{"id":5823,"date":"2012-04-25T09:11:39","date_gmt":"2012-04-25T16:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=5823"},"modified":"2012-11-12T21:31:56","modified_gmt":"2012-11-13T04:31:56","slug":"jason-mraz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2012\/04\/jason-mraz\/","title":{"rendered":"JASON MRAZ"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"JASON MRAZ<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\n

A talk about the meaning of music, finding the right sound and his favorite four-letter word.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Jason Mraz is in a noisy Los Angeles rehearsal hall, taking a break from doing something that doesn\u2019t come easily to him: telling other people what to do. Mraz first emerged from the Southern California coffeehouse scene just over a decade ago armed only with a guitar, a sweetly melodious tenor voice and a rapidly growing stack of original songs. As his notoriety has grown, so has the scope of his musical vision\u2014and so today this laid-back, easygoing fellow finds himself giving direction to the stage full of musicians with whom he\u2019ll spend the next few months touring. \u201cOnce I realized I was a bandleader and had to be diplomatic and democratic, it was so much harder,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a nightmare. I don\u2019t want to manage people. I got involved in music because I didn\u2019t want to have to have a day job!\u201d<\/p>\n

But as with all the other aspects of his steadily growing career, Mraz has adapted. \u201cI\u2019ve always brought people into my band and said, \u2018Do what you do, bring your gifts and express yourself how you choose,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s great to a certain extent, but I\u2019ve also created bands where we were just the biggest wash of muddiness, where everybody\u2019s playing on top of everybody. It\u2019s taken me a decade to learn how to lead inspired rehearsals and soundchecks, where even if you have to ask someone to play less it doesn\u2019t squash their ego.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mraz doesn\u2019t make it easy on himself\u2014he likes to assemble an all-new band every time he tours, in an effort to keep things fresh for himself and his audience. At the moment he\u2019s got a lead guitarist, keyboardist, bass player, drummer and horn section in place. \u201cSo far everyone in the band is a great singer,\u201d he says, \u201cso we may not need background singers.\u201d The players will have some crowd-pleasing material to work with, given that their new boss has written some of the most popular songs of the new century. He enjoyed a Top 15 hit with his very first major-label single, the tongue-twistingly clever \u201cThe Remedy (I Won\u2019t Worry),\u201d from his platinum-selling debut Waiting for My Rocket to Come<\/em>.
\nHe stretched himself musically on the follow-up, 2005\u2019s punningly titled Mr. A-Z<\/em>, while building a loyal audience through relentless touring.<\/p>\n

The Mechanicsville, Va., native broke through globally with 2008\u2019s We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things<\/em>. The album appeared likely to underperform commercially, until the little-song-that-could \u201cI\u2019m Yours\u201d slowly but surely began winding its way up the charts\u2014eventually spending an all-time record 76 weeks on Billboard\u2019s Hot 100 and selling 21 million downloads worldwide. Two more singles, \u201cMake It Mine\u201d and the Colbie Caillat duet \u201cLucky,\u201d earned Grammys. After touring for 22 months to promote We Sing<\/em>, Mraz spent much of 2010 traveling for pleasure and attending songwriting retreats and workshops. By the end of the year he had amassed about 40 new songs. \u201cBut they\u2019re like spaghetti noodles\u2014you throw them against the wall to see if they\u2019re done,\u201d he says. \u201cNot too many of these songs stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than get discouraged, Mraz simply recalled that he had written a staggering 80 songs before winnowing We Sing<\/em> down to its final track listing and decided he must be halfway finished. \u201cI had to do a little more soul-searching, break my heart open a few times to see what was in there,\u201d he says. \u201cI had to see what I was made of, where I was getting stopped and how to overcome that.\u201d So he wrote\u2014and wrote, and wrote, and wrote. \u201cI have to do it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a luxury, but it\u2019s also a curse.\u201d His determination finally paid off\u2014most of the songs that earned spots on his new album, Love Is a Four Letter Word<\/em>, were penned in the summer of 2011. \u201cThings just started to fly,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Mraz recorded Love<\/em>
\nwith producer Joe Chiccarelli at L.A.\u2019s Sunset Sound studio. He insists there was no record-label pressure to repeat the blockbuster status of
\nWe Sing<\/em>, which went gold, platinum or double platinum in seven countries. \u201cAtlantic never put any pressure on me,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s never been any, \u2018It\u2019s got to be as big as \u201cI\u2019m Yours.\u201d\u2019 They know that they\u2019re only going to get good stuff if I\u2019m living the life I choose and writing from the heart. The minute they put pressure on me, then the whole thing has been screwed up. Music is meant to heal, it\u2019s meant to uplift and inspire.\u201d As the bass tones of his fellow rehearsal-hall residents vibrated through the walls, Mraz, 34, gamely discussed his philosophy about making himself heard through song.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What drew you to music?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always loved music. Since I was a kid I felt I had this connection to something greater than myself, something that allowed me to channel ideas and melodies, to create songs as a way to understand what my life is about. I write songs for my own cathartic and therapeutic purposes, but also as a way to entertain people and perhaps even heal someone else\u2019s broken heart. I\u2019m so moved by that\u2014I\u2019m almost addicted to that experience of songwriting and creation. I felt like it didn\u2019t serve me or the world for me to be a night janitor or a mailman, so I quit all my day jobs and I went for it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do you usually write?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The process for all the songs is slightly different. Usually it begins with playing chords that move me enough to want to open my mouth and emote all over the guitar or the piano. From those sounds will come a feeling. I\u2019ll try to get down to whatever bare emotion it is, that raw thing. Is it love, is it fear, what is this song for? And then, like a little sprout, it will grow. It\u2019ll wind itself around the chords and around my throat and dictate where the story is going, where this little beanstalk is climbing. I just try to stay out of the way and follow it with the pen or recorder, emoting freestyle and letting it grow. I try to write more than is necessary, then peel away the parts I don\u2019t need. You can never write or improvise too much. You never know whether where you\u2019ll land next is going to get you to that higher frequency, to that vulnerable place people end up connecting with the most.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is it scary to be that vulnerable?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not anymore. I was a little nervous in the beginning. When I first started writing, I would try to put it in a secret code. I knew I was saying all these personal things, but the audience was only getting a portion of it because it was so wrapped up in poetry. I think that was fear-based. Over the years I\u2019ve tried to be more transparent. If that\u2019s what the song is about, then that\u2019s what the song is about. But I don\u2019t use people\u2019s real names or point fingers\u2014I don\u2019t want to change any listener\u2019s experience of the song. I\u2019d rather let them have their own connection to it. I feel once the song is out there in the world, the public has every right to make it their own. This is a song they can put on their mixtape for their lover, or the song they can use at their wedding, or the song they play at the gym that gives them strength. It has nothing to do with who the hell Jason Mraz is.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you always write on guitar?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve done a handful of songs on piano, and a few using programs, loops and samples and things. But everything else is guitar. Hundreds of songs on guitar.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What are your demos like?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

