Josh Groban has been quiet of late. Aside from a few TV roles and a typical chart burst at Christmas time, we’ve not seen or heard from the artist for a painfully long time.
He’s broken his self-imposed silence with the release of 'Symphony.”
The new song explores love and heartbreak and was penned with Bernie Herms and Toby Gad, Groban tweeted after it dropped at midnight.
Hi. Interrupting this twitter break to say I have a new song. It’s called “symphony”. It’s about ❤️ and --. I wrote it with Bernie Herms and Toby Gad. I hope you like it.https://t.co/BhWt6p6Jp8
— josh groban (@joshgroban) March 23, 2018Groban hasn’t released a studio album since 2015’s Stages. There’s no word yet on when its followup will arrive. Stream 'Symphony” below.
“Everything that’s happened has been unexpected,” Josh Groban says of his career. As a teenager, he studied acting, but that high lyric baritone could not be denied: By 2007, Groban was the No. 1 pop artist in the U.S., thanks in part to his 2003 hit “You Raise Me Up.” In 2015, he was offered a starring role in the Broadway musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, an electro-pop adaptation of War and Peace. That earned him a Tony nomination. Now, a few TV cameos (The Office, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) over the years have evolved into his own show, Netflix’s The Good Cop, from Monk creator Andy Breckman.
Groban plays Tony “TJ” Caruso, a by-the-book New York City police officer; Tony Danza co-stars as his dad, a disgraced ex-cop. The 10-episode series debuts September 21, which also happens to be the release date for Groban’s eighth studio album, Bridges. “The timing was perfect,” he says of Good Cop’s four-month shoot. “It fit right between finishing the album and going on tour [beginning October 18]. When I was done, I got to grow my beard out and make music again.”
How did you get involved in The Good Cop?
It was totally unexpected for me. I was in the middle of working on an album. I got a typed letter—because Andy [Breckman] is wonderfully old school—I got a letter from him typed out, saying, “I want you to be the title character in my new show. I’ve been watching stuff you’ve done and when I was writing TJ, I saw your mannerisms in this role.” I loved the character, I loved the show and I Andy’s work on Monk. I thought to myself, 'Everything that’s happened in my career that’s rewarding has always been the unexpected stuff—not the stuff where I’m pounding my head against the wall trying to make something happen. It’s always been the thing where somebody’s believed in me.'
Yourcharacter TJ is obsessed with the rules. Can you relate to that?
So much! When I was 5 years old, I stole a dog tag from a pet store—just to know what it felt like to steal—then started crying on the way home. My mom said, “Why are you crying?” I said, “I stole. I stole a dog tag.” At the time, I wanted to be a cowboy, so my mom goes, “Josh, cowboys don’t steal. We should do what cowboys do, which is to give it back and apologize.” Of course, I learned later that cowboys steal all of the time.
How was working with Tony Danza?
Tony is a legend. He came to one of my first concerts ever, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. I was backstage and somebody said to me, “Tony Danza’s out there, he really loves your voice!” I remember thinking, “That’s so cool!” Obviously, my character’s DNA comes from my dead mother on the show. [Laughs.] [Danza] is this chiseled bruiser type, and I’m just a wimp. I’ll never forget our first day on set—which was so scary and wonderful—we were shooting a scene in the kitchen together. He kept making me laugh, and that was 100 percent him breaking the ice because he knew I was nervous.
Groban (left) as TJ Caruso, the rule-following officer, and Danza as his father, a disgraced ex-cop in Netflix's new series 'The Good Cop.' Michele K Short/Netflix
The Good Cop is reminiscent of classic detective shows, like Columbo. What are your favorites in that genre?
Those were just a hair before my time. I was a big X-Files fan. I like the mysteries that are supernatural, personally. I also used to love Poirot, the PBS mystery shows. They remind me of the way Andy writes crimes—he’ll write the perfect crime and then work his way backward. He makes puzzles and board games in his free time and he does the same things in his scripts. There’s so much grizzly TV out there—like how far can we push it on TV with violence?—but I like the fun, character-driven mysteries. Those are the things I grew up loving, those are the things Andy grew up loving and that’s what we set out to make.
Cops don’t have the best reputation in pop culture these days, with the national spotlight racial profiling and the Black Lives Matter movement. Will those issues be addressed in the series?
While I don’t think that our cop show is a political cop show—first and foremost we’re a character-driven mystery—I know that those things mean a lot to us. It’s important to us that we both represent the NYPD in a respectful light and that we also represent the people of New York in a great and beautiful light. Obviously, a lot of trust has been lost and needs to be rebuilt in this country. As far as what our show can do to help that, I don’t have a clear answer for you. First and foremost we wanted to tell great stories, but your question is not one that we’ve completely ignored within the creative process. It’s ever so slightly above my pay grade, but I certainly hope as the show moves forward that we take full advantage of the opportunity to bridge some gaps.
