speaker 1: so fast. I didn't have time to go, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I'm meeting John Lynchend and the amazing Aaron Rosenberg, our
Speaker 1: lawyer mutual friend introduced us. And you were so easy
Speaker 1: to talk to, so I was thrilled when you actually
Speaker 1: called lessons. Well, I was so impressed with Ariana's show,
Speaker 1: and I had been thinking about as I was finishing
Speaker 1: my bigger love album and thinking about touring and what
Speaker 1: we were going to do for the next album. I
Speaker 1: hadn't been coached vocally for quite a while, and I
Speaker 1: thought it was time to brush up on my skills
Speaker 1: and get better at preserving my voice, placing things correctly
Speaker 1: in my voice, and just thinking about longevity for it. Right. Well,
Speaker 1: you just answered my question because I was going to
Speaker 1: say a lot of people would say, why in the
Speaker 1: world would he go to a coach at this stage
Speaker 1: of the game. Well, I had very little coaching in
Speaker 1: my life, to be clear. So I grew up singing
Speaker 1: in church and everything was kind of self taught in
Speaker 1: so many ways, and you just went out there and
Speaker 1: did it. And I thought I was really good at singing,
Speaker 1: but I wasn't singing in a way that was healthy,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't built for the long haul the way
Speaker 1: I was singing back then. And so I did take
Speaker 1: some lessons in New York early on in my career
Speaker 1: because I was getting beat up. I was trying to
Speaker 1: do everything to get seen and heard, and my voice
Speaker 1: just could not handle it. So I started getting some
Speaker 1: coaching in New York, but it was kind of in
Speaker 1: an emergency situation, like, Oh, I need to do this
Speaker 1: right now because I'm beating up my voice right now.
Speaker 1: And every other time I had done coaching since then
Speaker 1: had still been in kind of like, oh, things are
Speaker 1: going badly or I need some emergency help. And so
Speaker 1: for the first time with you, I wanted to do
Speaker 1: it ahead of time, before the tour so that I
Speaker 1: could start doing better practices and have more longevity and
Speaker 1: just be more healthy on tour. Yeah. I think if
Speaker 1: people have not ever done any voice lessons, they don't
Speaker 1: realize the value in the warming up process. Absolutely, you
Speaker 1: just learned so much. And I was just not breathing correctly.
Speaker 1: I was not projecting correctly, and it sounded fine, but
Speaker 1: it wasn't healthy in a way that would be sustainable.
Speaker 1: Right well, now it's gonna be yes. John's world famous
Speaker 1: for his songs all of Me, Love Me, Now, Ordinary People,
Speaker 1: and many more. Do you sit down at the piano
Speaker 1: when you're writing a song? Is to always begin at
Speaker 1: the piano? Not every song. All of Me began at
Speaker 1: the piano. But ordinary people another piano ballot did not
Speaker 1: begin at the piano. It started with will I am
Speaker 1: playing me a beat that he had made, and the
Speaker 1: beat had an instrumental with the same chord progression as
Speaker 1: ordinary people ended up having, and so I started singing
Speaker 1: to the chord progression. So either way, I'm usually singing
Speaker 1: to a chord progression, whether I'm playing it myself on
Speaker 1: the piano or I'm playing with a guitarist, maybe sitting
Speaker 1: down with the guitarist. I don't play guitar, but I
Speaker 1: work with the songwriters who do, and so sometimes they'll
Speaker 1: start strumming some chords that'll inspire me to sing a melody.
