Songwriters Roundtable: Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr. and Justin Timberlake Talk Politics, Pandemic and Keeping Hope Alive

Some of the industry’s biggest musicians reflect on the songs they composed for awards contenders, personal truths revealed by the pandemic, their younger selves and missing the stage: “It’s a little sad, because we really need that more than anything.” When Stacey Abrams calls, you answer. And when the former gubernatorial candidate (and current Democratic party savior) asked Janelle Monáe to come up with a song for her voting rights documentary All In: The Fight for Democracy, Monáe admits it was impossible to say no. But the request from Abrams was not Monáe’s only motivation for creating “Turntables” for the Amazon film. “There were people in the documentary like my dad. My dad was in and out of prison growing up. And he also was addicted to drugs. But instead of, like, rehabilitating him, they threw him in prison and also took away his right to vote,” she says. “And so, you know, I had to do it for my father.” Monáe is just one of the musicians gathered for The Hollywood Reporter’s virtual Songwriter Roundtable who had a deeply personal connection to the films for which they created music. For John Legend, who co-wrote the stirring anthem “Never Break”… Read full this story

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