Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Jason Mraz

Episode Date: July 2, 2024

Singer-songwriter Jason Mraz joins the show. Over diner classics, Jason tells me about why he has a hard time singing his early songs, what it was like to open about his sexuality and why his latest album “Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride” feels like a new beginning. This episode was recorded at Mel's Drive-In in West Hollywood, CA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit amex.ca slash ymx. Benefits vary by card, other conditions apply. Hi, it's Jesse. Today on the show, you know him from his hit songs, I'm Yours, Lucky, and his new album, Mystical, Magical, Rhythmical, Radical Ride. It's Jason Mraz. The oldest one that I still play today would be You and I Both.

A lot of them from that era though I did retire. But the lyrics would just be so abstract that even I in the future could not understand what this kid was saying. This is Dinners on Me, and I'm your host, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. -♪ Jason Mraz's music has been a constant soundtrack

of my life since his first album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, debuted in 2002. That album, as well as his second and third albums, Mr. A-Z and We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, take me back to a very exciting time in my life. I was in my early 20s and I was starting to get work as a theater actor in New York City. I was falling in love for the first time with people who would eventually break my heart. His songwriting reminds me of the pain and joy of being young in New York City. And his songwriting has only matured and evolved with his newer albums, and yet it still miraculously still remains rooted in that signature, unexplainable Jason Mraz style.

I love that his music continues to orchestrate my life to this day. I mean, Justin and I chose I'm Yours as the processional music at our wedding, and my sons love jumping around to I Feel Like Dancing off of his most recent album, Mystical, Magical, Rhythmical, Radical Ride. 23 years of my life can be marked by Jason's music.

So to say I was excited to take him out for a meal would be an understatement. Found you. Sit over here. Hi. Yeah, right. He doesn't know what a podcast looks like. I brought Jason to the iconic Mel's Drive-In in West Hollywood, which of course is open 24 hours as diners should be. The original Mel's Diner opened in San Francisco in 1947 and was the first drive-in restaurant of its kind with enough space for 110 cars. It was even featured in George Lucas's 1973 classic, American Graffiti. With its neon signage

and black and white photos of old and new Hollywood propped against every wall, it feels like it probably hasn't strayed too far from its roots more than 70 years ago. The thing I love about Mel's is that it reminds me of the diners I grew up with. I bring my son Beckett there and he loves to put quarters in the jukebox and pick a song. I mean the songs are now like you know Taylor Swift and less you know Beatles and Beach Boys. But anyway his meal arrives in a little paper car the same way my burger arrives when I was a kid. There's just something so comforting and nostalgic about Mel's. I was so excited to talk to Jason, you know, back in a little booth at the restaurant. Little did I know he had his own long history

with this diner. Okay, let's get to the conversation. Look at your chapeau. You like? I like it. It's like, it's handmade, I think. It is, yeah, a guy named Video Dave makes these. And they're one of a kind. Some of them have landscapes and seascapes and so I like them because I've always been a hat guy. We all know that, yeah. The hats are very synonymous with you.

Your dad gave you your first one, right? That's right, yeah. What is it, it was a fisherman's hat? Yeah, when I was in second grade, I had a permission slip from my parents to wear my hat in the yearbook because it went with my outfit. And it was a Greek fisherman's hat.

It's the style of hat. What does it look like? I turned our picture in. You know, it kind of looks like a hat that Popeye would wear. Okay. You know, it's like a sailor hat. Like you might say on Love Boat,

but it's typically all blackor hat, like you might say a love boat, but it's typically all black or all leather. Listen. Ever since I was seven, I felt like the hat has finished the outfit. Yeah. It's easier than grooming as well. Yeah, you have really good head of hair.

I'm in desperate need of a haircut. You have a great head of hair. Thanks, I cut my own hair. I kind of cut it for my hats. Really? I know what's gonna work with the hat. You have a great head of hair. Thanks, I cut my own hair. I kinda cut it for my hats. Really? I know what's gonna work with the hat. You've got great curls too. Thanks.

You've got a great head of hair. Wait, Jason, do you remember working with my husband, Justin Makeda? Yes, absolutely. In fact, I think, I'm sure if we did some digging, I'm sure he's credited in helping me come up with a mission statement even for my foundation. This is the avocado farm?

Yeah. Okay. And that's around San Diego, right? Yeah. And so I think what he told me was it was like sort of to get younger people interested in agriculture. Does that seem familiar? Most likely.

