When it comes to the home smart speaker space, the two main competitors are Amazon’s Echo line and the Google Home family of devices. Both have large user bases, but now Google has made a move to win over music fans and/or enthusiasts of smooth and undeniably pleasant voices: For a limited time in the US, Google Assistant users will be able to have some of their questions answered in the voice of John Legend.
In a blog post, Manuel Bronstein — Vice President of Product, Google Assistant — made the announcement, and said that the cameo is available on “all devices that have the Google Assistant, including Google Home speakers and Smart Displays, and on mobile for Android and iOS.” In the post, Google suggests testing the voice with prompts like, “Are you John Legend,” “What’s your favorite type of music,” “Tell me a joke,” and, “Who is Chrissy Teigen?” Questions for which there isn’t a special Legend-voiced response will be answered in one of the regular Google Assistant voices.
Google actually put together a longer list of questions and easter eggs that will lead to specialized answers, so feel free to try using these phrases and see what happens:
- “Serenade me.”
- “Sing me a song.”
- “Are you John Legend?”
- “Do you know Chrissy Teigen?”
- “How are you?”
- “Sing ‘Happy Birthday.'”
- “Tell me a joke.”
- “Who’s your celebrity crush?”
- “What’s your favorite song?”
- “What’s your best pick up line?”
- “Compliment me.”
- “What’s the weather?”
- “How far away is the moon?”
- “What are jazz hands”?
- “How do you cook bacon in the oven?”
- “Is there an atmosphere on the moon?”
- “Is Venus the same size as the Earth?”
- “Why is the sky blue?”
- “What’s the temperature outside?”
- “Do I need an umbrella today?”
Find Google’s blog post about their Legend cameo here, and watch a video of Legend recording some of the dialogue above.