Speaker 1: I'm usually more of the top line guy, as we
Speaker 1: call it in our business. So the top line is
Speaker 1: the vocal melody and the lyric. So with ordinary people
Speaker 1: women molodin mad, I start mumbling, we' been, momlin baton bone, we'
Speaker 1: been though, So I start scatting melodies, and those melodies
Speaker 1: containing them rhythms, and they contain kind of a cadence
Speaker 1: for what the lyric might sound like, but they don't
Speaker 1: make any sense, and so eventually I go from that
Speaker 1: mumble track to a lyric. Once I figure out what
Speaker 1: story I want to tell, how I want to approach
Speaker 1: the story. That melody in your voice goes so perfectly together.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's just because I know it so well, but
Speaker 1: really it's so beautiful and thank you so perfect. So
Speaker 1: has there ever been a piano riff that you came
Speaker 1: up with that ended up then going into a song
Speaker 1: because you know, I like this drip, I'm gonna wow
Speaker 1: so with all of me. It's interesting because we started
Speaker 1: out with the pattern being like this on the intro,
Speaker 1: but we ended up deciding that it would sound better
Speaker 1: starting clean and a little straighter and less busy, and
Speaker 1: we ended up going with why would I do without
Speaker 1: your smarting Mountain? And it felt better and then it
Speaker 1: felt like it drove the song in the right way.
Speaker 1: And then we finally went to their appeggio for the chorus,
Speaker 1: Who's all of Me loves all of you, love y'all
Speaker 1: curves and all your edges. You know, Yeah, when that
Speaker 1: opens up into that car, it's just amazing. So that's
Speaker 1: with a friend of mine, Toby gad You, and partly
Speaker 1: getting in his studio house studio and sitting on the
Speaker 1: piano and trying to figure it out. And it's funny.
Speaker 1: My manager said, you should write a song to Chrissy
Speaker 1: that's kind of like She's always a woman, the classic
Speaker 1: Billy Joel song. And this was my take on that prompt. Amazing.
Speaker 1: How cool that that one suggestion to write a song
Speaker 1: about your wife created such an iconic song now, I
Speaker 1: know partly because Toby's told me that song has a
Speaker 1: lot of distinctions and awards, right, Oh, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: one of the biggest songs in the history of music.
Speaker 1: Tell us the statistics. I think there's only a few
Speaker 1: songs in the world that have gone thirteen times platinum,
Speaker 1: and it's one of them. And that's huge and of
Speaker 1: course the biggest song in my career, but it would
Speaker 1: be the biggest song for anybody because they're pretty much
Speaker 1: and it was my first number one. I didn't know
Speaker 1: that first and only so far. Well, we've still got
Speaker 1: plenty of time. It's such a beautiful, beautiful song. Thank you.
Speaker 1: And let's not forget John has a ton of awards already.
Speaker 1: I mean he's an egot, which means he has an
Speaker 1: Emmy and oscar a Tony and twelve Grammys, but no
Speaker 1: big surprise. I mean, he has incredible talent, an amazing
Speaker 1: work ethic, and he's always juggling a million things. I
Speaker 1: know more than anybody else. How busy you are. Every
Speaker 1: single time we do a lesson, you are on your
Speaker 1: way to something. Yeah, I stay pretty busy. I stay
Speaker 1: booked like constantly. So obviously your piano skills have been
Speaker 1: a huge part of your career, right, it goes with
Speaker 1: your singing and your songwriting. Sure, so tell me a
Speaker 1: little bit about your training. Well, my training I started
Speaker 1: very young. We had a piano in our home, and
Speaker 1: then I was at church all the time. My grandmother
Speaker 1: was the church organist, my mother was the choir director,
Speaker 1: my father played the drums for the choir and sang
Speaker 1: with the choir, and then my grandfather was the pastor.
Speaker 1: So I would be at church all the time. We
Speaker 1: were there for Sunday morning service, Sunday evening service, Bible study, choir, rehearsal,
Speaker 1: prayer meeting, revival service. Whenever there was something at the church.
Speaker 1: Our family was running the service and doing something. And
Speaker 1: so I just grew up around a bunch of people
Speaker 1: who made music all the time, and most of it
Speaker 1: was gospel music. But also I started taking piano lessons,
Speaker 1: I learned the basics of music theory, and parallel, I
Speaker 1: was learning gospel music from my grandmother. And in the
Speaker 1: Menecostal church you do still use the hymno and read
Speaker 1: some but a lot of it is by ear, and
Speaker 1: you could be playing in any key and someone could
Speaker 1: randomly start a song, and so you'd have to have
Speaker 1: some improvisational skills and the ability to just pick up
Speaker 1: what's going on, hear it and start playing along. And
Speaker 1: so I really learned how to do that in the church,
Speaker 1: and my grandmother was my main mentor and teacher for that. Wow. Well,
Speaker 1: you know that explains a lot about why you are
Speaker 1: so comfortable and so good and to be able to
Speaker 1: change the keys. Yeah, I'm better at some keys than others.
