John Legend celebrated his latest album Darkness and Light with a live performance on the Honda Stage at the iHeartRadio Theater in Los Angeles on 12/06/16.

Tune into a broadcast of the live performance via iHeartRadio with Hot AC on 6 a.m. and 12 a.m. on Sunday, December 11.

John Legend performing on the Honda Stage at the iHeartRadio Theater in Los Angeles. Photo by: Katherine and Mariel Tyler for iHeartRadio

“That’s why I called the album Darkness and Light, because we all have those moments of doubt, moments of darkness, and moments of pain, but hopefully music, love and relationships can guide us through all of that and give us a little bit of light.” – John Legend

The lyrics in ‘Love Me Now’ from Darkness and Light stuck with me for hours. It was the idea of passing on in life with a loved one still on earth that grabbed my attention. He might just be talking about moving to another location, but the concept of leaving someone behind haunts me like a ghost. Maybe that is because I have abandonment issues, and this song may help those like myself. That level of emotional distress layered with the beauty in Legend’s voice along with his piano playing creates a wonderful juxtaposition.

With the GRAMMY nominations being released recently, I found myself with a distaste for artists on major record labels. The amount of promotional and support they get in comparison to indie artists is beyond unfair. I found out that Legend works with major labels, as well as owning his label, John Legend Music, Inc. That being said, John Legend is one of the few mainstream artists that can still melt my frozen, critical heart.

Legend even brought up that without Kanye West finding his music, getting him signed, that he would have had much less ability to reach international audiences. So, I tip my hat to Kanye for doing the hard work of taking an unknown artist, and giving them the opportunity to create work on a larger stage, such as the iHeartRadio Theater. My goal is to push iHeartRadio to be more like Kanye, minus the bleached hair.

Darkness and Light does feature the top artist of 2016 with Chance the Rapper adding to ‘Penthouse Floor.’ Overall, the album is good, but I want to see Legend tackle social issues with his level of influence.

Watch over highlights from Legend’s live set from Los Angeles with the YouTube Playlist below.