Peace & Love

After touring the world for a couple of years on the strength of the success of his 2008 album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things, which debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, Jason Mraz took some time out, not just to write some new songs, but also to live a little outside of just “being Jason Mraz”. The result, four years on, was his fourth album, Love Is A Four Letter Word, released in April last year. “Albums aren't made by individuals; I think they're supported by entire families and communities,” Mraz, who was, incidentally, one of the judges APRA called on to judge this year's Top 200 Professional Development Awards applications, suggests. “Like it takes a village to raise a child, I feel the albums that I've made, even the career I've had, is the result of close friends in a family that had become my band and my management, and then also our fans, who've sort of shared these commonalities in thought, you know, those of us who ask questions and just wanna find a little peace. Not so much purpose in life but just find peace in life.

“I spent a lot of time working on the album, and as with any album, I'm writing and writing, but the ones that reveal themselves to you are really the ones that end up on the album because I feel like they're in the real spirit that moves through you when you write it and then the spirit exists forever. And that's the one that, when people hear it themselves, something in their spirit recognises it and it becomes theirs. It becomes the listeners', and so, in the writing process, when songs reveal themselves, that's the sure sign that it should probably go on the record. If I was just talking about the 12 songs on the record I'd say that it was super easy, but I had to write 60 other songs in between albums, and all during that process – that was more of a labour of love.”

Before he sat down to the task of writing songs for the album, however, Mraz threw himself into a number of causes. These included heading down to the Gulf Of Mexico in the northern summer of 2010 to help in the clean-up efforts after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and going to Ghana to lend his voice to the efforts of Free The Slave, an organisation battling child slavery, followed by a trip to Antarctica accompanying Al Gore. “Activism has invited me to step outside of my comfort zone and has helped me make sense of what it is I'm doing in my life, you know – hootin' 'n' hollerin' 'n' drawin' attention to oneself,” he says. “Obviously entertainment is important, and I enjoy doin' that, and I enjoy writing songs that I hope can entertain and bring peace and maybe even some healing to someone. But you know, after years of travellin' 'round the world you can't help but find out about certain travesties, whether human trafficking or environmental devastation or the lack of support in the arts in education. So I decided that I would see what it felt like to do somethin' about it, lend my voice and sometimes lend my muscle to those certain causes, and it does feed the songs sometimes. Sometimes I come away with a song that I feel could contribute to the help of a situation, but more than anything it's just an opportunity for me to get out of my comfort zone. Touring otherwise is pretty laid-back and luxurious, and sometimes I feel guilty that I get to do it. Activism counterbalances that for me.”

Which is why it was important for Mraz to participate in a concert, midway through his last world tour, that took place in Yangon, Myanmar last December to raise awareness to end human trafficking and exploitation. “There've been a number of invitations we've gotten including that one that are, you feel, enormous opportunities to be a part of the transformation of humanity, or the evolution of humanity towards equality, towards peace, towards sustainability, towards happiness,” he says.

For all the success of his 2008 single, I'm Yours, from the album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things, which gave him his first international top ten hit, it's Love Is A Four Letter Word that seems to have really opened up the world for Mraz, lifting things to another level, particularly the latest single, I Won't Give Up, which peaked at number one on iTunes. “It's a different kind of song that touches people in ways that I don't know, but I have to trust that there's something that every single human being has in their lives that's worth fighting for, that's worth showing up for,” he continues. “The foundation that I'm Yours gave us gave me something to build on to start this next tour. This is the biggest production that [I] ever tried to pull off. We really wanted to make it interesting for everyone in the house, both sonically and visually, and I felt that we accomplished that, so I'm excited that we get to bring our full show to Australia, because usually, when we go to Australia, I bring a cut-down band – only a few of who I usually play with – or I've rented all the gear to be there, 'cause it's such a long haul. But this time, we shipped our gear weeks ago and we're bringin' everybody with us, 'cause after ten years of comin' to Australia, we feel it's time to finally bring our full show and show people what we do.”

The song that opens Love Is A Four Letter Word, The Freedom Song, by Seattle musician Luc Reynaud, written about Hurricane Katrina, is the first cover Mraz has included on one of his albums. And for all the songwriting, Mraz still loves to throw in the odd cover live; personal favourites that might surprise, the odd jazz standard – the setlist at his 'O2 Arena concerts in London in December included Fly Me To The Moon and George Michael's Careless Whisper. “I do, I do,” he admits with a chuckle. “In fact, I would throw in more covers, especially jazz covers, if I could. But I feel there's a time and place for that later in my life – I don't want to bore people with jazz covers right away. I'm in the middle of writing a new record and it's goin' great and there are quite a few new songs that I'm sure some will debut on a number of the festivals or our shows there in Australia. So yeah, lots of good stuff in the works. Hopefully, if everything goes as planned I'll have a new record out before Christmas time.”

Jason Mraz will be playing the following dates:

Saturday 23 March - West Coast Blues'n'Roots Festival, Fremantle Park WA
Monday 25 March - Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne VIC
Tuesday 26 March - Entertainment Centre, Sydney NSW
Thursday 28 March - Bluesfest, Byron Bay NSW