Speaker 1: But yeah, we had to be flexible and dynamic, and
Speaker 1: the services could take many directions, and so we had
Speaker 1: to be able to roll with it, and so I
Speaker 1: developed a lot of my musical skills in that space.
Speaker 1: Do you remember any of the first hymns that you
Speaker 1: played all those years ago? Oh? Sure, well, of course,
Speaker 1: the classic Beautiful. That was beautiful, That was great, and
Speaker 1: it had its own John legend and the church and
Speaker 1: there had a little bit of everything. And that makes
Speaker 1: sense because, like John said, he was raised with gospel
Speaker 1: music and his grandmother. One time she wasn't going to
Speaker 1: be able to be at service, and the woman that
Speaker 1: was her backup wasn't going to be able to be there,
Speaker 1: and she taught me a couple of songs that I
Speaker 1: had to learn for that specific service for the choir.
Speaker 1: And that was the first time I ever was just
Speaker 1: thrust out there in front of the whole church and
Speaker 1: asked to play when it really mattered, and that was
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Were you nervous, yes, but you did a
Speaker 1: good job. I did, okay. Did you get a lot
Speaker 1: of praise? Yes? And I was young, so I think
Speaker 1: they would have been happy with whatever I did. I
Speaker 1: was like, ey, well, because you know, it's my observation
Speaker 1: that people who have done really well successful in their
Speaker 1: life seem to always have a moment or an incident
Speaker 1: in their life where they're praised when they're pretty young.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and that sort of becomes the engine for
Speaker 1: their whole life. I think that's a big part of
Speaker 1: why you start to develop a love for performing, because
Speaker 1: you get all this affirmation and when people tell you
Speaker 1: they love it and they cheer for you and they
Speaker 1: support you, and they make you feel like you did
Speaker 1: something great, it makes you, you know, want more of that.
Speaker 1: I definitely think that's a big part of why I
Speaker 1: enjoy performing. It isn't just for the art of creating
Speaker 1: the song. It's for that feeling of joy I get
Speaker 1: when I bring other people joy and they give it
Speaker 1: back to me. Right, So, would you say that church
Speaker 1: moment was probably more inspiring to than even the piano recital, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's more fuel And when you did it at church,
Speaker 1: it felt like you were doing it for people whose
Speaker 1: judgment you trusted and you wanted to impress them. And
Speaker 1: so whenever I would get affirmation in that setting, it
Speaker 1: felt special. Music is so important to our services that
Speaker 1: when you do it right and you feel like you
Speaker 1: did it right and the audience affirms that, it feels
Speaker 1: like you wont you want a battle there? Wow? I've
Speaker 1: never heard anybody say it like that. So if the
Speaker 1: church was clearly your biggest influence when you were young,
Speaker 1: who were your influences as you got older? Well, Stevie wonder,
Speaker 1: I mean it's almost too obvious, but growing up. He
Speaker 1: was such an iconic R and B singer songwriter who
Speaker 1: had written such beautiful songs of every type, you know,
Speaker 1: whether it was you know, classic ballads or beautiful up
Speaker 1: tempo songs like you know, Superstition, or just the full range.
Speaker 1: One of the great solo artists of all time, and
Speaker 1: in my estimation, possibly the greatest. Prince is right up there,
Speaker 1: and there's a few others, but there's very few solo
Speaker 1: artists that have had the longevity and the awesomeness that
Speaker 1: Stevie's had over his career. And as a singer songwriter
Speaker 1: of you know, the same genre and with a lot
Speaker 1: of the same influences, he's been such a big influence
Speaker 1: to me. I also was very influenced by Nat King Cole.