These days I just put down a guitar and vocal on a little Dictaphone. Sometimes I\u2019ll sing through the [Telefunken] 251 mic and plug my guitar into something that sounds nice, but I still try to keep it guitar and vocal. I might stack the vocals to see where the song can go vocally, and sometimes I\u2019ll add a second guitar. But if I go any further than that I\u2019m just entertaining myself, or trying to learn how to play bass. (laughs)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How did you know you were ready to record?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t know, but I knew I had a lot of material. So once I had eight that were certain and 20 that I had no idea about, we said, \u201cLet\u2019s go for it and we\u2019ll figure it out as we go.\u201d And we did. Songs that I thought would work didn\u2019t work in the studio, and songs that I didn\u2019t think would work suddenly sounded great.<\/p>\n

Are you tempted to try for hits?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. I think about what I want to do, and what songs I\u2019ll want to sing every day. Who am I being in the world with this song? The pressure isn\u2019t about commercial success but rather is this song going to make a difference in somebody\u2019s life, if only mine? Is it going to be from the heart? Are these words going to empower someone? If I write a song because I think it\u2019ll have commercial success, it probably won\u2019t. It\u2019s going to suck, because money can\u2019t applaud your music. Abraham Lincoln and George Washington aren\u2019t going to be crying if your song is emotional.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have you tossed coulda-been hits?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Occasionally I write a song that you would think, \u201cOh, this is going to have huge commercial appeal.\u201d As a songwriter I might agree with you, but as a performer maybe I don\u2019t want that to be my expression. So I shelve a lot of material that could very well be commercially successful. I have a mission, and I don\u2019t want to put every cheesy thing that I write up onstage with me. If it\u2019s from the heart, then it will have a fair amount of success. It will have the amount of success that it\u2019s supposed to have.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do the songs change much onstage?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah. \u201cThe Remedy\u201d changed over and over and over again\u2014with every record that came out, it got switched up. When that song was written and produced it was during that late-\u201990s, turn-of-the-century pop push, so it\u2019s important to update that song. I found that the lyrics work over a variety of rhythms, whether I\u2019m singing it slow or over a reggae beat, so that\u2019s changed a lot. \u201cI\u2019m Yours\u201d is taking a bit of a turn on this new tour\u2014it\u2019s a little more mainland America versus Hawaiian-islands America. It\u2019s still got that groove, but it\u2019s got a little more cowboy swing to it right now, which I love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That must help the songs stay fresh.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Definitely. The minute I start singing a song like a robot, I know something\u2019s wrong. It\u2019s not going to make me happy and it\u2019s not going to make the people who paid money to come see me sing them happy. So it\u2019s important for my own sanity to hit that stage every night and absolutely be inside of that song, be on the journey that song is on. That\u2019s another reason I\u2019ve had a different band for every album and tour. The best way I can learn and grow, develop and unfold, is by playing with other people. I didn\u2019t go to music school\u2014although I had amazing music teachers in public school, and I\u2019m very grateful for that. But in my adult life, my only training has been putting myself in the middle of great musicians. Some days I break up laughing hysterically in the middle of a song, because I just can\u2019t believe how amazing it sounds. I can\u2019t believe my luck that my songs are being interpreted by these musicians.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you have a goal in mind?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, I\u2019d like to find me a nice gal and settle down. (laughs)<\/em> I\u2019m going to be on tour for the next 10 months, and that doesn\u2019t leave a whole lot of time for dating. So I\u2019d like to figure that out. I\u2019ve yet to master the art of the relationship, and I feel that\u2019s the final frontier for me. Once I do that, I can move into a new chapter in my life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JASON MRAZ A talk about the meaning of music, finding the right sound and his favorite four-letter word. Jason Mraz is in a noisy Los Angeles rehearsal hall, taking a break from doing something that doesn\u2019t come easily to him: telling other people what to do. Mraz first emerged from the Southern California coffeehouse scene […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4835,23],"tags":[3512,3303],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5823"}],"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=5823"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8059,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5823\/revisions\/8059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}