Opera Pop Worlds Align in Josh Groban
The Virginian-Pilot
February 4, 2005
By Robert Hicks
Think opera singers aren't cool? Think a marriage between opera and pop music isn't a marriage made in heaven? Think again.
Josh Groban, 23, with a classically trained voice and a knack for injecting romance into pop music, is not your typical opera singer.
Groban’s recordings have sold millions and have landed him atop Billboard’s pop charts. What’s more, he’s up for a Grammy for “You Raise Me Up” and an Oscar for “Believe” from “The Polar Express”.
It’s his ability to forge a highly accessible blend of classical romanticism with starry-eyed contemporary pop that has endeared him to opera and pop music lovers worldwide.
“If I listen to a song, I’ll know immediately if it’s something I can express truthfully,” he said in a phone interview. “The songs have to come from a very visceral place and a very emotional place. Sometimes people say that what I’m doing is over emotional and dramatic. But that’s me. I’m emotional and dramatic about music.”
For Groban, appearing at Scope in Norfolk, a good song is magical when he can sink his teeth into it and tell a story. With “Believe” the song enabled him to travel back to his childhood memories of Christmas.
“I’m a huge fan of film music. I just think it’s the best music of our time.” He also performed the song “Remember” for the movie “Troy.”
Although he sings pop music, you won’t see him on MTV’s “TRL.” Television appearances elsewhere have helped catapult his singes and albums up the pop charts. After Groban’s two guest appearances on “Ally McBeal”, his first two singles, “You’re Still You” and “To Where You Are,” rose high on the charts. His sophomore CD, “Closer,” shot up to No. 1. After that, it seemed he was everywhere: “Larry King Live,” “20/20,” “Oprah,” “Today,” the NFL Thanksgiving Day game, the closing ceremonies at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and PBS’s “Great Performances.”
Groban then turned to songwriting. As a youth, he loved musical theater and poetry, especially Stephen Sondheim and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven.” Inspired by romantic poetry and Sondheims’s dark musical “Sweeney Todd”, he later began to write his own songs.
“I had an amazing time breaking that wall down and facing my fears. I wanted to get my feet wet. I co-wrote three songs on my last CD. I’d be thrilled if another three songs get onto my next album. I owe it to my fans to push myself, not only as a song stylist of other people’s music but as a person who has things to say as a songwriter.”
Groban teamed with guest artists Bela Fleck and Lucia Micarelli on his new release, “Josh Groban- Live at the Greek,” recorded in Los Angeles.
“I just wanted to document my summer tour. The audiences were fantastic. We had the best time onstage. There will be time in my life for getting in a tuxedo and singing in front of an orchestra. This summer was like a party for us. It was time to have fun, get out onstage, be casual and sing some songs. I wanted people to see that side of me.”
Groban will finish his 30-city tour in March, when he plans to start writing and recording new songs for his fourth CD to be released in 2006.
“Being on the road, you get a lot of inspiration for new sounds and new music…I feel that it’s time for some growth, and I just can’t wait to start working on some new stuff.”
HOME