Jason Mraz Discusses How His Musician Background Benefits Him on 'Dancing With The Stars,' Unexpected Challenges & More (Exclusive)

Jason Mraz is opening up about his experience on Dancing With the Stars so far.

We sat down with the 46-year-old Grammy award-winning musician and got the scoop on what it’s been like on the competition series, what he didn’t expect when starting and using his musical background to help on the ballroom.

Jason is paired up with pro dancer Daniella Karagach, and for their first dance, they landed towards the top of the leaderboard, earning 21 out of 30 points.

Now, they’re getting ready to bring the heat with a rumba for “Latin Night.”

Check out our exclusive interview with Jason Mraz inside…

“We’re dancing a rumba to ‘Quizás, Quizás, Quizás,’ made famous by Andrea Bocelli and JLo. It’s a beautiful romantic song that challenges me to really create a passionate performance with Daniella. That’s really the goal,” Jason shared with us about his upcoming week two dance. “It’s a slow… And I don’t know for sure 100%, but I think it’s one of the only slow dances in the whole show, which also makes me nervous because it might appear that we’re dancing less, and that makes me nervous. But believe me, we’re not. Everything is in slow motion. It’s a slow motion dance, so there’s a lot more room for error.”

Keep reading below for our full, exclusive interview with Jason Mraz…

Just Jared: Congrats on being a great dancer!
Jason Mraz: Aw, shucks. Thank you. Who knew?

JJ: What has been your biggest challenge so far on the show?
JM: You know, I think the schedule more than anything, because it’s an everyday show. We rehearse Wednesday through Sunday, and then we rehearse on Mondays with camera blocking, and then Tuesday is, again, rehearsal, dress rehearsal, and taping. And then you start all over again on Wednesday. And I was actually not prepared for that. I thought, I thought it’d be a couple of days off. But, and my pro, my partner, Daniella, she said, ‘Sure, you can take a day off, but what’s that going to do for you?’ Like she said, ‘Is that going to help?’ So she kind of called me out immediately and was like, she’s going to be there every day, so I’m going to be there every day. And I guess that’s just not something I’m used to. I haven’t done that in a really long time. You know, even when I’m on tour, we might do three in a row and then take a day off for rest. But no, this is the Olympics of dance. This is full-on body abuse and great television.

JJ: Since you are a musician, has that been an advantage in learning steps and musical cues?
JM: I think so. I think so. I mean, I don’t, I wouldn’t know what it’s like to not be a musician, but I feel the music. I feel the one. I feel the two. I feel the three and the four. Wherever the count needs to be, I can recognize that in the music. And then I also try to feel the emotion of the song or the pocket of the song and where other instruments might be adding to the musicality. So I think it’s helpful, but I don’t know any other way.

JJ: On the same note, you said that you feel the emotion part, and you’ve done musical theater, has that also helped you out in any way?
JM: Yes, I would say, I mean, when I did musical theater, I wasn’t doing as much movement. I was more vocalizing and I had certain marks I had to hit, but I wasn’t doing choreography. But there is something about performance that is the same no matter what stage you’re on. You know, you want to show up, you want to give the best performance, you want to put your heart in it, and heart to the audience, and your energy to your partners in the scene, or in the dance to create a very believable performance. So I do think any stage time, whether it was from doing musicals as a teenager to, you know, playing my guitar all these years, a little bit of Broadway time, all of it has helped me be very comfortable in this moment.

JJ: Is there a dance style that you’re not looking forward to doing?
JM: Oh, all of them. I mean, when she told me, like, I wasn’t excited about week one, but I got through it, I figured it out and then I wasn’t excited about week two, but now I’m getting it, like I’m finally embodying it and now I’m kind of really into it. But just when I get into it, and I have found it, we’re going to compete and then we’re going to change the channel and do something totally different. And I’m going to, and I’m going to hate that for two or three days. So, the schedule is the hardest part of this whole thing and having to turn and morph into a different dance so quickly is the challenge. It’s hard to look ahead. I already know what my dance is going to be if I make it to week three and just thinking about it gives me a little anxiety. So I’m trying to just stay in the moment. I’m just trying to stay in the moment and work on week two, make it the best it can be.

JJ: Is there maybe a particular style that you are looking forward to? Maybe one that you’ve wanted to try?
JM: [laughs] No, I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I just thought dance routine. I can learn a dance routine. Sure, week after week, I’ll learn a dance routine. I didn’t really think about how technical and how specific each dance was going to be. Every week so far out of two weeks, I feel like I’m learning a new language. It’s not, and you can’t fake that or you can. You can kind of go through the motions, but to really make it look good, you have to add the technique. You have to add the style. You have to add, and then be loose on top of it all and be yourself. Yeah, so I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.

JJ: Now that you have the first week done and those first time jitters, has that helped you to be a little more confident for week two?
JM: Yeah, for sure. Although, it gave my partner a lot more confidence to make the choreography harder. She said, I did so well with week one that she has to turn it up now. Which I was, I probably should have played it down a little bit. So, yes, I do have confidence that I’ll be able to do what is asked of me, but it’s still very hard.

I surprised myself [week one]. [Daniella] gave me a great tip, and I’ve actually been sharing this with the other participants. And that tip was, it’s like she could read my mind. She said, ‘It’s silly. The whole thing feels really silly. Who moves like this? Nobody moves like this, but this is what makes a great dance, especially in competitive ballroom. You’ve got to fill out everything with so much volume and exaggeration.’ She goes, ‘It’s silly,’ but the best advice she gave me was, she said, ‘Make fun of it.’ She goes, ‘Just with your body, make fun of it and exaggerate and watch what will happen. You’ll just get better.’ And so that really helped because I was really stiff and feeling not myself. And then once I started to play with it and kind of embrace the character of cha cha, I then realized I started to match my partner’s energy. And that gave me a little more freedom to have fun and not be so in my head about it.

JJ: You did dance to your own song last week. Is there another song of yours that you would potentially want to dance to?
JM: Oh my God. I mean, I submit my own song every week. I told them that. I was like, here’s another option. I just keep throwing them songs of mine because why not? And one of their comments was, ‘Well, you can’t dance to your own song every week. You know what I mean?’ Yeah. And I thought, no, I don’t know what you mean. I do it every night of the week when I’m on tour. It’s like the only songs I perform to. But I’m okay with it. I do hope to do it at least once or twice more throughout the season. I think it would be a real treat.

JJ: Is there something that has surprised you about yourself so far, being on the show?
JM: Did I mention the schedule? Um, yeah, I mean, this is a big reason that I joined this show is that a part of me has always wanted to pull it all together, has wanted to learn to dance. I’ve jokingly danced my whole life. I’ve moved comically. I’ve freestyled on the dance floor, but I’ve never been able to dance with a partner because my freestyle is just unorganized. It’s untamed. And so I, I joined this show to have a new experience and a big part of that experience was to learn how to pull it all together and be a little more organized and intentional with my dancing. And I’m very pleased on how it’s coming together and, and it’s not coming together because I’m doing anything, it’s coming together because I have an amazing partner. I have an amazing teacher who is giving me the time and the attention, and the history, and the instruction, and the freedom and just so much care. So that, I’m really grateful for. This show is definitely taking good care of me and I’m so grateful for that.

Be sure to tune in to watch Jason Mraz dance the rumba during week two of Dancing With the Stars on Tuesday (October 3) at 8pm ET/PT on ABC and Disney+!

To vote for him and Daniella Karagach, voting opens when the show starts at 8pm ET/PT, and there are two options: You can text “Jason” to 21523 up to 10 times, or you can go to DWTSvote.abc.com to cast your votes that way!