John Legend: "Used to Love U"

Maybe it's cliche at this point, but that doesn't mean it's not true: John Legend makes women melt. Specifically me. Even when he's singing about wanting to cheat or not loving me anymore, he's still seducing me. It's kind of bass-ackwards but I'll be damned if it doesn't work every time.

Four albums -- one of them with the Roots, who will be featured in this blog in the near future -- and the man is basically unstoppable. He's best known for "Ordinary People," from his first album in 2004, but in my opinion that's probably his weakest song. (Or maybe, per usual, I'm disenchanted by radio overplay.)

Legend is a musician's musician; he collaborates with everyone. (No wonder his debut album grabbed three Grammys.) He's a genre-specific chameleon -- R&B, soul, hip-hop, old school rap, pop -- and has worked with Kanye West (whose label released all four of Legend's albums), Alicia Keys, and Stevie Wonder, among many others.

His voice is silk, and I could listen to him pound a piano any day. I'm even willing to forgive the contraction* of "you" to "u," just this once. (But please don't make that a habit, John.) Enjoy.

"Used to Love U," performed by John Legend
Original on Legend's "Get Lifted" (2004).

* Special shout-out to my friend Katie Blaisdell for figuring out that this is a logogram, not a contraction.