John Legend

John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He has won nine Grammy Awards, one Golden Globe, and one Academy Award. In 2007, Legend received the Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Prior to the release of Legend's debut album, his career gained momentum through a series of successful collaborations with multiple established artists. He sang in Magnetic Man's "Getting Nowhere," Kanye West's "All of the Lights", on Slum Village's "Selfish", and Dilated Peoples' "This Way". Other artists included Jay Z's "Encore", and he sang backing vocals on Alicia Keys' 2003 song "You Don't Know My Name", the Kanye West remix of Britney Spears' "Me Against the Music", and Fort Minor's "High Road". Legend played piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything". He has gained chart topping hits from his solo work as well, including the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, "All of Me". He won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2015 for writing the song "Glory" from the film Selma.

Meghan Trainor

Meghan Elizabeth Trainor (born December 22, 1993) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. Born and raised in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Trainor wrote, recorded, performed and produced three independently-released albums between ages 15 and 17. In 2011, she signed a publishing deal with Big Yellow Dog Music, and pursued a career in songwriting.

After signing a record deal with Epic Records in 2014, Trainor rose to fame with the release of major-label debut studio album, Title (2015). The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and produced four top 20 singles: "All About That Bass", "Lips Are Movin", "Dear Future Husband", and "Like I'm Gonna Lose You". Later certified platinum by the RIAA, the record passed one million sales domestically.

Prominently influenced by the 1950s and 1960s eras in music, Trainor's music has been noted for its retro style aesthetic. Common themes in her lyrics include subjects of modern womanhood, body image, and empowerment. Trainor's work has been recognized with several awards and nominations, including the Music Business Association's Breakthrough Artist of the Year accolade and two Billboard Music Awards.

And I

"And I" is a song written by American R&B singer Ciara, and produced by Adonis Shropshire for Ciara's first album, Goodies (2004). It was released as the album's fourth and final single on August 30, 2005 (see 2005 in music) in North America.

The song was originally the third choice for the fourth single. Ciara has mentioned in an interview that "Thug Style", "Hotline" or "Pick up the Phone" would be the fourth single, but when Ciara suggested "And I" to executives at her previous record label LaFace, they were unhappy because they wanted "Next to You" to be the fourth single.

Chart performance

At the time of the U.S. release of "And I", Ciara's collaboration with Bow Wow, "Like You", and her collaboration with Missy Elliott, "Lose Control", were at the height of their popularity. "And I" peaked at 96 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and 27 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, which were poor positions compared to those attained by the first three singles from the album Goodies. It was not released outside North America because of this, and it is Ciara's least successful single.

All Falls Down

"All Falls Down" is a song by American hip hop artist Kanye West. It was released as the third single from his debut album, The College Dropout. The song was produced by West and features singer Syleena Johnson. It was released in February 2004 and entered the UK Singles Chart at number ten and peaked at number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100 on May 11, 2004, his first Top 10 in the USA. The song was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 47th Grammy Awards.

Background

The song features an interpolation of Lauryn Hill's "Mystery of Iniquity." Kanye originally attempted to acquire legal clearance to sample the recording but due to various complications, the permission was withheld. West then called upon Syleena Johnson to re-sing the relevant vocal portions of "Mystery of Iniquity" which ended up in the final track. The version of the song with the original sample can be heard on West's Freshman Adjustment mixtape. Lyrically, "All Falls Down" examines the self-consciousness and insecurity within society, particularly the black community, and how these characteristics pertain to economic materialism.

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey (born March 27, 1969 or 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She rose to prominence after the release of the first single taken from her eponymous debut album in 1990, "Vision of Love". More than two decades later, Rolling Stone defined the song as an influence on "virtually every other female R&B singer since the nineties". Mariah Carey produced four chart-topping singles in the US and began what would become a string of commercially successful albums which solidified the singer as Columbia's highest selling act. Carey and Boyz II Men spent a record sixteen weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 with "One Sweet Day", which remains the longest-running number-one song in US chart history. Following a contemptuous divorce from Sony Music head Tommy Mottola, Carey adopted a new image and traversed towards R&B with the release of Butterfly (1997). In 1998, she was honored as the world's best-selling recording artist of the 1990s at the World Music Awards and subsequently named the best-selling female artist of the millennium in 2000.