Speaker 1: I I love that crooning, that phrasing, that style that
Speaker 1: he brought to the songs that he performed. And I've
Speaker 1: been listening to him since I was a teenager, and
Speaker 1: you know, even when that wasn't really in vogue for
Speaker 1: someone my age to like him. I was more of
Speaker 1: an old soul and I loved that style and you
Speaker 1: can hear that influence in John songs. This is Nat
Speaker 1: King Cole singing unforgettable, that's what you you are, and
Speaker 1: you hear some of his phrasing in the way I
Speaker 1: will phrase certain things, especially with this one, the Christmas
Speaker 1: song ches nice roasting on an open fire. But even
Speaker 1: in pop music and R and B music that I
Speaker 1: make mainly for a living, I'll still incorporate some of
Speaker 1: that phrasing into genres that you wouldn't associate it with
Speaker 1: as much. So he was an influence. Marvin Gay is
Speaker 1: a big influence for me, both as a vocalist, as
Speaker 1: a creative and trying to find ways to speak to
Speaker 1: the moment that we all live in. He's just iconic
Speaker 1: to me as a as a soul singer. A good
Speaker 1: example is Marvin Gay's What's going on and pick it
Speaker 1: sidish with rough touch, and then you can hear the
Speaker 1: inspiration with John song Glory. When the war is wa
Speaker 1: we will be Shane. We will be Shane who. I
Speaker 1: like him as a singer better than I like Stevie.
Speaker 1: I think Stevie had a more robust and prolific career
Speaker 1: over a longer period of time, of course, but as
Speaker 1: a vocalist I like Marvin a little more. And then
Speaker 1: another vocalist I love is Nina Simone. I love her tone,
Speaker 1: her expressiveness, her creativity as a pianist. She's just like stunning.
Speaker 1: I mean, just listen to the piano and Nina Simones
Speaker 1: I put a spell on you. I put a smell
Speaker 1: on you cause your man and your daughter is named Yes.
Speaker 1: And my daughter's named Luna Simone, and I named her
Speaker 1: with Nina in mind. And then Aretha Franklin is a
Speaker 1: big influence to me. My grandmother actually, her playing style
Speaker 1: reminded me of Aretha's playing style. They both grew up
Speaker 1: in the Midwest. My grandmother was from both Michigan and Ohio.
Speaker 1: She grew up as a daughter of a preacher, a pastor,
Speaker 1: just like Aretha did, and stylistically they had a lot
Speaker 1: in common. So you will hear some of the flourishes
Speaker 1: that I would do that are reminiscent of my grandmother,
Speaker 1: but also similar to some things that Aretha would do
Speaker 1: on the piano because of that similar background. Can you
Speaker 1: give an example of what I mean, Even the way
Speaker 1: I played Amazing Grace in some ways that was like
Speaker 1: reminiscent of that, but just kind of that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like a little honky tonk, a little gospel,
Speaker 1: but it's got kind of that old school flavor to it.
Speaker 1: Listen to Aretha Singer version of Amazing Grace, Amazing Grace,
Speaker 1: the the Shine, and I still carry a lot of
Speaker 1: that with me in the way that I played the piano.
Speaker 1: What about because we've talked about falsetto that the difference
Speaker 1: between Marvin Gaye's falsetto Curtis Mayfield. Yes, can you talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about that, because I found that really
Speaker 1: interesting you listened so closely that one has a little
Speaker 1: more vibrato, Yes, like Curtiss is a little thinner and
Speaker 1: more vibrato, so talking or something with the moon shining
Speaker 1: by name bound, you know, it's like it's a little
Speaker 1: softer and a little more gentle like when Curtis Mayfield
Speaker 1: sings super Fly, And then I think Marvin could wail
Speaker 1: a little more with his falsetto. Oh it's rounder yea yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know that kind of vibe. You can hear it
Speaker 1: when Marvin gay sings Gotta Give It Up. And then
Speaker 1: some of the other great falsetto singers. I think Prince
Speaker 1: is obviously one of them, and his is a little
Speaker 1: like more funky. He would do a little more cry
Speaker 1: in his voice and like a little more like shriek,
Speaker 1: and it's a little more like dangerous sounding. I just
Speaker 1: won't you. Oh it's the time, yo. I think Marvin
Speaker 1: Gay kind of that was one of the first singers
Speaker 1: I think where I used that expression, telling you that
Speaker 1: yawn sensation. And Nina, yes, yeah, you know, Nina Simone
Speaker 1: had that as well. And Smokey was more like Curtis.
