Watch John Legend’s New ‘Fireflies’ Video
The Pharrell Williams collaboration appears on Legend’s new album ‘Muse,’ due October 23 via Republic Records.
John Legend has released the music video for “Fireflies,” a new song featuring Pharrell Williams. The track appears on Legend’s forthcoming album Muse, due October 23 via Republic Records, with Williams producing the full project and serving as a co-writer.
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Directed by Paul Hunter and produced by PRETTYBIRD, the “Fireflies” video combines Legend’s piano performance with the Hollywood Cinematic Orchestra and portraits of people living in a housing project. The visual reflects the song’s focus on inequality, loss and resilience. “Fireflies” follows “Daylight,” the lead single from Muse, which Legend introduced earlier this month during CBS’s America’s Tailgate special marking the start of the NFL season. Hunter also directed the “Daylight” video.
Muse is Legend and Williams’ first full album together after more than 20 years of friendship. According to the release, the project began after Legend appeared on Clipse’s comeback album Let God Sort ’Em Out; his vocal on “The Birds Don’t Sing” prompted Williams to develop an album around his voice. The pair wrote and recorded at Williams’ studio at Louis Vuitton headquarters in Paris, drawing on influences including Nina Simone, Nat King Cole and Marvin Gaye while combining orchestral arrangements with contemporary rhythms. Legend described the concept as “classic, cinematic elements, this Black James Bond aesthetic” built over “a modern backbeat at its foundation.”
The album incorporates gospel, standards, doo-wop, classic soul, Afrobeat and hip-hop. Legend said the record also reflects the musical traditions that shaped both artists: “Our ancestors are our muses. My music has always been me channeling the ancestors, taking what they gave us and making something new.” Beyond Muse, Legend is working on Imitation of Life, a new musical scheduled to open in December at The Shed in a co-production with National Black Theatre. The production stars Adrienne Warren, features a book by Lynn Nottage and direction by Whitney White, and marks Legend’s first original score for the stage.