So when I'm out on an album cycle and I'm out promoting it, you visit record stores, radio stations, and after years and years of doing that, I was like, couldn't we do something more productive with our time? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're gonna hang with fans, let's go beautify a park,

let's go help a community garden, let's go plant some trees. And so that's what we were doing heavily in that era, yeah. When you were growing up in Virginia, did you live on a farm? Farm adjacent. Okay. So, like, my dad has four acres, but we only lived on one,

and three of them were farmed by the guy who did soybeans and corn, and he did it for the neighbor and their neighbor and neighbor, and so it's hundreds of acres of corn and soybeans on rotation. Incredible. And we live in the middle of it,

so we would play in the corn stalks or tromp over the soybeans with our go-karts. So I think it was always in the background of my life. Yeah, you feel comfortable with the garden. And in the country, like out in a place where, as a songwriter, as a musician, I don't have to whisper to make the song come out. Because oftentimes it takes volume and risk.

And I find I can best do that when I'm out in the wilderness. Yeah, with space. With space, yeah. So when you moved down to San Diego, was it always your intention to have your own farm? No, no, no. Farming was so not even in the picture.

Because when I chose music, I thought starving artists, rest of my life, sleeping on couches, living in diners at off hours, and just instability forever. And to me, that was so romantic. Yeah. And it's like, that's what I wanna be. I wanna be a troubadour, poet, like always striving to be heard,

but also in the shadows. Guitar always on your back. Guitar, yeah. And like love letters to no one. But fortunately, you know, I performed my songs for the right people. I made it to the right coffee shop, the right community, and things just exploded. Yeah.

And so when I had the option to kind of customize my existence, I wasn't even thinking harm. I really wasn't. I was thinking, okay, I need to find a house out in the country, outside of San Diego, where I can build a little studio and get weird. And my manager came to see them all and he hated all of them. He's like, these are not great houses. Let's go back to the real estate office. And this ranch that I purchased had just come on the market and my manager saw it on a flyer on the wall. He said, what about that?

I said, no, no, no, no, no, that's not who I am. He goes, ah, you'll grow into it. And he was so right. Why did you think it wasn't just because there was too much space? Yeah, it was too much space. And it was out of my price range. I was still, you know, I was only on my first album.

And I was touring and I was generating some income, but I didn't think, I wasn't thinking mortgage yet, you know? Right, right, right, right. I was thinking little fixer-upper rental house. I have so many more questions about this. Have you eaten here, by the way? I've eaten here a thousand times. May I have a Popeye Power?

What's that? That is in the juices. Actually, may I switch to roots? Thank you. Since we're talking about agriculture and farms, I feel like I do need to have one of these healthy juice drinks. I'll try the Popeye Power. There you go.

Do you know what you want to eat? You know, a place like this has everything. Yes. So you have to dig deep and think, what do I really want? I've had the meatloaf here. It's delicious. Yeah, meatloaf is great. If you're into like biscuits and gravy, this is a good place for that. I do think I'm gonna do the grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Oh, the Haven's famous vegetarian sandwich. That's what I want. Avocado, pesto, sprouts, hummus, tomatoes. Five, nine grain bread. It's just a big salad on some Melba toast. That's delicious. Thank you. Oh, so the farm.

I mean, that is a big purchase when you're buying your first house. Yeah, I was 27. Yeah. And I know it produces a lot of avocados. It can produce a lot of avocados. Yeah, depends on what the trees are feeling and the bees, how they're working.

Yeah, but it's the trees are feeling. Sure, sure, sure. And the bees, how they're working, yeah. But it's still, you know, a quality of life that is priceless, even though it's a very, you know, expensive way to live and hobby. But it's a good quality of life, it serves, it provides jobs, it provides food. The wildlife love it. I love it, because it still feeds my creative life. Sure.

And my creative life is still very abundant. I really want to come. If I'm ever in the area, can I please come visit? Sure. Yeah, it's a colorful place. I'm that person that if I find out a restaurant has their own garden, I have to find it. Yeah, you want to see it. Yeah, I want to see it.

Yeah, of course. Justin and I, we've been married for 11 years this July, and we've been pretty good about... I love the challenge of buying an anniversary gift that sort of has, you know, it's the theme of that year. Okay, what is the year? I don't know what the 11th year is, but there was one year, I think the sixth year or something was wood. And we were living in this home in Los Feliz

and we had this beautiful wood door that was original to the house. And while we were away, I had someone come in, take the door off, refinish it completely, and put this new crest on the door. It had like one of those little windows that you could open up. And I didn't know, but at the same time,

Justin, for our gift to me, because wood's not a very sexy thing to shop for. I mean, to each their own. It depends on how you polish it. Yeah, right, that's right. But Justin, Justin got me avocado trees. Oh, sweet. And I guess you have to get two

because they have to pollinate. Anyway, I'm sad that I never got to see the avocado trees come fruition. You ever do a drive by and just look over the fence? It's in the backyard, but I'm friendly with the people who bought the house, so I'll check in with them. Yeah, I mean, now you're around, what, year five, year six of those trees. I know, it should be starting.

