When John Legend laid down his voice for the chorus of Clipse’s “The Birds Don’t Sing”, Pharrell Williams—who’d produced the hip-hop duo’s 2025 comeback record Let God Sort Em Out—was inspired to bring Legend back into the studio for a bigger project. The pair convened at Williams’ studio in the Louis Vuitton headquarters in Paris and made Muse, an ambitious showcase of Legend’s vocal talent that draws on funk and gospel, Afrobeat and spy-flick splendour, hip-hop and “Taps”. (The latter two come together on “Bodies on the Floor”, a stormy exploration of the phrase “all’s fair in love and war” that brings Clipse back into the mix.) Incredibly, Muse is the first joint project between Legend and Williams, two leading figures in 21st-century Black music; Legend’s smooth voice and Pharrell’s studio wizardry, combined with the pair’s keen knowledge of music’s past and future, make them ideal collaborators.