Neo-soul is out. Techno R&B is in. So Grammy-grabbing crooner John Legend has traded his well-worn vinyl inspirations for an iPod shuffle of today’s hit templates. On the ballad “This Time,” his phrasing suggests current rock cream puffs like Chris Martin of Coldplay as much as vintage soul crooners: If you thought Legend’s lullaby piano was sleepy, wait until you hear his plodding guitars. On “Quickly,” a duet with Brandy, he invokes global warming as a pickup line. Prince made sexual audacity a trademark ages ago, but Legend is just too cautious to put it over—he sounds like a CPA on his first trip to the Hustler Club. The winsome “Good Morning” returns him to familiar romantic ground—close your eyes and you can see Stevie Wonder bob his head. Unfashionable or not, this is where Legend belongs.

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