How did you find the world of TV?
I loved it. The music business is all about packing your bags and going wherever you have to go next. Having a place where you can punch in every morning—and to be able to see your friends every day—is great. I love the theatre, but on Broadway, you know you’ll be telling the same story for the next 300 shows. Andy [Breckman] is constantly writing new mysteries. Every table read was like a word gift and every week you’re constantly surprised by where you’re asked to go with your character.
What was the inspiration behind your latest album, Bridges?
Doing Broadway refilled my tank. I came off The Great Comet with 100 ideas in my phone for musical choruses and possible collaborators. I had been on stage with rock singers, clarinetists and acrobats. I didn’t even want a break. I just dove into writing. There are some albums, like the last one, where I don’t want to write at all, I just want to be a vocalist. Then there are some where you’re pouring out idea after idea. I’ve had sad albums in the past and I wanted an album that had an uplifting spirit, for my psyche and also for the psyche of listeners. I think we all need that.
Groban (right) and Lucas Steele perform onstage with the cast of 'Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812' at the 2017 Tony Awards. hoto by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
What was going through your mind when you wrote the single, “Granted,” with Tony Gad and Bernie Herms?
We were watching the news and thinking about the political divide in this country. A lot of young people feel discouraged, like their voices don’t matter. When I feel uninspired or depressed, I try to think about what lit that fire, when I felt that inspiration. Music is what did that for me when I was younger, and we wanted to write a song that could do that for others. It may sound cheesy, but sometimes you need that message.
Is it true that your terrier, Sweeney Todd, is featured on this album?
[Laughs.] His essence is on every album. He’s always under the piano or in the vocal booth. If you were to isolate the piano or the vocal track, you would totally hear his dog breath or the clip-clop of his claws. It’s the floor cut.
Are you still playing your accordion from The Great Comet ever?
I dust it off every now and then. My castmates definitely give me shit. They’ll email me and say—we call my accordion Olga—they say are you still playing Olga? I had never played the accordion before The Great Comet, so I really only know how to play the songs that I played in the show. I could just break it out on tour, but I’d probably get sued by Weird Al.
We got some sad news about Aretha Franklin recently, who you met and performed with. What was it like working with her?
We sang “You Raise Me Up” as a duet at Nelson Mandela’s birthday concert at Radio City Music Hall [in 2009]. She asked to do it! I remember first and foremost, her kindness. Just listening to her next to me was one of the most chill-inducing, beautiful moments. Before that, I met her very briefly at the White House, when we were both performing at the Kennedy Center to honor Andrew Lloyd Webber [in 2006]. I went over to her with my mom—we were both big fans—and just very quickly said, “Ms. Franklin, I just want to say, I’m honored to be on the show with you, congratulations, this is my mom, have a wonderful day.”
Cut to two years later. I’m at the MusiCare’s Grammy benefit in LA. I’m sitting at a table among a thousand tables. She’s up on stage accepting her MusiCare’s [Person of the Year] award. She’s looking out over a sea of people. She suddenly, out of nowhere, stops what’s she’s saying and says, “Is that Josh Groban? I met his mother at the White House!” I’m going, Are you kidding me right now? That she would remember that! I called my mom from the table. [Laughs.] Anyone’s who’s been in the business long enough has been touched by her kindness. She’ll be missed very much.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
The last few years have been big ones for Josh Groban, Musical Theater Nut.
In 2015, the pop-classical singer famous for his big voice (and his boyish looks) earned a Grammy nomination for his album “Stages,” which featured renditions of classic Broadway tunes from the likes of “Carousel” and “Les Misérables.”
The next year, he made his debut on the Great White Way with a starring role in “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” an experimental adaptation of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” Then, in June, he co-hosted the Tony Awards with Sara Bareilles.
“What can I say?” Groban, 37, asked over coffee on a recent morning in Burbank. “I like diving into things.”
Newest Cd By Josh Groban
Now the Los Angeles native, who dropped out of Carnegie Mellon University when he signed a record deal at age 18, is showcasing two of his other guises.
On Friday, he releases “Bridges,” a new album that revisits the sweeping style of his early work (but in songs he co-wrote). That same day, Netflix premieres “The Good Cop,” a quirky comedy series from “Monk” creator Andy Breckman, in which Groban portrays the squeaky-clean son of a disgraced police officer played by Tony Danza.
It toughened me up. This business is hard anyway, but eight shows a week was unlike anything I’ve experienced before. Broadway also teaches you the power of collaboration. You’re a cog in a wheel. This was an ensemble cast, and most of the actors came from way off-Broadway; they were musicians with their own bands or orchestras, which I’d go see every time I had a day off. My album would not have happened if it wasn’t for the inspiration I got from the cast.
Were you thinking about the album as you did the show?