It should be starting. Yeah. Yeah, anyway, I still thought that counts, and I love that there's avocado trees in Los Feliz that were a gift to me that I don't get to enjoy. That's really sweet. We're in the process of replanting because a lot of them are aging out. And I started to do the math and, you know, I bought the house from a gentleman who was about 80 and he'd lived in the house for 27 years.

So it basically planted the trees, built the house when I was born. Right. And now here I am, 20 years in, the trees are aging and I'm having to replant. Oh. And by the time I'm 80, and most likely will sell to some kid, the trees will be approximately the same age they were

when I moved in. Yeah. And hopefully you just keep passing it on. I love that history. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty sweet. It's really special. It's pretty sweet. I know that the trees I plant are gonna outlive me

and that's kind of cool. It is really cool. It's like songs. Yeah, they go. Exactly. They're gonna outlive you. For sure. Go do something special in the world.

That's why I love being a part of the arts in all ways, because you get to leave something behind. Yeah. It's timeless. Yeah. Yeah, it really is. I didn't know this. You went to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. That's right. Did. It really is. I didn't know this.

You went to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. That's right. Did you know that's where I went? You did? I did. I went in 95. Jason, we must have been there at the same time. No way.

I went in 94. OK. And in New York City. In the Antonio building. Absolutely. I walked to school from 91st in a dance belt. I lived in the Greystone. You lived in the Greystone. I lived in the Cambridge House on 86th Street.

So I must have just been graduating when you were coming in. Okay, wow. That is wild. I've never met anyone else who went there. I know a few people who went. So you started writing music when you were at Amda? Yeah, I mean I started in middle school and I was doing it in high school, but I didn't think it was something I would have a career in. It was just more content to sing because I was singing in musicals, I was singing in

chorus, show choir, summer programs, anywhere I could find a stage I was singing. But then it was in college that I started strumming a guitar. I love that you also were a musical theater lover first. That makes me very fond of you. Thank you. Thank you. This is delicious. Thank you. Fun. Cheers.

That's refreshing. Cheers. But so you were a musical theater fan from early on. It wasn't something, because I know you did Waitress recently with my friend Betsy Wolf. Oh, awesome. I love Betsy. She was such a pro and such a, whether she knows it or not, she was a mentor for me. She's great. So great.

Musical theater goddess. So in Tennessee you had a pretty good arts program? Or Virginia? Sorry, Virginia. Yes, thank goodness. We had music since second grade. We had it every year. Starting in sixth grade it was an elective.

And unfortunately you had to choose music or visual arts. So I always chose the music. So from probably seven years old, I knew I was going to be in entertainment. And I could not understand anyone else if they told me what their career was. They'd be like, well, I'm gonna go in economics. I'm like, that blows my mind.

You don't wanna be in the entertainment industry. I only saw the world through my view. But it's also as kids, like, I mean, they're just playing. Like, what they were doing, it was play. And that's kind of what being an entertainer is. I mean, it can be very hard at times, but it's adult play. It's just play, yeah. So, like, as a kid, I can imagine,

you're like, why would you not want to just, like, Exactly. continue jamming on until you're an adult? Yeah. Yeah. I thought I saw it as kind of a loophole in the system. My dad was a fence contractor. And so when I was 16, as soon as I got my license, I got a map to the job site.

And I'd come home from school, I'd pick up the truck, I'd drive to the lumber yard, I'd pick up materials, I'd drive to the job site, and I would join my dad at this very laborious construction site. And while it was great to help my dad and have that very personal time together, I did not want to do that. And I saw that was potentially my future if I did not follow my dream.

And my dad saw the same thing. He said, son, keep singing, keep dreaming because you don't want to do this the rest of your life. And he was very, very supportive. And I mean, he drove me to AMDA and back for the audition. Yeah, oh, that's so sweet. Wow, from New Mexico? New Mexico, well, the audition is in Texas,

and then when I actually got accepted, he drove me from Albuquerque all the way to New York City. So we drove into Manhattan with our family suburban, which was just huge. And my dad's a very cautious driver, so just imagine this huge family suburban that is only used the streets of Albuquerque, New Mexico, driving across the Manhattan Bridge into Manhattan. It was terrifying.

Wow. Yeah. This is a movie. You got to make that movie. That road trip with my dad. Yeah. I love that you had that support from your parents. I just knew how special I... how lucky I was. Yeah.

How lucky I was. I... how lucky I was. How lucky I was. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Jason talks about finding success at a young age, coming out publicly as queer later in life, and his songwriting process, which involves a nearly 20-year-old email thread. Okay, be right back. thread. Okay, be right back. Don't you just love it when someone looks at you and says, hmm something's different about you. What were you up to last night? Well, no matter how late you were up the night before, Lumify Redness Reliever Eye Drops can help your eyes look more refreshed and awake than ever.