Speaker 1: I think Smokey Robinson more kind of whispery, a ready sound,
Speaker 1: a little thinner, kind of a gentle vibrato baby. So
Speaker 1: those are some of the icons I think of singing
Speaker 1: in falsetto. And I gotta say, as obvious as it is,
Speaker 1: it needs to be said with that falsetto. John is
Speaker 1: on that list too. When we come back, he and
Speaker 1: I will talk about our voice lessons together and his
Speaker 1: work on the voice as a vocal coach. All right
Speaker 1: here on backstage Pass with Eric Vitro, and now more
Speaker 1: of my conversation with John Legend here on backstage Pass
Speaker 1: with Eric Vietrow. So let me ask you this. Since
Speaker 1: we've been working together, have there been any surprises? Are
Speaker 1: there things that maybe you didn't expect to learn. Durner
Speaker 1: Voice Lessons, Well, I was doing things a little bit
Speaker 1: wrong the whole time, you know, going into our learning.
Speaker 1: And I won't blame it on past teachers, because I
Speaker 1: think I just forgot a lot of what they taught me.
Speaker 1: But I feel like I'm singing with better technique than
Speaker 1: I ever did. I've spent more time and energy and
Speaker 1: during downtime. I think it's important because when I was
Speaker 1: doing it, like in the middle of a tour, when
Speaker 1: I'm already stressed and tired, like that wasn't the right
Speaker 1: time to do it. The fact that I've been doing
Speaker 1: it during times when I haven't been stressed and the
Speaker 1: pressure hasn't been high, I think it made me really
Speaker 1: focus on it more and learn more from it and
Speaker 1: be able to work it into my performance is better
Speaker 1: for people listening. Do you have any rituals before the shows?
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously now the warm up, the vocal warm up. Else,
Speaker 1: I drink a lot of water and tea and try
Speaker 1: to steam up or humidify or whatever we can do.
Speaker 1: And then I like to have a little food right
Speaker 1: before my show too. I don't know if that's advised
Speaker 1: by the Eric Vitro school of But I like to
Speaker 1: have like hot food because it makes me feel like
Speaker 1: less dry. Huh. I would say, just as long as
Speaker 1: you're not over eating to your stuff, do you don't
Speaker 1: want to be stuff, because then you can be tired.
Speaker 1: I like to eat like a little roasted chicken, like
Speaker 1: a little something with a little uh perfect, a little
Speaker 1: a little grease, but not too much, and like it
Speaker 1: just kind of warms me up. Yeah, no, that's perfect.
Speaker 1: Roasted chicken, roasted vegetables. Yes, I do that. Yeah, things
Speaker 1: like that I think are really helpful. It helps me
Speaker 1: feel a little warmer. And also not to get too graphic,
Speaker 1: but when you have a little food in your stomach,
Speaker 1: you do not to keep running to the bathroom. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: Yeah that no, I mean that is a huge key
Speaker 1: for people. You're drinking all this water and if you
Speaker 1: don't have any food to absorb it, it's like, oh
Speaker 1: I gotta go yep every twenty minutes. Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: know people say, oh my got it ruined my show
Speaker 1: because that's all I thought about. Yeah, you know, do
Speaker 1: you think is there anything you would say? The word
Speaker 1: sacrifice is too strong? But you know, sacrifice things that
Speaker 1: you've done to take care of your voice or your hands. Well,
Speaker 1: part of it's not talking a lot during the tour,
Speaker 1: and it's frustrating to everybody around you, your significant other,
Speaker 1: your kids. I just talk way less and try to
Speaker 1: preserve the health of my voice. I don't drink when
Speaker 1: I'm on tour alcohol. I try to manage my asset reflux,
Speaker 1: all those things that could get in the way of
Speaker 1: you putting on a great performance. So you know, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm much more strict with myself. Yeah, I would say
Speaker 1: that this tour you probably can talk a little bit
Speaker 1: more than maybe you have in the past, as long
Speaker 1: as you keep the placement upfront, right, we've talked about
Speaker 1: and even more up your speaking voice in the morning
Speaker 1: if you have to do an interview, right, so you're ready.
