Spirited and passionate about the environment, Jason Mraz puts his soul into his latest album, writes Loong Wai Ting
IT’S hard to describe that overwhelming feeling when given a possibly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interview your favourite singer or band.
So when I am finally seated across American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz in a hotel suite in Taipei, my heart is literally in my mouth.
As it turns out, the laid-back singer has plenty to share, is down-to-earth and an inspiring figure when it comes to human equality and sustainable living.
It also his love for music and passion for the environment which colours his fifth studio album, Yes!, available from tomorrow.
ZEN-LIKE
Mraz is easygoing and his zen-like demeanour is overpowering as he patiently answers questions from reporters. Our conversation drifts from his love of music, his new album and being an eco-warrior to the “love everyone” and “feel-good” Mraz.
“Travelling around the world helps you see things in a different perspective,” he says, fiddling with his mug which has a sticker of the Indian spiritual leader, Sai Baba, on it.
“As we get older, we look at the things we’ve accumulated and I realise that I don’t need to waste time on things such as toys, clothing etc... As I got older, I started to look at what was more valuable, which was friendship, family and the heart that I put out for the wild. I’m responsible for these pieces of ‘art’.
“When I looked back and saw my earlier work, I was just so excited in getting it out, I didn’t think about what I was really saying. I just trusted that the universe would understand. I want people to understand what I am saying and this is what matters now,” he adds.
CHANGED MAN
“Ten years ago I used to eat junk food and I smoked. I had a different understanding of everything. I might have practised and experienced love in some way without really understanding it. My understanding is more on the surface. I loved career, music and the people in my life but I didn’t understand its true meaning like I do now and for me that’s where love really thrives, a place where I can really feel and taste it,” says the soft-spoken Mraz.
Going back to the album, he says it is a lot more “home-made”.
His single, Love Someone, was recorded in The Om Studio at his Mraz Organics’ Avocado Ranch and features the all-female American indie-folk band, Raining Jane.
“In my previous albums, I would make demos at home to showcase the song. Then I would go to the studio and hire musicians to help me reinvent the songs. It’s funny to say that those albums never satisfied me. With Yes!, I took special care with its demo process to make it sound like music that I would personally listen to by bringing in more eclectic instruments and sounds,” he says.
ANOTHER HIT
Yes! is likely to be another hit for Mraz, although not entirely a “big pop album”.
He says: “I was nervous because of the expectations from the music people. This project was a bit different, although I knew it would be my album because the songs came from my songwriting process and my soul even if I was with Raining Jane or another band. The only difference was, whether it would come out as a full record or side project... it was the business side that I was trying to please.
“So when we pitched the idea to the management and music label, we were surprised that they came back to us within 24 hours with a resounding ‘Yes!’.”
In addition to the creative collaboration, the acoustic album is also a special project, one which he hopes to leave a mark.
“All I can do is plant a seed of positivity and hope that it influences people to make positive decisions. Often ‘yes’ can get us out of our comfort zone and I feel that true life is only beginning if you step out of your comfort zone. Quite simply, I want a positive vibration to come out of this record and how people choose to interpret it, feel and change their world. And whether it’s personally or something they can change within their community or country, that’s really up to them,” he says.
SPECIAL BOND
On working with Raining Jane, Mraz says he knew early on that it was a special bond.
“They (Raining Jane) accepted me as their brother and let me get away with a lot of things. I fell in love with them the first time I met them at a concert where we were playing. I loved their attitude and interaction with the audience. I immediately asked if they would ever consider coming over and playing some of my demos. We had such a great time as five like-minded musicians who wanted to use our musical ability to create something out of nothing,” he says.
“I usually write my songs by myself or with another person. To be in a company with four women and say what’s in your heart, mind and evoke these emotions — we knew that was going to be special. It’s nothing but love and acceptance,” he says.
Defining his music as lyrical, melodic, spiritual, humorous (and the list goes on), Mraz says he listens to mostly peaceful, meditative music these days. A yoga practitioner, he also let that influence transcend into Yes!.
“When I’m making songs, I never set out to copy other people but their influences definitely invite me to try out a different mood or setting,” he says.
What is one thing that he always says ‘yes’ to?
“I always have problems with these questions because it takes me out of the present moment. In my experience, when I fantasise about the things that I should say yes to or could have said yes to, it makes me feel like I am missing something. At the moment, I’d say yes to all the right things that have brought me here and the opportunity to share music, travel the world, meet extraordinary people and use ordinary human life to impact the world both in small and profound ways.
“Maybe I should have said yes more to seeing my grandmother. As you get older, you see your family getting older with some passing on. You have that feeling ‘ah, I should have said I love you more’...”
ON HIS TOUR
He is currently on tour with Raining Jane and says that although there are no plans yet, Malaysia will be one of their many stops.
“I haven’t seen the schedule for 2015 and I seriously doubt that we would leave it out. Southeast Asia is so important that it will be foolish of us not to visit. Even if it is going to be at a smaller venue, it’s worth going. For me, a smaller venue like a theatre is better than a sporting arena because the sound is better and you get to see the performer and it feels closer to the heartbeat of the music,” he says.
Mraz is a passionate advocate of the environment. When the eco-warrior is not hitting the road, he prefers to stay at home and dig in his backyard.
“I like the term eco-warrior,” he says. “I have a lofty life travelling on the road, hotels and airports and I find all these (interviews and the promotional activities) a whole lot more exhausting than actually digging holes and planting trees. I find farm work so enriching and rewarding. I do it because I can see the actual results and I love how my spirit feels.
“I also want to see how strong I can feel on plant-based food. I see that as an experiment on how strong the wildlife can become in my backyard and when I know I can have these little victories (seeing his fruit trees and vegetables grow) in my own garden, I hope it will encourage people to do the same thing within their own small garden or communities.
“All of us are a part of nature and when we build ourselves all these high-rises and pave over everything, we cut ourselves off from it. I think everyone is an eco-warrior inside. If our water or air or food supplies become contaminated, everybody in this room is going to be an eco-warrior overnight. My children and my grandchildren will be having a difficult life on earth. So I want to have tools and skills to show them where they can cultivate their own food or find clean water.”