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to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com slash dinners on me. Just go to indeed.com slash dinners on me right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash dinners on me. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need indeed. And we're back with more Dinners on Me. After New York, I moved back to Virginia to focus on songwriting, my musical craft.

I said, that's what I'm going to pursue. And it was so hard to do that in my hometown because I just didn't feel like I was being taken seriously. They're like, oh, good luck with that. And it was so hard to do that in my hometown because I just didn't feel like I was being taken seriously. They're like, oh, good luck with that. I was a janitor and working odd jobs and I wasn't proving, but even though in my mind, I was like, no, no, no, I've got this.

So then I drove out to California just looking for inspiration and never went back. That was it. I was like, oh my gosh, my mind was blown. Everyone out here is a stranger. I can be a completely new person. I can be as weird as I want in my music. I can take risks and I've got nothing to lose because I have nothing already.

Right. So it just was a, it was perfect timing. Yeah. There's something so freeing about, especially that age, going someplace where you have no ties. I grew up in a very, on a very conservative street. I'll just say that because I don't want to throw my whole town under the bus. But our high school mascot was the Confederates. If that tells you anything about where I grew up.

It tells a lot. And so I felt like the history where I grew up was so dark. And I felt like the history in California, now I'm naive to all of the history, but I was like, out west is, you know, it's 1920s Hollywood, it's 1960s San Francisco, it's Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan. Like that's the way I viewed it.

And the famous writer from Mardtown was Edgar Allan Poe, you know, and where I grew up. I was like, that's a little dark and medieval. So I like the West. Very prolific. I mean, no hack. It's very good. Yeah.

You know, I knew you, you've been through quite an evolution with not only your music, but yourself personally. I mean, at what point in your childhood did you think, okay, I might not be straight? Was that something you realized early on? Or is that something you discovered as you got older? As I got older, because I didn't really have too many sexual experiences in high school. I was kind of afraid of high school. I was bullied and was just ready to get out of town.

So that's why New York City was great. And then even eventually California was great. I think I also didn't have a whole lot of self-confidence, like skinny, scrawny, 18-year-old kid in New York. I don't even know what to flirt with, who to flirt with, how to flirt. Right. But I would, the romance in my songs

was just copying other romance in songs. You're like, these are things that you sing about to please others or something. It wouldn't be probably until I got to California that I met a community of people that would see me in a new way that I'd never fully been seen before. And I liked how I was being seen and heard, yeah.

But at the same time, I still took with me the conservative street that I grew up on and that was very hard to ignore or to break out of. And so I was very shy and scared of what my family would say or what my hometown would think or just whatever. I don't wanna throw anybody under the bus because my parents are very supportive. I love them very much.

No, I mean, my parents are also very supportive but they would throw up their own journey with it as well. And I celebrate that journey. I think there's something really wonderful about that evolution and being able to grow. I think that should be celebrated. And whether or not it came as early as I wanted it to, it didn't, but like, there's something really wonderful about that evolution and being able to grow. I think that should be celebrated. Whether or not it came as early as I wanted it to,

it didn't, but I'm just happy that it came at all. That's really, really beautiful. For me, I was closeted in grade school and it wasn't until I moved to New York that I sort of talked more about what I was feeling inside. But it really wasn't until I found, like, for me, love and found someone that I was like truly, I felt like I had to share their life with mine.

And like, they were the catalyst for sort of me accepting it fully with my parents. It's tricky, it's really tricky. Yeah, and in the 90s, being gay was like punchline of a joke. And I didn't want to be the punchline of a joke and kept my nose down and figured out ways I could instead get out and see the world one day. You know, and I've been enjoying that.

And even if I've been enjoying that. Even if I've been a late bloomer to where I am now, honestly, I feel like my life is just starting. And I love how you just put it like, it wasn't until you really found love that it really bloomed, to paraphrase what you said, bloomed even more. I can't say that I have found love yet. I have been in amazing relationships

and I've always learned and grown and hopefully I don't have bad karma woven through those relationships. But I love where I am and I feel so much love for myself finally that can only enhance the next relationship or a relationship when I find one. Oh yeah, I mean comfort in who you are is only gonna be helpful as you continue to meet people

and navigate different relationships. Do you still feel like a late bloomer? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Really? Yeah. My experiences are few, whereas other people my age might be more experienced, that's all.

Okay. You got married pretty young. Your first marriage was when you were fairly young, right? Well. In your 20s? I don't count that one. Right. Because when I was at AMDA, one of my fellow students

was married and had been married in Vegas. And I thought that was the funniest and coolest thing. And the way he would describe it, yeah, we got married in Vegas because you can. I'm married. What do you think of that? It was more of a novelty. It was a novelty, like he's showing off a tattoo.