Speaker 1: You start supporting your speaking voice, just like you're supporting
Speaker 1: your singing voice. Right. So if you do those things
Speaker 1: during the day when you do talk, what will happen
Speaker 1: is you'll start feeling like you're actually warming up your
Speaker 1: singing voice. What if I don't want to talk, well,
Speaker 1: then let me rephrase that. You know what, John, If
Speaker 1: I were you, if your wife is listening, you should
Speaker 1: not be talking at all silent. I'm kidding. I love
Speaker 1: working with John and our Voice lessons, but I also
Speaker 1: love watching him on the singing competition show The Voice,
Speaker 1: where he's a vocal coach himself. Have our lessons influence
Speaker 1: in anyway? Yeah? Absolutely. I can hear what people are
Speaker 1: doing wrong and try to give them better advice to
Speaker 1: help them do better. And frankly, I'm around some of
Speaker 1: your students as well, including Ariana Grande and my guest
Speaker 1: mentor on this season is Camila Cabello, who's another student
Speaker 1: of yours, and I hear your advice through them too.
Speaker 1: Your influential my friend. Oh John, thank you for saying that. Wow,
Speaker 1: that means so much to me. I really appreciate that
Speaker 1: coming from you. But let me ask you something. Did
Speaker 1: you ever want to be on a show like The
Speaker 1: Voice when you were young? When I was seven eight,
Speaker 1: I would watch Star Search from Hollywood be entertainment capital
Speaker 1: of the world. I would watch the Grammys and see
Speaker 1: artists on television doing what I wanted to do, and
Speaker 1: I envisioned it for myself. I even submitted a Star
Speaker 1: Search audition tape when I was like fourteen fifteen. I
Speaker 1: really wanted to be discovered in any way that I
Speaker 1: could figure out how they didn't take, And they didn't take,
Speaker 1: Oh well, I bet they're suffering now. I won the
Speaker 1: Local Like competition. It was at our new mall. They
Speaker 1: thought one of their promotions could be to have like
Speaker 1: a local star search. I won the Low Cool competition.
Speaker 1: It got me five hundred dollars worth of a gift
Speaker 1: certificate to the mall, and so I bought like back
Speaker 1: to school clothes there and the tape from that performance
Speaker 1: was submitted to the national television show and I didn't
Speaker 1: make it. Oh well, it's worked out. I'm doing just fine.
Speaker 1: But you know, I know what it's like to be
Speaker 1: that young artist like waiting for that break, and you
Speaker 1: want to find it wherever you can get it. And
Speaker 1: talent shows may not be the best path for everyone,
Speaker 1: but it's a path. And I love working with artists
Speaker 1: that come my way on the voice. That's why you're
Speaker 1: so empathetic to them. Then, absolutely, and I think most
Speaker 1: of the coaches are. We all know what it's like
Speaker 1: to have this kind of dream, and we know how
Speaker 1: fortunate we feel to be able to do what we
Speaker 1: love to do for a living and do it on
Speaker 1: such a big stage, and also be able to use
Speaker 1: what we've learned to help somebody else. What's the most
Speaker 1: rewarding part of the coaching experience for you? It's firing
Speaker 1: working with these young artists one seeing their excitement to
Speaker 1: thinking about their career as not them. You know, it
Speaker 1: helps me kind of stand back and look at my
Speaker 1: own career because we have to pick songs for them.
Speaker 1: So it's an A and R function to an extent.
Speaker 1: A and R stands for artists in repertoire. It's the
Speaker 1: division of a record label that does talent scouting and
Speaker 1: signs artists. And once an artist is signed, an A
Speaker 1: and R REP will guide the artist's career, helping to
Speaker 1: pick which songs would be best to make it onto
Speaker 1: their albums. And we think about what's going to be
Speaker 1: the most effective vehicle for their voice. And so when
Speaker 1: I think about the songs that are pitched to me,
Speaker 1: you know, because I write a lot of my songs,
Speaker 1: most of my songs or co write them, but sometimes
Speaker 1: I take songs that are outside songs. Sometimes I'll take
Speaker 1: them and rewrite them, but still they originated somewhere else.
