Darkness and Light is the sixthstudio album by American singer, songwriter, and pianistJohn Legend. It was released on December 2, 2016, byColumbia Records,[1] as well as his last album to be released withGOOD Music, following the end of his five-album contract with the label.[2]
Legend recorded the album at East West Studio 2 in Los Angeles. It was produced almost entirely byBlake Mills, who also played various instruments and co-produced most of the songs.[3] Legend also collaborated with rapperChance the Rapper, and vocalistsBrittany Howard andMiguel.[4]
The album's lead single "Love Me Now" was released on October 7, 2016.[5] On October 6, 2016, the music video was released for the single.[6] On November 18, 2016, the album's second single "Penthouse Floor" featuringChance the Rapper, was released.[7] On November 25, 2016, the album's first promotional single "I Know Better", was released and on March 27, 2017, was announced that the album's third single is "Surefire".
In the United States,Darkness and Light debuted at number 14 on theBillboard 200, with 38,000album-equivalent units, marking the sixth highest debut of the week.[8] The album selling 26,000 copies in its first week.[9] The album was also streamed 12.5 million times in the first week.[8]
Darkness and Light was met with generally positive reviews. AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received anaverage score of 76, based on 10 reviews.[1]
Reviewing the album inThe New York Times,Jon Pareles applauded its treatment of love as a multi-dimensional theme and "as something far more complex than a panacea and a fount of perpetual reassurance, with music to match".[10] Writing forVice,Robert Christgau cited the title track, "Marching Into the Dark", and "I Know Better" as highlights and said the lyric from the latter song ("My history has brought me to this place/This power and the color of my face") is "not an easy brag to bring off modestly, and the more I listen the more I appreciate the trick".[11]