And so I always thought that was so cool. And so I'm on my way to Vegas with a high school friend. Thank you. And we're on a party bus. We're leaving San Diego. And on the bus ride, she says, we should get married in Vegas. And it just like, you know, dopamine trigger. And I thought, yeah, of course, let's go.

And you know, I was not thinking that it was a real deal. Right. We're gonna go, and it wasn't until the next day that she handed the phone, she goes, it's my mom. I don't know your mom. Why would I talk to your mom? Oh, we're married. My mother-in-law.

So I did a very quick about face. At first I thought, okay, no, I can do this. I can do this. Six weeks in, I was like, no, this wasn't part of the plan. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But we've remained friends through the years and can laugh at that era and at that time. You had a pretty early success, I think, with,

I mean, your first album did very, very well. Surprisingly well. I mean, I went back to listen to your first album did very, very well. Surprisingly well. I mean, I went back to listen to that first album and I was like, oh yeah, every single one of these is a banger, first of all. They're all incredible songs. I love asking people who find success at that age, especially right out of the gate, what was that like for you?

I mean, you're young and you're driven. So that's great Did you ever feel any pressure to sort of? Maintain this sort of high that you came out of the gate with Nope, I thought well because it really technically for me. It didn't feel like it was right out of the gate because I had put in a good three years in the coffee shop scene in San Diego. Right. Like a really solid three years of like every week,

multiple shows a week, really working on my songs and my ability to perform with a guitar and making little recordings that I could sell to fans and analyze my songs. And those little recordings are what eventually caught the ear of record execs. The coffee shop you played at in San Diego. Java Joe's.

Java Joe's is very famous. I know not only you, but I know Jewel got her start there. Yeah. What were those nights at the coffee house like? Was it a set of people, like kind of like an open mic night? Or was it like you had a set evening that was featuring you? It started at open mics, kind of working my way up, proving myself.

And you'd sing like what, three songs or something? Two minutes, 10 minutes or two songs. Two minutes, 10 minutes or two songs? 10 minutes or two songs, which is a blast. Or the 10 minute Taylor version of whatever song you wanted. That's right. And so I would loiter around those. Eventually I'd work there, work the doors, run sound,

everything I could to just be in the space. Yeah. And prove to the owner that I'm not going anywhere. Right. And then I got to play in Songwriter Nights, which was kind of the best of the open mic. Oh, is it the best because you had more time? Well, you were a regular,

and people really loved your songs. Right. And then eventually he said, why don't you try Thursday Nights this month? Thursdays were big, I assume. Thursdays were big. And that one month, it ran for two years. Just like every Thursday night, we're off, we're going. Are you serious?

Yeah. And then it was like, do you want to play? Some weekends, we're doing Friday night, Saturday? Yeah. And then it was like, do you want to place some weekends? We're doing Friday night, Saturday night and a Sunday brunch. Like it was the best of times. We're sleeping at Java. It was in a circular booth just like this. Yeah. That's about my best dreams in a booth this shape. I love it. And, uh, you know, making, I wasn't earning money anywhere else in the world, but I was making money at the door, and it was all just cash.

Right. So. So you made a percentage of the door. Yeah. Okay. And that's how I was making my living. And eventually, I moved up to LA and started playing a coffee shop here on Tuesday nights.

And I would really just come to LA for about two or three nights, and then go back to San Diego for the remaining five nights, and then go back and forth. And the remaining five nights and then go back and forth and while in LA I could also start getting my little CDs out there. Sure, sure hustling. I was hustling so by the time I made the album I had kind of just thrown everything I had at this I at these songs and found a producer in a band that could turn it into something and honestly I was scared.

I didn't think it was going to work because it was so well produced. I said, well, this isn't who I am, though. I'm an acoustic guy. I'm really scrappy. And I thought more in like a punk lane. Right. Oh, interesting. Right. It was weird. But that's how I saw myself a little bit.

Not so middle. And, but I thought, you know what, worst case is the album flops and I go right back to the coffee shop world where I feel like I'm in total control and I'm having the time of my life. Like that coffee shop scene, I was totally making a living. And for me, I had made it.

And all I wanted to do was not have to work on my dad's Construction job. Yeah, and in San Diego. I had made it. I was near the ocean. I was playing multiple shows a week So if the album flopped No big deal. I felt like a contest winner when the album took off. Like- Well, I imagine, yeah. I just thought, well, this is crazy. And then the chance to make another album,

again, no expectation. And honestly, this entire journey has felt like just one lucky break after the next. That's a really nice way to look at your career though. I love that you sort of started with this one sound and like your recent album is like this sort of dance celebration. Yeah.

