Groban Crosses Genres Fearlessly
The Record
July 22, 2007
By Mike Kerwick
Josh Groban hates hotel treadmills. Sick of those red digital lights and the belts that eat up his footprints, Groban prefers getting his daily dose of exercise on a tennis court. He rarely hops on a tour bus without packing his racket.
"On days off," Groban said during a recent phone interview, "I try to find a court and find a pro."
Tennis is comfortable, a lazier option that still tightens his abs, but Groban doesn't want his music following a similar path. He calls it "tempting" -- tempting for him, tempting for record execs -- to follow the same blueprint that worked for his past few albums.
Groban has spent the past two years trying to resist that temptation.
"There were a couple choices I knew I needed to make," Groban said. "It's one of those things where I could lose a few fans and gain a few fans at the same time. There are certain things I love to do, certain things I love to do well. Part of that is finding music, finding songs I can wrap my voice around."
He thinks he has a collection of songs he can wrap his voice around in "Awake," a 13-track disc he released late last year. It qualifies as classical. It also qualifies as pop.
"When the first album came out, every newspaper's gut reaction was to put it on the classical reviewer's desk," Groban said, referring to his 2001 self-titled disc. "I never thought of this as classical music. I'm a great lover of opera. ... When I go out and write original songs, I don't view them as classical."
Random marriage proposals aside, Groban said the greatest perk to being him these days is his ability to recruit other talented musicians to work on his projects. The guest list on "Awake" is peppered with artists Groban admires. Dave Matthews contributed to "Lullaby." Herbie Hancock helped out with "Machine." Imogen Heap is on "Now or Never."
"It's nice to know I can pick up the phone and call someone I like to write with," Groban said.
Fast-paced world
The album's title comes from a song that actually didn't make the cut for the CD. Groban included "Awake" on the special edition of the CD.
"The song itself is about how fast things move and how it's important to really keep your eyes open to everything that's going on," Groban said.
Groban is still playing with romance languages, learning nuances he can slip into his songs. He jokes that four years of studying Japanese in high school hasn't really helped him write a song so far. Groban has made up for that by lending his voice to songs in Spanish and Italian.
"It's more fun for me to do the homework and learn the languages when I sing them than to just turn everything back into English," Groban said.
The song that turned into his biggest hit came under fire earlier this year. According to ice landreview.com, "[Icelandic musician Johann] Helgason argues that Groban's song, 'You Raise Me Up' is almost identical to a popular song he wrote in the 1970s."
Sung by 28 artists
Groban did not write "You Raise Me Up." Norwegian musician Rolf Lovland did.
"Obviously I'd never heard that song before," Groban said. "I've only been to Iceland once in my life. 'You Raise Me Up' is not unique to me. It's sung by 28 different artists. The songwriter has a lot of explaining to do [if he plagiarized the song]."
Groban doesn't sound worried. One of the music world's most unassuming stars -- "a waste of film for paparazzi," he jokes -- will play Continental Arena on Tuesday night. He might wind up on a treadmill before the show. Then again ...
Tennis, anyone?
AT A GLANCE:
WHO: Josh Groban
WHAT: Pop-classical
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
WHERE: Continental Arena, East Rutherford
HOW MUCH: $35, $55, $95
WHERE TO HEAR: myspace.com/joshgroban
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