He brought his brilliant Stages World Tour to South Africa this year which sees Josh Groban revisit the sounds of the many musicals which have touched his life in some way or another. His powerful voice brought a new life to these songs and his show was out of this world. I sat down with the star while he was in the country and spoke to him about his ‘Stages’ album, South Africa and singing in the shower.
The Stages album is an array of different singing styles and phrasing. Did you encounter any vocal challenges when recording the album?
Phrasing and interpretation when you’re dealing with the world of musical theatre songs is so important and every composer within that world has a different a different way they like to pronounce words and a different way they marriage the words with the melodies. My biggest challenge on an album like this where I take off the songwriter hat and putting on just the interpretation of the classics is how to honour how you know the way the composer wants you to do it and at the same time making it your own because these are songs people have heard many times. The blueprint of the album was more of a challenge than the vocal.
Some of the songs on the album you grew up with and some you’ve only recently heard. How did you prepare for this?
Some of these songs I sang in my room as a kid. Some of these songs were from roles I performed in during high school. I went to a public arts high school and I was in a production called ‘Finian’s Rainbow’ where the song Old Devil Moon came from. It was 16-year-old me who sang that song. ‘All I Ask Of You’ was the first song I sang for David Foster who esstentially got me a record deal. When you take songs full circle like that, it’s really very special where you can look back and where you came from and you can pinch yourself when you see the bigger picture.
What is it that keeps you coming back to South Africa?
It’s the love and support that I never forget. It’s important for me to give that love back especially to a country that has been with me from moment one. There have been countries where it’s been a slow burn, but there are a handful of countries, like South Africa, where I’ve felt such a welcoming from album now. What I do is hard to define. I’m not a Top 40 star so to get a country where they get you right away, you want to get them right back. It’s remarkable that a country so far away has been so supportive before I even got here so I feel like I owe it to my fans here.
When you perform on stage, which song on the record gives you the best experience?
Oh, man! They are all my children. I think the opening when I come on stage for the first time and meet my audience and we sing Pure Imagination is a sort of invitation to the audience and it’s a part where no matter how tired I am or what is going on, I’m 100% in this moment.
We heard you like to sing rock tracks in the shower. What songs make your shower playlist?
I like old-school rock when I am singing in the shower. I feel like the reverb in your shower is the same when you sing karaoke and whenever you hit that bounce-back on the walls you immediately want to sing songs by Journey, Guns & Roses, Queen and anything that has 10 octaves is appropriate for the shower. Many a shampoo bottles have been my microphone.
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