When you were playing these coffee houses, were there songs that we all know and love now that these people were hearing for the first time? The oldest one that I still play today would be You and I Both. Yeah. I still play that in the show. A lot of them from that era though, I did retire.

And I tried to bring them back around anniversaries. Yes. But the lyrics would just be so abstract that even I in the future could not understand what this kid was saying. That's so sweet. And I think a lot of it was, my songwriting technique is still very the same today where I do a lot

of improvisation, I just make it up. But today, I'll make it up and I'll edit it and I'll shape it. 20 years ago, I wouldn't edit it. Like whatever I said, that's the song. It must be deep. Yeah, our mutual friend, Sara Bareilles, was telling me some of her early songwriting stories.

And you know, she's like, I had no idea what I was talking about. No idea what these things mean. Pretty melody, but no idea what the lyrics mean. You know what? I'm still so obsessed with the process. I write songs every week. Do you?

I have a song group, and every Tuesday night we have to share a song. Well, tell me about this, the song group. So it's other singer-songwriters? Mm-hmm. The deadline is Tuesday night, by midnight usually, but people send them in at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, whatever, and it's not a contest.

We don't even chime in on people's songs. It's just a group to hold you accountable to keep writing and turn something in. Love that. Then, if you choose to listen to what people submit, to keep writing and turn something in. Then if you choose to listen to what people submit, you can get inspired by, wow, they really figured that out this week or they really went for it and the production is incredible

or oh, they really phoned it in, you know, they made it up at the last minute on their voicemail. You have to send something in every week. You have to send, otherwise you get kicked out of the group. And nobody wants to be in every week. You have to send, otherwise you get kicked out of the group. And nobody wants to be- How long have you been in this group? Since 2006. Oh.

So you've been writing a song a week since 2006? Yeah. And even though you're Jason Mraz, it'd still kick you out if you skipped a week. Definitely. Yes, the pressure. And that's what's brilliant about it. So at the end of the year, you'll have 50 plus songs.

Wow. And, or more, if I'm really going for it. And what's great about that is then you can look back at your year. you'll have 50 plus songs. Wow. Or more, if I'm really going for it. And what's great about that is then you can look back at your year, and to me they're the best souvenirs. I can remember where I was that week, what was going on, what I was feeling. But then also, this huge body of work,

so when it comes to making an album like this last record, yes I wrote a lot of new songs for it, but I was also able to look back at 10 years of songs and go this one deserves its chance. Oh that's so incredible. And pull from an archive of music and finally give it its glory on a new album. That's incredible. Yeah so my future self you know gets to really reap the benefits of all these years of writing. So cool.

So interesting, oh my gosh. So there are people out there who have versions of your song that they've heard. That I love and trust very much. That I have hundreds of my songs. And luckily, knock on whatever kind of table this is. From Micah maybe. Yeah, we're knockin knock on from Micah.

I think that there's something really lovely about that you embrace this community of songwriters to create opposite of and bounce ideas off of and finding inspiration in other people's work. I attribute it to my success. I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't have that practice. That's unbelievable.

10 years, since 2006. 2006, practice. That's unbelievable. 10 years. Since 2006. 2006. So coming up on 20. 20 years. Jesus. Now for a quick break, but don't go away. When we come back, Jason tells me why he was nervous to perform his dance album, and why he told his friends not to vote for him on Dancing with the Stars. Plus, what's next in this fresh chapter of his?

Okay, be right back. I recently got an exciting shipment in the mail. New wine glasses from Big Wine Glasses. Even though some of their wine glasses can technically fit a whole bottle of wine in them, that's really not the point. It's just something cool that they can do. Their founder, Brian, actually got the idea for the oversized glasses after a neighbor came over for a glass of wine and remarked on how Brian hadn't let the wine breathe. Now, Brian wasn't a wine snob and didn't know anything about decanters or aerators, So he decided why

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hassle and stress out of any hiccups that arise. Download the Viator app now and use code VIATOR10 for 10% off your first booking in the app. Find travel experiences for you. Do more with Viator. And we're back with more Dinners on Me. I do really love your new album. Thank you. I'm always excited to get it.

I do too. It's my favorite one. I'm always excited to get new Jason Mraz music. I love that it's your favorite one. I have a hard time with the title. I'm going to try it. Magical. Close. Mystical. Yeah.

Magical. Then it Mystical? Yep. Magical. And then it's two R words. You're jamming your percussions. What is it? Rhythmical. Rhythmical revolution. No. Revolution would be good, though, because of the revolution of the record turning around the turntable.

It's radical. Radical. And it's a ride. And a ride. I knew ride was the last word. Yeah, ride. So say it all together so I get it. Mystical, magical, rhythmical, radical, ride.