You spend a lot of hours in your dressing room, so I had a little keyboard set up and was constantly throwing ideas down on my iPhone. After having done a musical theater album that then led into a Broadway run, I was just feeling that itchiness to write songs again.
Before “Stages,” you made two albums of your own tunes, including a relatively stripped-down record produced by Rick Rubin. That one kind of reframed you as a sensitive folkie — not the kid blasting away like a mini Andrea Bocelli.
If there was one thing I felt I could’ve handled differently with the Rick process, it was that I was so focused on the songwriting that I kind of stopped focusing on my voice for a minute. I said, “I’m a little burnt out having to be the hit-the-money-note guy.”
Not apologetic — just aware. I was wound pretty tight when I first went to Rick. There was a certain producing style that I was used to, which was very performance-driven. Each day you had to leave a pint of blood.
Do you think you succeeded in establishing a more realistic picture of Josh Groban?
I think I did all right. My fanbase was split down the middle. But it certainly opened a confidence zone in me to feel like I could approach these albums from a more personal space, whatever the style of production. I realized I don’t need the magic feather — it’s something I have in me, and I can continue to do it.
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Because it seemed less personal, “Stages” struck me as something of a retreat.
When I was doing the Rick record, I got a lot of kudos from journalists: “I appreciate that you’re taking this risk.” But I think there’s sometimes a consensus that stepping out of your lane is commendable, but then, when you make a conscious decision to hit the sweet spot of what your voice wants to do really well — that somehow the energy and the work that goes into that is not as valid because it doesn’t have the edge quotient. I was terrified making a musical theater record!
Because I didn’t dream of being a singer-songwriter when I was five years old — I dreamed of singing the songs on “Stages.” People said writing songs was brave, but I was fearless going into that; I was living my teenage rebellion at, like, 30. With “Stages,” I felt a reverence and a nervousness about singing those songs, and I had to dig myself out of that hole emotionally every time I went into the vocal booth.
“Bridges” finds a middle ground between the two approaches. It uses powerful vocals to tell intimate stories.
I agree. It’s got what I wanted to say about my own life experiences. But I wasn’t afraid to reestablish a certain sound to my singing.
So you’ve done all this work to dismantle the widely held image of you as an angelic boy wonder. But on TV, you’re basically back to that in “The Good Cop.”
My character is tone-deaf, though, so there’s no angelic singing, at least. Look, there were many years where I might not have been comfortable being that earnest because I felt at the time that the whole picture of me wasn’t entirely accurate. Now that I’ve been able to do some weird stuff, I feel lucky to have an opportunity to do something like this. And the difference is that I’m taking ownership of that perception — I’m doing it in a tongue-in-cheek way.
Your portrayal is funnier because of what we know of your history.
Totally. Knowing that Andy Breckman was always going to do things with a wink and a nudge — that did not go unnoticed by me when I read the pilot. Also, anytime you’re playing somebody with “good” in the title, there’s all kinds of room to break bad.
Could you have pulled off the role without first acting on Broadway? You’ve done small parts on TV.
I don’t think so. I didn’t have an acting technique; I just did some funny stuff on “The Office.” But [“Great Comet” director] Rachel Chavkin went through every line with me, word by word. In four or five months of rehearsal, she was able to do with me what I would’ve continued doing had I finished at Carnegie Mellon. She taught me what my process needed to be regardless of the environment.
That’s a chunk of time. And you’re touring this fall. Do you think differently now than you did in your 20s about how to balance your professional and personal lives?
Definitely. There was a point in my mid to late 20s when I felt like a heart surgeon with a pager. I was thrown into a professional master class at a young age, but I was such a late bloomer in terms of prioritizing my personal life. You have to communicate with the people close to you, and that was something I learned the hard way a couple of times.
That said, I still love to work; it’s something that comes up a lot in the relationship I’m in currently [with actress and writer Schuyler Helford]. I’d love to have a family one day. But I want to be the father that my dad has been to me. My dad would go to work in the morning, come home and have a scotch and help me with my homework. I want desperately to be that. Anything less really scares me.
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Josh Groban released “Granted” today (June 8), his lead single from his highly-anticipated forthcoming album. The song is an uplifting ballad that finds Groban in his wheelhouse with a building piano and swelling orchestral score to support his soaring vocals.
The lyric video for the song also features students from the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts, Groban’s alma mater, to help convey the track's anthemic lyrics. LACHSA is one of the recipients of Josh’s Find Your Light Foundation, which helps fund over 80 children’s arts educations programs around the country.
Groban also announced in March that he will embark on a massive North American tour this October with Idina Menzel. The tour will take the pair on 18 dates at many of the country’s most recognized arenas. Groban is also set to co-host the 72nd Annual Tony Awards alongside Sara Bareilles this Sunday (June 10) at Radio City Music Hall.
Check out the new song below.