Jason Mraz knows a thing or two about love.
Mraz has been churning out heart-fluttering tunes like “I’m Yours” and “I Won’t Give Up” for more than two decades. The two-time Grammy winner says that love permeates all of music — not just his own.
“I believe that anyone who makes music is doing it for love. Whether they’re doing it for the love of themselves or one person in their lives,” Mraz tells ET Canada. “Typically, when we’re younger, we’re trying to impress someone, even if it’s our parents.
“And then obviously the older we get, the more we’re trying to do it for our communities and our families. So I feel no matter what genre of music you’re making, love is behind the scenes.”
Mraz’s relationship with love has changed tremendously over his 45 years on planet Earth. It has shifted from a desire to be accepted to a determination to serve those around him.
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“A lot of it was seeking attention,” Mraz says. “I wanted to be seen by my parents and prove things to those bullies in high school. But at its core was this love I had with communicating with this great unknown creative entity. This thing that we can tap into for our dreams and for our ideas, our poetry, our paintings. Art is this beautiful mirror reflection from humankind that you can’t predict until you start to do it and start to see some results.
“So I always had a love affair with that. It’s a spiritual love affair. As I’ve gotten older, that spiritual love has really become for service of other human beings on this planet. I care less now about wanting to prove anything or be seen and get the love from my parents and those bullies from high school. It’s less about that as I’ve gotten older and become more about being a good friend, a good public servant, a good uncle, and using my songwriting superpowers for good.”
Mraz has long been an advocate for LGBTQ+ equality, human rights, and environmental causes. Reflecting on Pride Month, Mraz touched on how far the U.S. has come and how far the country has to go in terms of equality.
“Fifty years ago, it would have been illegal to be in a same-sex relationship. So there’s definitely been some strides. The fact that we can have Pride Month and Pride parades and love and marry who we want; however, in the [United] States, there are threats of overturning some laws that make that possible. And so we still have more strides to go.
“Certainly in the U.S., we don’t have any equality act for the Constitution, for our laws. We don’t have anything that just finally says, ‘Let us love. Let us love who we want.’ It’s for the better of all the planet, right? We don’t need a third party telling us what we can and can’t do. So we still have many political strides to go. The Equality Act was actually written, I believe, in the ’70s, and it has never been ratified. It has never been signed. So it’s a 50-year-old document that still needs our attention to protect millions of lives.”
Mraz embarks on the Canadian leg of his latest tour on July 13. It will run until August 3. He dishes on his upcoming project with Raining Jane and the new songs fans will hear on tour.
“I’m working on an album with Raining Jane. We did an album together in 2015 called YES! and we’ve always wanted to do another one. They have been a part of my albums since then. They were a big part of Have It All. They were on the reggae album as well, but now it’s back to just the five of us. The five of us are touring across Canada this summer, playing the songs we love and people know, but we’re also weaving it into the set some of our new songs.
“They’re — and I hate to use this term but — they’re more of the same. It’s beautiful harmonies, positive messaging. As we get older, we’re all in our mid-to-late 40s now, there’s inquiry about the self and about aging and celebrating life. Songs of gratitude. That’s really no different than what I’ve been writing about for the last decade.”
Review the Canadian tour dates below and the entire tour dates by clicking here.
July 13 — Victoria, BC
July 14 — Vancouver, BC
July 15 — Kelowna, BC
July 16 — Calgary, AB
July 18 — St. Albert, AB
July 19 — Medicine Hat, AB
July 21 — Saskatoon, SK
July 22 — Regina, SK
July 23 — Winnipeg, MB
July 27 — Toronto, ON
July 28 — Ottawa, ON
July 29 — Quebec City, QB
July 31 — Halifax, NS
Aug. 1 — Halifax, NS
Aug. 3 — Saint John, NB