Perfect. It's a great album title. Thanks. Even though I couldn't remember it just now. Thanks. Even though I couldn't remember it just now. Thanks. I just watched last night. I hadn't seen any of the videos for the album. And the video for I Feel Like Dancing is incredible.

Great. I love a one-shot video. Yeah. The best videos are one-shot videos. I agree. I wish all of them had been one shot videos. How long did you have to rehearse that to make sure that that could come off seamlessly? And how many times did you do that shot, that one long shot?

And are there cuts in the video that we don't know about? We did it, I'd say at least seven times where we're actually rolling tape. Because it is quite a production. You go through this entire hotel with different dancers, and then you end up in the kitchen, and then you end up at a wedding at the very end. I mean, it's just hundreds and hundreds of people involved in this video.

Yeah, it was a blast. Yeah, it's a really joyful, fantastic romp of a good time, and I loved it very much. Everything from the cover art to just the new sound, it just feels like you're in this different place in your life, and there seems to be, I mean, I guess I've heard you talk about it a little bit, like sort of settling into a version of yourself

that you're kind of super comfortable with, which, cool. Thanks, yeah, I feel a little bit like starting over, or not to discredit anything I'd done in the past, not really starting over, but I just felt brand new. And dance is a common theme in music, and as someone who's performed in front of concerts, I'm always asking the audience to get up and dance, but I had not yet explored that in me. I didn't want to be the one out front dancing. Even though

I love to do it, I always danced kind of humorously. But it was this reoccurring theme in the song and I felt like it was the dimension of music that I'd yet to really explore. It's like the fourth dimension of music. Yeah. That is actually moving and creating visual interpretations of the sound. Yeah. And so I really learned so much from dancers during the video process.

Cause I made the song not realizing I was gonna have to go out in the world and dance. When you write a song called I Feel Like Dancing, you kind of have to do it. Right. Like it feels good to sing and play and rap and move. But once it got real, I allowed myself to stop making fun of dance, stop trying to dance like a clown and see what's really in there. Do I have a soul that wants to come out?

Well, and then also you were on a season of Dancing with the Stars, which I'm sure you know. Well, yeah, that's what ultimately came out of putting a song out called I Feel Like Dancing, then the producers of Dancing with the Stars called and said, hey, we heard you feel like dancing. Are the producers of Dancing with the Stars called and said, hey. That's how you get on the show. We heard you feel like dancing. Are you serious about that? And I thought, wow, what an honor.

What a great school to learn dancing fast. And being in the song game, every Tuesday night, I got to turn in something, which I still played every week during Dance with the Stars. But it was the same. Every Tuesday night, we had to show up on the set and perform our dance that we created. And it was the hardest thing ever, but so fun.

But you did very well. I did okay. You did okay, you gave me seconds. I did okay. I think if I had really wanted to win now, looking back, I probably could have gone for it, but honestly, When, now, looking back, I probably could've gone for it, but honestly, I didn't think I had a shot.

So I went in thinking, I'll probably last two or three weeks. Well, two or three weeks in, I realized, I'm probably gonna be here the whole time, and I'm terrified, and I have to cancel all my plans for the entire rest of the year, and I'm missing my cat terribly. And I start telling my friends, stop voting for me. It's like the only way I can get off the show is if I don't get enough votes.

And I even told the producers, like, I'm good. Like, I can go home now. Thank you so much for the honor. And they said, we we can't we can't do anything about you being here. So the only thing I could do is ask friends to vote for someone else. And having made it all the way to the very end, made it to the buzzer, I look back and laugh and think,

well, maybe if I'd actually given a shit. So I would do it all over again if I could. It's incredible. And I would try really hard. Maybe they'll have a Dancing with the Stars all-star season. I would go back. Have you always felt like life is a ride?

I mean, I think I've heard you consider it. You've called life a ride many times. Yeah, I'm still on it. Yeah. I used to come to this diner in 1999 in the middle of the night and drink their coffee and you could smoke cigarettes back here I was before the cigarette man and I would smoke and I'd fill my journal and Just chronicle this weird

Blip of time that we have this consciousness that we get and always try to make sense of it and understand it and the longer I go the more comfortable I am with it. I still want to use and I try to use my superpowers for good but I still have no idea where it's going or when it's gonna end. And so the mystery remains. And that is exciting and scary. What do you hope for? I mean, do you want to meet someone to share your life with? Do you, are you happy creating and just sort of seeing what happens? Are you either?

Yeah, I've been so lucky in my life with muses that I've got to spend in my life with muses that I've got to spend my time with. I'm okay with that, and because I feel brand new, I'd like to travel the world a little bit more and see what other types of people are out there. Yeah. I don't know if that's a bad thing.

