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This article was published 12/07/2019 (2657 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you’ve been to a wedding or a beach in the last decade, chances are you’re familiar with the loved-up, ultra-chill work of American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz.

Mraz, the two-time Grammy Award-winner behind such first-dance staples as I’m Yours (which has more than 729 million streams on Spotify) and I Won’t Give Up (403 million streams), will be making his first-ever stop in Manitoba Friday at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and after 20 years in the business as a touring musician, says he’s “thrilled” to still have the opportunity to play in new markets. 

“Sometimes it’s embarrassing, like, ‘Wow, how come I haven’t made it there yet?’ But it’s also a thrill. I know the world is a very, very big place and to continually feel like the adventure is still going is something that sparks a lot of gratitude and awe, and then through that, I feel like I still have a great responsibility,” the 42-year-old says from his California home. 

“I like to think of it as transforming new audiences; there could be many new faces in the crowd I have to assume might be skeptical about what the evening is going to be, or they may have lots of expectations, so that continually drives me to put on a great show. And for returning fans that might be visiting Winnipeg for this show, it inspires me to still make it new and make it fresh so they can see us on stage still having fun and creating new things, and that they, too, are participating that.”

Mraz’s musical MO is rooted in ideas of kindness, love and empathy for his fellow humans, and he’s very aware the role his songs play in soundtracking some of the most important moments in his fans’ lives. That connection with those consuming his work is clearly important to him; it drives him and inspires him to continue pushing himself as an artist.

“I grew up knowing that music has that power and has that connection and the artists I love the most touched me in those moments or in those emotional ways, so as a writer I just wanted to emulate my heroes and the music I love,” he says. “And because I play the music and sing the words, they become my mantras, they become my regular language; therefore they become my thoughts and my beliefs and my attitudes…. And then I think because of that, it has the power to reach an audience that way.

“When I work both on my notebook and in my studio and on stage, I have my own personal mission or motto that I follow, which is similar to Old MacDonald, who had a farm, his song was E-I-E-I-O, and I use that acronym to remind me that I’m there to entertain, to inspire, to educate, to be the ‘I am,’ to be authentic and have a true expression to the audience can see themselves in the work as well. And then the O stands for, ‘Oh my gosh, that was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.’ That’s the criteria I have to meet every time and it keeps me on track.”

These warm-and-fuzzy themes have been especially evident in his last three albums, 2012’s Love is a Four Letter Word, 2014’s Yes and 2018’s Know, which highlight Mraz’s belief positive music can promote a positive attitude which, in turn, promotes positive societal and personal change. But that wasn’t necessarily the same songwriting path he followed earlier in his career; while his work has always had a free and easy quality to it, Mraz’s motivations and inspirations have changed a lot as he has grown as a man and a musician. 

“It’s almost a 180-degree flip, because when I was starting and didn’t have as much experience, I just wanted to make noise and sounds. So sometimes I wouldn’t even edit, I would improvise words and that would be it…. And my motivations were trying to get the girl or to go have fun. I was in my early 20s and hormones were in a much different imbalance, I guess, and through the years and probably largely because audiences show up to listen, it’s made me want to be kinder, it’s made me want to be responsible with my words and have an impact,” says Mraz. 

“But it also has come through the personal development of wanting to make sure I’m developing and serving my community and serving my family and my band members and my friends, and language can be a very powerful thing. To sing and travel is a luxury, it’s a privilege, and I don’t want to ever abuse that or take it for granted, so I felt if I could combine gratitude and the privilege of singing and performing with a thoughtfulness and a kind of song quality that can hopefully heal a broken heart or unite us in a way, then that matters to me.

“I don’t know, it was a slow, gradual transformation, but it was a transformation nonetheless.”

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @NireRabel