Mraz doesn’t ‘Steal’ much
By Miranda Likes
Jason Mraz’s star seemed so bright in 2002. The singer-songwriter had just scored a major record deal with Elektra, he had a debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come (which eventually went platinum), and you couldn’t turn on a music channel without seeing his face or turning on the radio without hearing The Remedy.
So what happened?
Mraz released a follow-up album in 2005 titled Mr. A-Z. Perhaps due to the overwhelming success of his first album, sales of Mraz’s follow-up album were good for a few weeks after its debut, before dropping off drastically. Critics also had few kind things to say about the album, that was blasted about as much as Waiting for My Rocket to Come was praised. In fact, Rolling Stone even went so far as to say that “it's as if Jimmy Fallon and David Gray had a baby, suckled by Edie Brickell and [was] diapered by the Spin Doctors.”
Mraz is back out with a brand new studio album this week (We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things), although parts of it might sound familiar to you already. Since March, Mraz’s record has been releasing a series of EPs to promote the new album. The EPs contain acoustic demo versions of the songs that are fleshed out in their entirety on We Sing, We Dance, We Steal.
It seems like a bit of a bold move to release an album in such a way, giving fans access to new music before the masses. If they like it, they’ll tell everyone about it and it will generate some positive buzz. Unfortunately, it can also have the exact opposite effect on an album if the songs aren’t any good. Luckily for Mraz, many of his fans prefer him tackling songs solo on a guitar, without all the assistance of a studio.
The album is familiar in other ways too, though. Songs like I’m Yours are not exactly carbon copies of The Remedy, but the feel-good song about everyone getting along with each other does eventually build into an easy-going sound that is equally easy to sing along to, partially because it’s a nice song and partially because parts of the lyrics repeat over ad nauseum.
We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things features a less of an influence from rap music than Mraz’s previous discs as well, instead appearing to finally relent to the John Mayer/Gavin DeGraw genre of pop music that is easier to categorize, if not necessarily embrace.
All told, We Sing We Dance We Steal Things isn’t a bad album, but it’s not a particularly great album, either. It is almost a textbook definition of mediocrity. Many of the songs have so little happening in them that they almost sound like something you would turn on to get a child to fall asleep. At other times, Mraz deliver and his quirkiness seems to, for whatever reason, work. Still, look out for any woman under 25 the next time you’re at the record store, since they are still the most likely to run you over and kill you for a Jason Mraz CD.
Originally Published: Issue 648 - May 14, 2008
 |
Share on Facebook |
