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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Mraz strives for uplifting vibe

Singer hoping to retire by 40 and enjoy nature, life

The Columbian
Published:

SAN DIEGO — “I have a gift for you,” Jason Mraz said, arms outstretched.

Cupped in his palms was an avocado, bumpy and green. It came from a tree on his farm — “100% organic, Mraz Fresh,” the sticker read. Last year he sold 34,000 pounds of the fruit to Chipotle stores near his Oceanside home. He grows other things on his land too — peppers and corn and leafy greens. If he could, he said, he’d spend most of his days there, hands in the earth.

Mraz wants to garden more, surf more, have a kid, put some of the money he’s saved from selling 4.5 million albums nationwide toward a good cause. So he’s started a campaign with his manager: ” Retired At40.” He has one more album left on his contract with Atlantic Records, and then he plans to check out for a while.

“I’m just ready for a break. It feels like a corporate job sometimes,” the 37-year-old said, sitting in the wings of the Spreckels Theatre, where he was rehearsing last week for the start of his 31-date tour.

It’s a surprising admission from the singer-songwriter, whose fifth studio album “Yes!” opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart last month. With two Grammys under his belt, Mraz appeared to have settled into a professional groove. And his songs have remarkable longevity. In 2009, his “I’m Yours” broke records when it stayed on the charts for 76 weeks.

Since he came on the scene with his trucker hat and goofy wordplay a dozen years ago, Mraz has made a name for himself as the glass-half-full guy. John Mayer addresses his fear of growing older and Ed Sheeran touches on the vagaries of love, but Mraz’s songs tend to be uplifting. On “Yes!” — made with longtime collaborators Raining Jane — he sounds like a man contented, basking in the glow of having found his soul mate.

“And love is a funny thing / It’s making my blood flow with energy,” he sings in “Love Someone.” “And it’s like an awakened dream / As what I’ve been wishing for is happening.”

“I think the reason my music focuses on optimism,” he said, tapping the lid of his travel mug, “is because that’s what I’m focused on so that I’m not depressed all the time. It’s no accident that every song is about, ‘Here’s how you can feel better,’ because it’s just in my nature to generally wake up on the wrong side of the bed.”

He makes a conscious effort to maintain his mental health — meditating, repeating daily mantras, coming back to the present. It was a shift that began in 2006, when he did a few shows with the Rolling Stones and saw how well they took care of themselves. Mraz, meanwhile, was smoking cigarettes and eating junk food.

He’s since morphed into the archetype of a mellow, Southern California hippie that East Coast elites love to mock. He sells packets of seeds at his concerts. He’s a partner in Cafe Gratitude, whose five vegan restaurants serve up dishes with names such as “I Am Open-Hearted” (gluten-free pancakes) and “I Am Vivacious” (baked kale chips). He doesn’t drink alcohol but likes weed, which he usually smokes most days after 4 p.m.

Mraz talks about this stuff with his fans too. He blogs about why hemp should be legalized and urges his concertgoers to support local farmers. His doesn’t think his audience — a mix of college kids and retirees — seem to mind, partially because many of the causes he supports are en vogue.

“I like seeing the age range out there — the silver-haired couples having a great time,” he said of his demographic. “It makes me feel like maybe I’m continuing what they loved about Jackson Browne or Crosby, Stills and Nash. They’re still coming to concerts and seeing something that’s from that lineage.”

Despite his bohemian ethos, it’s clear that Mraz’s success was no cosmic accident.

“Dave ended up taking the $100-million route, which is a little too much work for my interests,” he said. “Raining Jane teases me that I run at about 80 percent. I’m 20 percent reluctance.”

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