SPEND a New York afternoon with R B sensation John Legend and you get more than you bargained for. Sure, there are expressions of steely professional resolve, intimations of Godliness and general sobriety - increasingly mandatory for modern American music phenomena - and chuffed recollections of this year's Grammys. Legend won three of the eight awards for which he was nominated for his three million-selling debut album Get Lifted.
"I did party a lot that night," he says. "But after you win three Grammies, you should have a few drinks. It's only right.
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And there are typical shout-outs to starry collaborators: will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas was an inspiration in the studio, and a help when it came to whittling down the 30 songs Legend had written for his second album, Once Again.
Tony Bennett, with whom Legend worked on the 80-year-old's recent Duets album, "is such a gentleman and such a pro, and such a remarkable talent - still. You can just learn by watching him." Kanye West, the hip hop artist, producer and mentor to Legend, is simply a "genius".
Legend's own muse gets a pat on the back too. "I think that song will touch a lot of people," he says of 'Show Me', the new album's "existential conversation with God about who we are. Because I think everyone has those questions.
It's also beautifully arranged."
But for a soul singer and purveyor of cool and tasteful grooves, Legend also goes refreshingly off-message. "I've been reading a lot about the Iraq war," he says.
"I've been doing a considerable amount of touring and that's helped me become aware of what's going on politically and culturally in the world right now. The concepts that I gathered were just from watching the news and paying attention."
These thoughts have made it into 'Coming Home', the standout track on Once Again.
It's an affecting ballad, its impact all the greater for being written from the point of view of a soldier fighting in Iraq. Further inspiration for the song came from watching a documentary, Why We Fight. A son of one of Legend's friends was on the production team.
"It talks about how the American military's been built up ever since the Eisenhower years, since after the Second World War. We've perpetually stayed built up - and we spend more money on our military than all countries in the rest of the world combined. So we are truly by definition a very militaristic culture.
But we don't like to acknowledge it. So when I sing the line 'new year, new enemy' that's very pointedly speaking about that. But in a simple way.
"
This self-perpetuating arms race, he says, has been emboldened by George Bush: a leader who views himself as "a War President. He's happy about that. He's proud of it.
He loves telling his constituency that. And he loves telling Americans to be afraid so they think they need a War President in charge at all times. It's a nasty cycle.
Then we spend a bunch of money on weapons that we don't need.
"The thing is, the weapons aren't even relevant to the wars we're fighting. But with military spending it's more of a corporate thing at this point.
Corporate lobbies can convince Congress to spend on anything because it provides jobs, and no one wants to be seen to be weak on defence, because everyone's in this heightened state of fear. If anyone's accused of denying military spending they're made to look like they're a softie."
JOHN LEGEND is smarter than the average bear.
As well as being a gifted musician, the 27-year-old is an Ivy Leaguer who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English.
Prior to the 2004 release of Get Lifted, he worked as a management consultant. He was headed for an MBA and a high-flying business career until his friendship with West - cousin of his college roommate - helped him secure a record deal.
Not that Legend was a beneficiary of nepotism: he'd already been performing and releasing independent CDs under his own steam.
He admits he's a bit of a geek - "Go nerds!" he says - before adding that he wishes more of his peers took pride in old-fashioned values.
"But the criminal element of our culture is so glorified, it's hard for a young black man to think he's cool not being that. Not being the criminal, not being the rebel, not being anti-establishment - it's hard for someone to think it's cool to just be a good kid, be a smart kid, enjoy school, respect your elders, all those kind of things."
While studying American and African-American literature at university, he'd juggled his time too.
He was a member of Counterparts, a campus a cappella group. "We were busy and prolific," he says of the 12-strong group. They recorded albums and performed widely, even making it as far as New York's Carnegie Hall, to the finals of a nationwide competition for a cappella groups.
Having learnt his music as a child in church in Springfield, Ohio, he took time out from his studies to direct a church choir in Scranton, 90 minutes north of Philadelphia. He also held down a part-time job in an office at the college as an assistant on a programme for underprivileged high school kids in Philadelphia. A busy time, clearly.
"Yeah, I slept, like, three or four hours a day. But I somehow got away with it. I'm still surprised I didn't get kicked out of more classes.
Because unfortunately, I fell asleep in class a lot."
On the day of our lunch in New York he was also appearing on a TV talent show as a mentor to young singer songwriters, before heading for a show in Chicago. "This is a light schedule compared to what I used to do," he says, "it really is.
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He's earnest and straight-talking, rare qualities in a big-selling American R B star. He sings of his own infidelities in his songs, and opens up about the traumas of his parents' divorce when he was 11. That's top-of-the-class confidence for you: he isn't afraid to sing or talk about anything, because he knows he has the mental clout, and the musical skills, to make his case.
It makes him a spellbinding performer too, with the aura of a proper star. He mixes the soul heritage and social conscience of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder with the showmanship of Alicia Keys.
"I'm used to writing essays and trying to prove a point and argue my case," Legend says.
You can see this on his website, where he posts diary entries and lists of recommended books and films he thinks his fans might like. Or should like. Al Gore's documentary's An Inconvenient Truth is one of his latest passions.
When discussing global warming the anger of this well-mannered, well-dressed sometime church-goer is almost punk-like.
"That's another interesting political thing. Because only politicians are denying that this is happening.
No scientists of merit are denying it. At some point young people have to rise up and realise we're being lied to and deceived and misled by politicians who are being shortsighted. An Inconvenient Truth is just that - it's the truth and it'll be inconvenient for the people that are trying to run from it.
But for us it should turn a switch on to get us motivated to make some changes.
"As soon as I saw that film I started doing the things Al Gore said we should do - conserving energy, recycling, things like that. I'm doing my best, even though I'm sure my lifestyle is a drag on the environment just because I fly so much.
My carbon footprint is massive."
The single 'Heaven' is released tomorrow on RCA.
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