Speaker 1: And so I think I have a better A and
Speaker 1: R ear than I had before because I'm in the
Speaker 1: business of helping these artists pick the best songs for
Speaker 1: them to perform in these high pressure moments. Right wow,
Speaker 1: I was going to ask you what you would learn
Speaker 1: from these kids, but that's partly right there too. That's
Speaker 1: a big one. And then if you think about what
Speaker 1: makes artists go from good voices, good singers to compelling artists,
Speaker 1: you also see what works and what doesn't work, you know,
Speaker 1: because there are plenty people that can sing, But how
Speaker 1: do you stand out? How do you make yourself interesting
Speaker 1: and make yourself connect with people, both as a writer,
Speaker 1: as a creative, but also as someone who knows how
Speaker 1: to touch the zeitgeist and figure out what people want
Speaker 1: to hear and how they want to hear it, and
Speaker 1: how to get that to them. Do you have a
Speaker 1: piece of advice that some other artists when you were
Speaker 1: just coming up gave you. That was great advice, Quincy
Speaker 1: Jones said, still from the best, which means that there's
Speaker 1: nothing new under the sun. We've heard all these other songs.
Speaker 1: There's only so many notes on the piano. There's twelve
Speaker 1: in my time, and only so many chord patterns, And
Speaker 1: so when you're creating something, you do want it to
Speaker 1: sound fresh and new, but you're always going to be
Speaker 1: relying on things that already existed, and there's going to
Speaker 1: be things that are familiar about them. And it's okay
Speaker 1: to have influences that when you begin your career copy
Speaker 1: you know you're going to learn from these people, learn
Speaker 1: from their music, and then hopefully develop something new that's
Speaker 1: a unique combination of all those experiences and influences that
Speaker 1: you have. Right right well, Quincy Jones, I would take
Speaker 1: anything he had to say, absolutely. I love Quincy Jones.
Speaker 1: If you had just one piece of advice to give
Speaker 1: these kids, what would that be. I think the biggest
Speaker 1: thing is to know who you are and who you
Speaker 1: want to be to the world, and why what you're
Speaker 1: offering is urgent to the world. Because being a good
Speaker 1: singer is not urgent. You need to have something else
Speaker 1: that you're offering to the world that's urgent. I think
Speaker 1: you could hear it in both John's words and his voice.
Speaker 1: He's articulate and smart and talented, but he's also really
Speaker 1: humble and really grounded and that's what makes him such
Speaker 1: a pleasure to be around and to work with. And
Speaker 1: I think what he said about needing to know who
Speaker 1: you are and who you want to be in the
Speaker 1: world is great advice. That's something that we all have
Speaker 1: to work on, especially an artist. His advice was perfect,
Speaker 1: know who you are and who you want to be.
Speaker 1: Don't go anywhere backstage. Pass will be right back with
Speaker 1: the vocal tip of the week and even more from
Speaker 1: John Legend. Stay tuned, and now it's time for this
Speaker 1: week's vocal tip. I think that almost all vocal exercises
Speaker 1: can be beneficial as long as they're done correctly. The
Speaker 1: same exercise can help your voice or hurt your voice,
Speaker 1: depending on the way you sing it. The number one
Speaker 1: thing to remember is that all vocal exercises should always
Speaker 1: feel comfortable. I can't stress that enough. They should never
Speaker 1: feel tight or strained or constricted in your throat. You
Speaker 1: heard me and John Legend warming up with this melody.
Speaker 1: It's a great melody to create a nice flow, But
Speaker 1: the real magic comes in when you start moving your
Speaker 1: body and ways to free it from any tension. Try
Speaker 1: rolling your shoulders all the way around when practicing to
Speaker 1: keep them relaxed or moving your arms around freely. There
Speaker 1: is no right or wrong way of doing it. Just
Speaker 1: keep them loose. Try wiggling your entire body around as
Speaker 1: you sing. Also, try lifting your arms in the air
Speaker 1: and then dropping them as you sing your highest note
Speaker 1: on an exercise or on a song. Do this with
Speaker 1: a sigh ah, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Right there, drop
Speaker 1: your arms on the high note, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
Speaker 1: whoa whoa, like you're sighing, like you're just letting go.
