JASON MRAZ

There is something inherently annoying about JASON MRAZ. I think that "something" is his propensity for White Boy scat-rapping. Just take a gander at the lyrics for his song "Wordplay" (I was merely going to excerpt this, but, with a song this abysmal, you really have to try to wrap your mind around the whole rancid enchilada):

I've been all around the world
I've been a new sensation
But it doesn't really matter
In this generation
The sophomore slump is an uphill battle
And someone said that ain’t my scene
'Cause they need a new song
Like a new religion
Music for the television
I can't do the long division
Someone do the math
For the record label puts me on the shelf up in the freezer
Got to find another way to live the life of leisure
So I drop my top
Mix and I mingle
Is everybody ready for the single and it goes...

[Chorus]
Ha La La La La
Now listen closely to the verse I lay
(Ha La La La La)
It's all about the wordplay
(Ha La La La Love)
The wonderful thing it does
Because, because
I am the wizard of ooh's and ah's and fa-la-la's
Yeah the Mister A to Z
They say I'm all about the wordplay

When it's time to get I'll I got your remedy
For those who don't remember me
Well let me introduce you to my style
I try to keep a jumble
And the lyrics never mumble
When the music's makin' people tongue-tied
You want a new song
Like a new religion
Music for the television
I can't do the long division
Someone do the math
For the people write me off like I'm a one-hit wonder
Gotta find another way to keep from goin' under
Pull out the stops
Got your attention
I guess it's time again for me to mention
The wordplay

[Chorus]

I built a bridge across the stream my consciousness
It always seems to be a flowin'
But I don't know which way my brain is goin'
Oh the ryhmin' and the timin'
Keeps the melodies inside me
And they're comin'
Till I'm running out of air
Are you prepared to take a dive into the deep end of my head
Are you listening to a single word I've said

[Chorus]
[Chorus]

Uh... see what I mean?

Now, to be fair, "Wordplay" was released back in 2005, so it's possible that Mr. Mraz may have learned how to cut back on the wack rhymes and giddy, goofball hypersyllablizing in the intervening years. To see if this is so, let's check out an excerpt from his new album, WE SING, WE DANCE, WE STEAL THINGS. The song is called "Dynamo of Volition" (he's ace with the titles, too!), and it goes a little like this over yonder:

I do not keep up with statistics
I do not sleep without a mistress
I do not eat unless it's fixed with
Some kind of sweet like a licorice
My home is deep inside the mystics
I'm known to keep diggin' on existence
I'm holdin' in the heat like a fishstick
And my phone it beeps because I missed it

Okay then. There you have it. The best use of "fishstick" in a lyric since DYLAN's basement-tape classic "The Ballad of the Burnt-Bottomed Fishstick Blues." (You know... the one with harmonica.)

So, honestly, I have no idea why I'm posting on Jason Mraz. Just a glutton for punishment, I guess. That, and the fact that -- despite its giddy, goofball, White Boy scat-rapping -- I was sort of charmed by 2003's "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)." (Did I mention that he's ace with the titles?). Despite my best efforts, I can't seem to resist that damn chorus. (Blame it on THE MATRIX.)

It's a shame, really. Mraz has an agile, attractive voice (NEIL SEDAKA meets FREDDIE MERCURY?), but the "wordplay" bites him in the ha-la-la-la ass every fa-la-la-la time. (Come to think of it, he's a little like a male version of NELLIE McKAY. Talented, but with a fatal case of The Cutesies.)

The new album, by the way, drops today.

JASON MRAZ on MySPACE.

From the LP WE SING, WE DANCE, WE STEAL THINGS, 2008 >>>
[MP3] "If It Kills Me"
[MP3] "Lucky" [w/COLBIE CAILLAT]

From the LP MR. A-Z, 2005 >>>
[MP3] "Life is Wonderful"

From the LP WAITING FOR MY ROCKET TO COME, 2002 >>>
[MP3] "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)"