![\"Issue36-jason-mraz\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Issue36-jason-mraz.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\n\u201cI\u2019m still riding on the success of \u2018I\u2019m Yours,\u2019\u201d Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jason Mraz admits as he winds through the streets of Tokyo. He\u2019s on his way to the airport after promoting his fifth studio album, YES!<\/i>, in Japan. \u201cThanks to that song, my bills are paid, I get to travel the world\u2014and now I\u2019m able to make the kind of music that I love.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than six years after the ubiquitous, chart-topping tune was released, Mraz, 37, has settled in to a soft-rock sweet spot. For the mostly acoustic set, he partnered with all-female folk-rock band Raining Jane, his casual collaborators since 2006. Aside from a cover of Boyz II Men\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,\u201d Mraz and Raining Jane\u2014Mai Bloomfield, Becky Gebhardt, Chaska Potter and Mona Tavakoli\u2014wrote every song, alongside producer Mike Mogis.<\/p>\n
Since getting his start playing coffeehouses in San Diego, Calif., Mraz has honed his craft over the past 15 years, creating soulful folk-pop with a positive message\u2014and he\u2019s rarely strayed from that path. But despite the huge success of \u201cI\u2019m Yours\u201d\u2014which has sold 7 million copies in the U.S.\u2014and having debuted YES!<\/i>\u2019s lead single, \u201cLove Someone\u201d on the American Idol <\/i>season finale, Mraz maintains a laid-back, bohemian attitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to be going home,\u201d he says as he nears the airport, adding that if he could find a way to avoid the extensive travel and work from home, \u201cI would definitely appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n
How did YES!<\/i> come together?<\/b><\/p>\n
I hate to use the term \u201corganic,\u201d but it is a very organic album. For the last eight years, my collaborators Raining Jane and I have gotten together once or twice a year, just for the love of creating music. Last year, we made a collection of demos that expressed a vibe similar to what\u2019s on the album. We knew the songs would end up somewhere, and in the back of our minds we thought, \u201cOne of these days we\u2019ll make an album together.\u201d So I pitched the idea as a side project, thinking I needed to take a breather from what I\u2019d been doing. But people loved the sound so much that I got the green light to bring Raining Jane into my world.<\/p>\n
Do women bring a different vibe?<\/b><\/p>\n
The only thing that\u2019s gender-specific is the quality and tone of their vocals. As musicians, if you were doing a blind test, you wouldn\u2019t know if it was a man or a woman who was playing an instrument. But I love the vocals they contribute, and I love blending my voice with theirs. As for life in the studio and in our writing sessions, we always share a house and become a family. There\u2019s a lot of love, a lot of laughs, a lot of snacks. It\u2019s a very nurturing experience.<\/p>\n
Did you try anything new? <\/b><\/p>\n
The biggest difference was that I wrote and recorded everything with Raining Jane. That makes a huge difference in the sound. The Janes and I arranged the songs, and then we produced it alongside Mike Mogis. Usually I would sign up with a producer and just let them do everything. But this time, Mike worked with us to re-create the sound we had on our demos. So this is my first handmade album.<\/p>\n
How did Mike help flesh it out?<\/b><\/p>\n
We only spent about two weeks at his studio in Omaha, but he was very generous with his time. We used the demos we made as a template and tried to do nothing more, aside from capturing the natural vibe that comes from our musical strengths and identities. We did our best to keep it simple. Mike\u2019s contributions had a lot to do with the title of the album. He\u2019s a \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your live show like?<\/b><\/p>\n
Raining Jane and I usually sit in a circle when we play. On tour, though, we won\u2019t be in a circle\u2014we\u2019ll face the audience. We\u2019ll be letting the audience sit in that circle with us while we bring the album to life. We\u2019ll also be reinterpreting my old songs.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re playing theaters, not arenas.<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always loved seeing artists in smaller venues, and as an artist I\u2019ve always loved being on smaller stages\u2014I feel I can be heard when I\u2019m telling a story, and I can see into the eyes of those who are there. Theaters are sacred spaces where music, drama and art unfold. It\u2019s a commitment to quality, really. I want the sound to be cherished and not compromised.<\/p>\n
Are you trying to simplify your life?<\/b><\/p>\n
Definitely. Music has always been a reflection of my journey, and my journey has been taking me home the last couple of years. I\u2019ve been somewhat frustrated with the world at large, where we\u2019ve created a need to have buying power. We have to work and have money in order to get food and water. But my journey has been taking me back to some of those more primitive skills of growing your own food and making your own necessities. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m alone on that journey. I\u2019ve seen it sweeping communities across the world. A lot of young people are excited about getting off their phones and getting dirty again\u2014getting back into real life.<\/p>\n
How\u2019s it feel being labeled soft rock?<\/b><\/p>\n
It\u2019s funny, I listen to all kinds of music, but when I pick up an instrument, a soft-rock vibe comes through me. And I\u2019m totally cool with that. I feel at ease when I\u2019m playing that kind of music. I\u2019m actually very selfish in a way: I want the music to put me at ease, and if it comes out as soft rock, then so be it.<\/p>\n
Were you surprised by the success of \u201cI\u2019m Yours\u201d?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Totally. I disregarded it after I wrote it. I put it aside and thought it was like a nursery rhyme or something. A few years later I started playing it live, and I noticed audiences really reacting to it. Then a few years after that, I decided to put it on an album, and it just continued to have its own life. I\u2019m constantly surprised and delighted by it. I still love to play it.<\/p>\n
Do you feel pressured to create hits?<\/b><\/p>\n
I don\u2019t. \u201cI\u2019m Yours\u201d kind of took the pressure off. Because of the success of that song, I\u2019ve been able to continue making music. If there was pressure to have another hit single like \u201cI\u2019m Yours,\u201d then I probably would have been pressured into doing something other than making an acoustic album with Raining Jane. But I\u2019ve been given a lot of freedom because my team knows that if it comes from the heart it\u2019s going to have the success it deserves. If we try to chase a single, then odds are we\u2019re not going to be coming from a heart-centered place and it\u2019s likely to fall flat. We want to make music that leaves a positive footprint.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s next musically?<\/b><\/p>\n
I have no idea. I have a blank canvas in front of me, so it\u2019s a world of possibilities. And that\u2019s been the case with every record. The day I put out an album is sort of the day one chapter closes and I start a new journey. As soon as this album comes out, Raining Jane and I are heading into a writing session together for a week, where we\u2019re going to lock ourselves in and see what else comes out. So anything goes.<\/p>\n
\u2013Katy Kroll<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JASON MRAZ\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Enjoying the creative freedom that comes with multiplatinum success \u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m still riding on the success of \u2018I\u2019m Yours,\u2019\u201d Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jason Mraz admits as he winds through the streets of Tokyo. He\u2019s on his way to the airport after promoting his fifth studio album, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[3512,7652],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14632,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14630\/revisions\/14632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}