Maybe society frowns upon it, but I like a short relationship. I don't think long-term relationships are for everyone. I don't think monogamy is for everyone. If they don't, you know, they can end well, and many of mine have ended so well that it leaves me filled with hope that I can continue to have meaningful,

you know, loving relationships. Love that. Yeah. That's great. I do feel, I mean, I relationships. Love that. Yeah. That's great. I do feel, I mean, I'm 47 this year. Me too. No, I'm 49. God damn it.

You had your producer correct you on that. No, but I was like, I feel it coming. No, I heard my husband listening back to this, be like, you said you were 47. You're 49. Well, I love that you have children. I had never seen that in my story. And it might be because my parents split

and I never saw that. Also, I think people our age, I didn't see kids for myself either. And I think it's because of the era we grew up. And I also grew up in a very conservative part of America. And I just didn't have, it wasn't an aspirational thing for me. It wasn't until I met Justin, who's 10 years younger,

and who happened to be raised out here near Los Angeles and seeing his desire to have kids and have a family sparked that inside me, but it really took me meeting him for that to be something that I even thought of. Yeah. You have eight studio albums now, that's quite a... Yeah, you're right. Like I love where this last one landed.

I feel like I finally got it right. And I do have probably one or two other sort of acoustic driven albums in the works. But I don't see them as like last off career type albums. They're just songs that I like and I'll put them out eventually. So I do wonder where I'll go next to really challenge myself creatively.

I mean, I don't want to go without saying I think your versatility also through your career is quite remarkable because you have a very specific sound. Like you know a Jason Mraz song when you hear it, but like your first album was so like saturated with like reggae and then, you know, having this recent album, you know, celebrating disco and Michael Jackson and Donna Summer,

but yet they all still feel like they're from the same soul. I think it's, and it's really remarkable. Thanks. Yeah. Well, I think at their core, I mean, I can play any of those songs on a guitar and that's how they all start. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then how you choose to dress them up is, and hopefully you can dress them up in a variety of ways. So thank you. That's a great compliment.

Yeah. Well, I mean it. Thanks. You had some avocado on your sandwich. How was it? It was great. In fact fact the bread was so dry I chose not to eat it because we're talking. You did sell it as vegetables on Mel the Toast. It's correct. Thank you for introducing me to the Popeye, it's spectacular, whatever this is.

There are healthy options here at Mel's Drive-In. I came here after every taping of Dancing with the Stars. Did you really? Because I lived across the street for the three months that I was on the show. And every Tuesday night after live, I'd come here still with my makeup on and my hairspray all done up.

Seek when you're still in your arm hair. Yeah. And I would chow down. Yeah. And just try all kinds of things. And it was- I love that you have such a history with this place. But before that, I probably hadn't been here

in 15, 20 years. Because I came here a lot at the turn of the century. The turn of the century. That's what it was. That's what it was. Came here a lot at the turn of the century. And my fondest memory is like 6 a.m. I had been up all night and I'm having coffee and whatever

and walking down the sidewalk, it comes Bjork and she's bawling, crying, just like being Bjork and walks all the way down the sidewalk and just keeps going. What? That was it, it was just a sighting. That's all it was, it was a celebrity sighting. But it was profound.

I was just talking about Bjork yesterday with Tig. I love Bjork. We were talking about Björk yesterday with Tig. I love Björk. We were talking about Dancer in the Dark. That's probably what she was making at the time. Or she was probably just suffering from how hard it was to make that movie. Because I heard later in an interview, she said she would never make another movie

because that was so hard. She would wander Sunset Boulevard, bawling. Bawling, at 6 a.m. Wow. Yeah. That's a sightm. Wow. Yeah. That's exciting. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Also, I guess it's like the LA I imagined I was going to come to, like at 6 a.m. just seeing people walking down Sunset Boulevard, having moments. I love that. Thanks for doing this with me. Oh my gosh. This is a great way to have a chat. Thanks for doing this with me. Oh my gosh, this is a great way to have a chat.

This episode of Dinners on Me was recorded at Mel's Drive-In in Los Angeles. Next week on Dinners on Me, you might know her as the sexy KGB spy on the Americans, or as the straight-shooting newly appointed ambassador on the diplomat. It's Keri Russell. We get into her being the allegedly least talented Mouseketeer on the Mickey Mouse Club, her fear of photo shoots, and why she gets to go to dinner with the Obamas and I don't. It's not fair.

Dinner is on me is a production of Sony Music Entertainment and a kid named Beckett Productions. It's hosted by me, Jesse Tyler Ferguson. It's executive produced by me and Jonathan Hirsch. Our showrunner is Joanna Clay. Our associate producer is Angela Vang. Sam Baer engineered this episode. Hans-Dyl She composed our theme music.

Our head of production is Sammy Allison. Special thanks to Tamika Balanz-Kalasny and Justin Makita. I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Join me next week.