Yes!
Jason Mraz
(Atlantic)
Three stars
Jason Mraz's biggest single I'm Yours can now be looked back as a marker in the sand between current and old-school fans.
Before that ubiquitous chart-topping single, the fedora-wearing American’s music was a hit in urban coffee shops and hipster circles courtesy of his witty wordplay and quirky mash-up of hip-hop and reggae rhythms.
I'm Yours changed all that. The 2008 lilting acoustic single is a simple and honest love song; next thing Mraz knew, he was topping charts on both sides of the Atlantic and headlining arenas.
Ever since then, Mraz has been slowly ditching the showy elements of his songwriting for a more mainstream sound. His fifth album, Yes!, completes that transition. This is the new Jason Mraz: an ultra-sensitive singer-songwriter who used clever metaphors to speak of relationships before, but is now content to focus on love's simple pleasures such as holding hands and taking long drives.
Love Someone is a chugging paean to love's transformative powers where Mraz declares that "love is a funny thing, whenever I give it, it comes back to me".
The follow-up, Hello You Beautiful Thing, is a highlight due to it being one of the rare up-tempo offerings on Yes!. It's super-eager to please with a toe-tapping acoustic rhythm as Mraz extols the wonders of a morning coffee – and, of course, more romance talk – over female backing vocals.
With the exception of the drum-heavy Everywhere, the album then becomes a series of cloying clichés that are in some cases saved by some memorable melodies.
The slow-rolling Long Drive is lush and elegant while Quiet gets all country with its twangy and steel guitars.
Sometimes, no amount of melodic nous can save trite lyrics; 3 Things is basically a Tony Robbins book set to summery hooks ("There are three things I do when my life falls apart/Number one I cry my eyes out and dry up my heart").
You Can Rely On Me has a hidden smugness as Mraz illustrates his perfect boyfriend credentials, while the ukulele-driven anthem Back to Earth is drenched with earnestness – Mraz would have done better if he gave it away to a Walt Disney film than suffocate us with it.
After the last sitar chime of the rather lovely hippy-romance of the closer Shine (you guessed right, the chorus is "I will shine on you") one wonders about the fate of Mraz. Yes! is exactly the kind of album his early music railed against. It will probably sell bucket loads, but at the expense of Mraz being labelled the American James Blunt.
sasaeed@thenational.ae
