Jason Mraz Talks About Tour, Writing Hits: 'The Market Can't Be Predicted'

After his hit 2012 single "I Won't Give Up" finally escaped the charts, Jason Mraz settled into an area just outside of the mainstream.

But the laid-back singer has still been hard at work. Mraz released his fifth studio album, YES!, in July, and has mostly been on the road with backing band Raining Jane since.

He recently sat down with the AJC to talk about his pre-show routine, among other things.

"Usually I'm somewhat alone between now and show time," he said. "I'll eat dinner, finish the set list, maybe do a little yoga to wake up the body. It's a pretty mellow show, but I don't want there to be any tightness in my body anywhere. To me, singing is a physical activity; bending at the hips is a great warm-up."

Gigs usually feature Raining Jane playing three songs before Mraz joins them for the rest of the first set. Then they take a short break before Mraz comes out for another 45-minute set.

"The show evolves," Mraz said. "I don't know why, but every day I want to improve on it. At the moment, we have several different setups where the risers move and the musicians are in different configurations. By the time we get to Atlanta, we might have eliminated some of those moves to add more time for music. We get pretty stripped down at some points."

Perhaps the most interesting part of the interview was when Mraz discussed the art of writing hit songs.

"If it happens, it happens," he said. "I feel like this is a really great record from start to finish. The hits are something that when you put the set list together, you want to connect to people who might not be familiar with the rest of your catalog. The market can't be predicted and if I tried (to write a hit), I would make myself crazy. If I write for that purpose, it usually fails. You follow the formula and it doesn't hold up. The songs have to come from a real, sincere emotion, whether it's happiness or unhappiness, or love, it doesn't matter. What the song is about has to evoke some kind of genuine emotion."

Mraz' full tour runs through November. You can check out the remaining dates here.

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Jason Mraz