12 Music

Star2, WedneSday 2 January 2013

Multi-platinum recording
artiste Josh Groban has
readied up a diverse spread
on his eagerly anticipated
sixth studio album.
By NIKI CHEONG
entertainment@thestar.com.my

T HAS been more than a decade since

Josh Groban first entered the mainstream
consciousness of many Malaysians when
he appeared in an episode of legal comedydrama Ally McBeal, singing his popular song
To Where You Are.
When that episode aired, people were talking about the show and Groban in particular
for days: Who was this guy? Is he an actor
or a singer? Where has that voice been hiding?
All evidence showed that the episode was
going to be the start of an amazing career for
the singer (he was so popular that the producers brought him back for another episode
the next season). That same year, he released
his self-titled album the first of five successful albums which in all have sold over 25
million records.
The story of how he got onto Ally McBeal
is already legendary amongst his fans the
Grobanites and those who have followed
his career. At the 1999 Grammy Awards,
Groban stood in for Andrea Bocelli in the
rehearsals, singing The Prayer with Celine
Dion. This led to Rosie ODonnell booking him
to appear on her show the week after. Then
came Ally McBeal.
Since then, the 31-year-old has performed
with many notable classical performers.
There was The Prayer with Charlotte Church
at the closing ceremony for the 2002 Winter
Olympics, singing with Sarah Brightman at
the 2007 Concert for Diana, as well as a 2008
tribute to Luciano Pavarotti with Bocelli.
Perhaps it was how his career started, these
landmark performances or just the nature of
his voice that has in many ways pigeon-holed
Groban in the minds of many people. While
much of his music sits comfortably in the
adult contemporary charts (easy listening),
Groban has over the years experimented with

Echoes of a man
different sounds within his genre.
I think Ive actually done quite a bit of
experimenting with this genre, he said in a
recent interview at The Soho Hotel in London.
I think my last album was very broken down
I took out a lot of elements and was much
more like a folk pop kind of record. This
record has much more rhythm than Ive had
in the past.
Groban is referring to his upcoming album
to be released early next month titled
All That Echoes. The album, produced by Rob
Cavallo (Green Day, Paramore), features 12
songs, seven of which were co-written by
Groban.
The other five are covers, including Stevie
Wonders I Believe (When I Fall In Love It
Will Be Forever), Glen Hansard and Markta
Irglovs Falling Slowly (the Oscar-winning
song from the film Once), and Jimmy Webbs
The Moons A Harsh Mistress. Special guests on
the album include Grammy-winning trumpet
player Arturo Sandoval on Un Alma Mas and
Italian superstar vocalist Laura Pausini on E Ti
Prometter.
Members of the press were treated to a
preview of nine tracks from the album at
the hotel and for the most part, the songs
sounded really fresh despite the fact that they
remain well within the genre of music he has
made his career out of.
Staying fresh is really a unique thing to
each particular artiste. My idea of staying
fresh isnt by saying, Oh Kanyes really big
right now, I guess I better do a rap song. It is
about keeping things interesting, he opined.
Every time you make a record, you have
the chance to do what you do best, but you
also have the chance to really push some
boundaries and explore. Sometimes you
p--- off your fans a little bit, and sometimes
you go a little too far, but I think better that
than bore them. And I think they would much
rather go on this journey hit and miss than
just be spoonfed the same stuff over and over
again.

Raising the game:

Operatic pop singersongwriter Josh Groban
will release his new
studio album, all That
echoes, next month.
To make sure this happens, Groban takes a
hands-on approach in working on an album
(Im a control freak! he confessed).
And with the success hes had over
the years, hes in a better position to
make things happen.
Obviously, when you sell a
certain amount of records, you have
doors that are open to you and you can make
more phone calls, which is nice (because)
when you can have more tools on your tool
belt, you can make a more versatile album. At
the same time, you still have to use the tools
I will never hand that to someone else, he
said.
One wonders if it is that conviction that
is the secret to his success. In many ways,
Groban has done things the way he wants
and has become so successful at it. For one, he
deals with his detractors matter-of-factly.
I cant help if people dont look at the big
picture and if they have pre-conceived notion
about me based on the voice that I have.
There will always be people who are closed
minded and I cant change their minds, he
shared.
But he also sees music as more organic
whole than a sum of various genres. He listens to songs from a variety of genres and has
been inspired by talents ranging from Freddie
Mercury to Radiohead. He even covered a
Linkin Park song. The only difference between
songs, he feels, is the genre. For Groban, the
energy and the intent may be exactly the
same.
When I hear Freddie Mercury sing a rock
note and when I hear Pavarotti singing a high
C, I see the same intent, I see the same energy
and the same passion and maybe the same
exact emotion, he explained. I view the
genres that I am inspired by the same way. I
can be thinking the exact same thing that the
rocker is thinking off, we just have different
ways of singing it. We have different voices,
we have different styles but the energy and
intent is the same.
Perhaps it is this approach to not pigeonhole things that has kept the Los Angelesborn singer relevant over the years. His songs

may not always appear on the popular charts,

but he is firmly established in popular culture,
thanks to his side acting career (since Ally
McBeal, he has made appearances in other
TV shows, including Glee and The Office, as
well as in the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love) and
numerous appearances on award ceremonies
and talk shows. In these live shows, Groban
has been able to show a different side of himself often humourous including appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show dressed as a
character from Avatar, and a video clip of him
singing out Kanye Wests tweets.
On the subject of tweets, Groban also
enjoys the ability of tools on the Internet that
helps him keep in touch with the public.
With the Internet now, you have the
opportunity to show all sides of you. You
dont have to wait to sit on the couch with Jay
Leno, you can just do an interview for an hour
with your fans online and tell them exactly
who you are, you can tell stupid jokes on
Twitter, you can send home movies through
YouTube, he shared.
If you are disgruntled about what your
image is, there really is no excuse for that
now because there are so many ways to show
people who you are.
Many people may have a different impression of him, but over the past decade, and
with an upcoming sixth album, one thing is
for certain Josh Groban is no longer just
that kid who mesmerised the world with his
amazing voice on that TV show.
n Josh Grobans album All That Echoes
will be released by Warner Music Malaysia
on Feb 5.