By By Megan King
We’ve seen it a million times-an artist cracking under the pressure of trying to duplicate the success of a debut album. Just as a sophomore album can solidify your place in the music industry, it can also completely end a career. Fortunately, Jason Mraz knows what he’s in for. After the success of his first venture, Waiting For My Rocket to Come, Mraz took his time to make sure his next project was just what he wanted. The result was a musically diverse album filled with perceptive, humorous and clever lyrics.
Recording the sophomore release alongside legendary producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Rolling Stones, Dave Matthews Band), Mr. A-Z takes off right where Waiting For My Rocket To Come ends. Mraz begins with the pensive track, “Life Is Wonderful,” where he challenges listeners to rethink many things we don’t take the time to see in our day-to-day lives. The first single, “Wordplay,” follows with its clever and catchy chorus that is sure to gain Top-40 fans.
Mraz changes styles with his next track, “Geek In The Pink.” This tune offers the singer/songwriter’s own brand of pop-rap, while proudly proclaiming his “geek-ness” to the masses. Other musical styles are sampled on the CD as well. The thoughtful “Mr. Curiousity” offers an opera-like ending, provided by the classically-trained singer himself. In “Bella Luna,” Mraz croons about the moon and its magical powers with a romantic jazz feel, but somehow manages to make it not seem cheesy. “O Lover,” a Latin influenced tune, lets him have fun vocally, while singing sexy and sensual lyrics. Even with all these different musical styles, the one thing that ties them all together is Mraz’s great way with words.
Stand-out lyrics appear on “Did You Get My Message,” where Mraz (with musician Rachel Yamagata) sings of the problems we all have with communication, asking, “Do you ever wonder what happens to the words that we send/ Do they bend, do they break from the flight that they take / And come back together again with a whole new meaning.” Other insightful words are found on the powerful “Plane,” where the Virginia native passionately sings: if the plane goes down, he’ll “remember where the love was found.”
Mraz was smart to take his time with his second studio release. With such a variety of musical styles on the album, there truly is something for everyone on Mr. A-Z.
The Chronicle gives “Mr. A-Z” by Jason Mraz four out of five stars