Musician, activist, author, winemaker, philanthropist… none of those titles alone seem to do John Legend justice, which is perhaps why Variety has opted to use the word “mogul” in naming the performer its music mogul of the year. In its latest issue, the publication sat down with Legend to discuss his massive 2020 impact, addressing everything from his latest album, to his views on the current U.S. president, to his wife Chrissy Teigen.

On releasing ‘Bigger Love’ during a pandemic

As the publication notes, Legend didn’t plan on releasing his latest album, Bigger Love, during a pandemic or in the middle of a global call for social change. But when the 16-song album was released on Juneteenth he hoped that its themes of joy, grief and romance would resonate during these difficult and divisive times.“Part of the album is about resilience—that love can help us power through hard times,” he said. “Of course, I didn’t know I was releasing Bigger Love during a pandemic or that, two weeks before its release, there’d be a nine-minute snuff video of an officer killing George Floyd. I didn’t know what landscape I’d be releasing this album into. I do believe that there is more to the Black experience in America than mourning, anger and outrage. There’s more to our humanity. I was looking for the sound of love in what is a pretty scary time.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

John Legend is Variety's Music Mogul of the Year. On #Juneteenth, Legend released #BiggerLove, an album that is partly "about resilience — that love can help us power through hard times,” he says. “Of course, I didn’t know I was releasing ‘Bigger Love’ during a pandemic or that, two weeks before its release, there’d be a nine-minute snuff video of an officer killing George Floyd. I didn’t know what landscape I’d be releasing this album into. I do believe that there is more to the Black experience in America than mourning, anger and outrage. There’s more to our humanity. I was looking for the sound of love in what is a pretty scary time.” At the link in bio, the EGOT gets candid about the album, his empire, and the current state of America. (?: @ramonarosales)

A post shared by Variety (@variety) on Aug 11, 2020 at 6:30am PDT

On taking on the president

Given Legend’s previous support of America’s 44^th president, Barack Obama (Variety notes Legend worked on the “Yes We Can” video with Will.i.am in 2008 that has been credited with turning around Obama’s campaign), the publication was obviously curious about his political views now. Specifically, interviewer A.D. Amorosi wanted to know Legend’s reaction to Donald Trump’s 2019 tweets in which he called Legend boring and his wife Teigen “filthy mouthed.” As it turns out, Legend really doesn’t think much of the current leadership.“President Trump is obviously a bigot,” Legend said in a tone that the piece described as cool. “He’s been a bigot his entire life. I believe he is a eugenicist. … He’s not capable of leading the country when we have moments of racial unrest and responses to racism. We’re always going to be a weaker nation with him in charge, and it is an urgent priority that he is not in charge.”

On telling Black stories in TV and film

While many people think of Legend as a musician first, let’s not forget that the guy is an EGOT winner. That means he’s had his hands in a lot of different pies over the years, and that includes producing notable TV shows and movies. Under his production company, Get Lifted Film Co., he’s developed reality competitions like Rhythm + Flow for Netflix and the critically acclaimed TV drama Underground for WGN. The company also had a producing credit on La La Land (in which Legend had a small part) and thanks to a new deal with ABC, it has other projects like Paper Gods (based on Goldie Taylor’s bestselling novel) also coming up.[video_embed id='2006013']RELATED: John Legend reveals what Chrissy Teigen thinks about his love songs[/video_embed]“A lot of this interest started after #OscarsSoWhite, the power of Black Twitter, and seeing that [there] was a viable market to see Black talent on the screen, more so than in the past,” Legend revealed. “A film [like Black Panther] showed if you do it right and have financial success, you can tell Black stories with range, outside the typical box that Black art was most often put in for too long.”

On his equally famous wife

It’s no secret that Chrissy Teigen never holds back on social media, but she’s also amassed plenty of her own fans through modelling, as a cookbook author, and as the personality behind Quibi’s new series Chrissy’s Court. While Legend and Teigen have done some endorsements together for companies like Google Assistant or Pampers, he revealed to Variety that their partnership doesn’t always mean collaborations. “When it comes to Chrissy, I’m there as a friend, adviser and support system—to talk her up—but she’s running her own show,” he said.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

forever!

A post shared by chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) on Jul 29, 2020 at 8:35am PDT

On living the mogul life

 So what does a mogul like Legend pull in anyhow? Variety reports that the personality has a net worth of between $50 and $75 million. That’s from all of his projects mind you, which when added up are impressive. Think music but also endorsements (Stella Artois beer and Hint Water among them), film and TV projects, a wine enterprise, and of course all of those royalties.At the end of the day, Legend is pretty clear why he believes he’s had success across so many different platforms, and none of it has to do with trying to pull in a big payday.“I like to think I do everything with passion,” he said. “But certainly music comes first.”[video_embed id='1968994']Before you go: John Legend and Kanye West have gone their separate ways[/video_embed]