JASON Mraz had been living the rock-star life for five years, after success with Remedy and Wordplay. But it was time, he says, to get back to reality.
It was time for Jason Mraz to get back to reality. He'd been living the rock-star life for a solid five years, playing songs including Remedy and Wordplay all around the world, and was ready to give real life a try. The California-based singer/songwriter had lost the ability to see things straight, through ‘‘lack of experience in life skills and getting caught up in the industry'', he says. ‘‘When I was in the middle of my second record, I decided everyone else must be right so I'll just do what they tell me to do: ‘Since everyone is suggesting all these things, their comments must be valid and that must be what's cool, so I'll do that'. ‘‘And by doing that, I lost myself. I was like, ‘Well, what do I like?' and ‘What would I do in this situation? Why do I have to do what other people tell me to do?' So I decided to take my life back.'' He began by saying ‘‘no''. ‘‘It turns out you get a lot more respect,'' he says, still a little surprised. ‘‘It turns out people really want you to speak up and be yourself, be your art and be the love that you dream of.'' But then what? Did Mraz's real life involve watching a lot of TV? ‘‘No, I don't even have a TV. It's been years since I've even pushed the power button on a television, except when I step into a hotel room, and have to turn it off because they're automatically on,'' he says. Instead, real life for Mraz ‘‘was a matter of just sitting and watching the garden grow, and listening to the wildlife creatures speak back and forth, and surfing every day''. ‘‘It was about going to the grocery store and buying whatever you want, then taking it home and being the creator and master of the dish. That's a great metaphor for life -- we're just trying to make the best sandwich we can make today, so I'm gonna make sure that everything I put in it is the most awesome ingredient, the most delicious dish.'' Unlike some cloistered pop stars, Mraz is in touch enough to know that his year off was a privilege. ‘‘I was in a great position because I could afford to take months and months and months off and have these experiences. A lot of people in corporate America are lucky if they get a week off a year,'' he says. ‘‘It's really hard to know what the planet is like and to know what being a human is about, because a lot of us have to work and work and work and work.'' During his year off, Mraz turned 30. ‘‘You know, there's a cosmic law that when you turn 30, you are officially an adult. Well, it doesn't really mean much, because you don't have any adult experience. So you've become the biggest of the little kids, but now the littlest of the big kids,'' he says. ‘‘It's a transformational time, so it's a great opportunity to get rid of some childish habits, throw away some old games you used to play, and brace yourself for the new ones ahead.'' With some adult experiences under his belt, Mraz finally cranked out a new album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. It offers surprises on a few levels -- from the power of his amped-up soul to the bare-boned nature of some close-cutting ballads. Of the latter, Love for a Child is a stark moment. It's a child's-eye view of the fallout from divorce, and Mraz found the lyrics tough to share. ‘‘When I put it down with everyone, I tried to make an excuse to say, ‘These are just test lyrics. I may change these later','' he recalls. ‘‘But when I heard the playback, I thought, well, it just needs to be shared. It helps me to have a song like that, having grown up the way I did, so I thought every other one of my friends comes from a divorced family just about, so the song will remain.'' On the other end of the scale is The Dynamo of Volition, a crazy electronic number Mraz says was more ‘‘sound experiment than traditional song''. ‘‘We were trying to grab elements that made you feel as if you had been watching Tron after you drank way too much Kool-Aid. You were kinda high, but you kinda also had a stomach ache.'' We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things (Warner) out now. Jason Mraz, Forum, Aug 12-13. Second show on sale tomorrow from Ticketek.