Speaker 1: That will help you develop a muscle memory of letting
Speaker 1: go when you sing the high notes. Try all of
Speaker 1: these moves when singing your favorite vocal exercises. Now, you
Speaker 1: also heard John and I warming up his falsetto. He
Speaker 1: obviously has mastered that part of his range and uses
Speaker 1: it all the time in his music. I always have
Speaker 1: my students practice singing in that voice during every session.
Speaker 1: Even if you don't use it now, I just know
Speaker 1: there's going to be a time when the only way
Speaker 1: you can get that special or unique sound or vibe
Speaker 1: is singing in your falsetto voice. If that range is
Speaker 1: difficult for you, try doing some short slides up and
Speaker 1: down in that range. For example, for me, it would
Speaker 1: be here, who try it on he or who ho
Speaker 1: ha or hay, and see which vowel feels the easiest
Speaker 1: and start with that one. I'm using the h before
Speaker 1: each vowel to get the air flowing forward. Little by little,
Speaker 1: start stretching higher and then lower each time. Do this
Speaker 1: every single day. Once you're comfortable doing the slides, it's
Speaker 1: time for you to start doing some falsetto exercises on
Speaker 1: actual notes. This is a really simple pattern you could do.
Speaker 1: It's just three notes up and down, starting the easiest
Speaker 1: part of your range, and then go up by half
Speaker 1: steps for example, and then when you feel you've gone
Speaker 1: as high as you can without straining, start going back
Speaker 1: down in half steps. Go as low as you can comfortably,
Speaker 1: and then stop. Little by little you're gonna stretch a
Speaker 1: little higher and a little bit lower and really increase
Speaker 1: that range. If you want to share your falsetto, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear you, Or if you come up with
Speaker 1: some of your own moves to loosen up your body,
Speaker 1: you can share them too. Use the hashtag backstage pass
Speaker 1: pod on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or wherever you like to post.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see what you come up with.
Speaker 1: Maybe baby, maybe baby, maybe maybe maybe may. Backstage Pass
Speaker 1: with Eric Vitro is written and hosted by me Eric
Speaker 1: Vitro and produced by Morgan Jaffee, Katherine Giardo as our
Speaker 1: show runner, Emily Rosstek as our associate producer, Mixed and
Speaker 1: mastered by Ben Tolliday. Additional engineering help from Jacob Gorski,
Speaker 1: Mia LaBelle as our executive producer. Our development team Leetal
Speaker 1: Mullad and Justine Lane helped create the show. Thanks also
Speaker 1: to Jacob Weisberg, Heather Faine, John Schnars, Carli Migliori, Christina Sullivan,
Speaker 1: Eric Sandler, Maggie Taylor, Nicole Morano, Daniello Lucan and Royston Bazzer.
Speaker 1: Original theme music by Jacob and Sita Steele for Premier
Speaker 1: Music Group. We record at Resonate Studios. Fred Talackson does
Speaker 1: our videography and the photography is by Ken Sawyer. Special
Speaker 1: thanks to Michael Lewis for his inspiration, his friendship, and
Speaker 1: the best guidance anyone could ask for. Backstage Passed with
Speaker 1: Eric Vitro as a production of Pushkin Industries, If you
Speaker 1: like the show, please remember to share, rate, and review.
Speaker 1: I mean that really. If you love this show and
Speaker 1: others from Pushkin Industries, consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin
Speaker 1: Plus is a podcast subscription that offers bonus content and
Speaker 1: uninterrupted listening for four ninety nine a month. Look for
Speaker 1: Pushkin Plus on Apple podcast subscriptions. To find more Pushkin
Speaker 1: podcast listen to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to podcasts, and now for your listening pleasure,
Speaker 1: The One, the Only mister John Legend all right, could
Speaker 1: I get a cocktail that was so relaxing