Love is a four letter word. So is “shit”. But I decided not to travel the punk bile road on this one. Too easy. Still, I couldn’t imagine a worse fit for me than Jason Mraz, a relentlessly positive clean-living vegan Californian grinner. He’s not actually Californian, he’s from Virginia, but he might as well be since holistic sunshine bleeds from every note of his fourth album, like an acoustic Deepak Chopra ear enema. He appears to be the antithesis of everything likeable about popular music - so let’s give him a fair chance as there’s little lamer than a pre-estimated critique.
The first number, “Freedom Song”, is alive with Bill Withers-ish soulful relish, Motown brass and a punchy tune. The second, “Living in the Moment”, well, I never liked John Denver but Mraz’s simplistic cheeriness is imitative, a strummed fellowship for anyone who might wish to join in. These songs are catchy and universal. As radio fare they’re hard to argue with. The rest of the album is not.
“Whether it’s your birthday or your dying day, it’s a celebration,” posits “Everything Is Sound”. “Everything is really possible,” claims “5/6”. Whether riding a funky Hispanic riff or a Hall & Oates blue-eyed soul groove, new age mulch takes over. Mraz’s music is so squeaky clean there’s no sense of reality, no notion that the feel-good factor cuts deep. It’s as if the lyrics to these songs were written for the Kindergarten rather than grown-ups. Love is a Four Letter Word has the ring of success about it – it could certainly be commercially huge - but in the vein of being America’s own young Cliff Richard vein rather than even, say, Paolo Nutini.
Alternate perspectives on nice-boy Mraz’s new effort undoubtedly litter the world wide interweb. That's as maybe, as my granny used to say. All I can tell you is that it's lame and lacks any teeth whatsoever.
Watch "I Won't Give Up"