You live in a bubble, generally, when you're touring and recording - you're in confined - in alone space, wherever you are, in the dressing room or in the studio - so sometimes it's hard to grasp that bigger picture of things that are going on.
— Josh Groban
In ballet class, I felt like Ralph Wiggum.
I wore out the Broadway 'Tommy' recording. I just loved it.
I've seen a lot of people burn very brightly and very quickly, and I think you can become overindulgent sooo quickly in this business, and so I try not to fall into any of the trappings that would affect me very negatively.
Everybody wants to experiment, wants to explore. You should hear me at karaoke. I can sing anything you throw at me. I can do a good Dave Grohl.
I first started listening to Sondheim's work when I was a kid.
I was a shy kid. I was awkward. I was picked on.
The best way for me to teach myself an instrument is to just jam on it, and sound awful sometimes, and sound great other times.
I think that things like Twitter and the blogosphere are so instantaneously critical that I think it's actually created a bit of a culture of artistic fear to branch out too much because you don't want to be slammed.
When I feel confused or depressed, I remember back to junior high and I silently repeat, 'This, too, shall pass.'
I was the boy who liked to sing his own songs at talent shows, and I was suddenly officially uncool.
I got to play a real D-bag lawyer, and comb my hair really awfully and kiss Emma Stone, so it was a really wonderful day on set.
What most people know about me, they know through my music. This time, I've tried to open that door as wide as possible. These songs are a giant step closer to who I really am and what my music is all about. Hence the title.
I get terrible butterflies. Before I go onstage, I'll have to freak out for five minutes. I scream. It seems to help!
I've been offered private planes, and I'm like, 'No!'
When you have the chance to present yourself vocally, you realize a kind of brand develops around that vocal, and you start to see the public consciousness of you is only about one half of your brain.
We got to see Sondheim shows, 'Phantom of the Opera,' 'Cats' and all sorts of stuff. When you're 10 or 11 years old, it's just magnificent. The story-telling, the music - it lifts you out of your seat.
I'm ruthlessly picky when it comes to the crafting of an album, the choosing of musicians, the right mikes, the right studios. There was a time when it was, 'whatever you want.' Then, as you learn a little bit more about your tastes, I don't give in to that kind of thing.
There are so many incredible causes, no one better than the other. There are lots of organizations that need our help and lots of ways we need to help one another.
I did improv in junior high school. Figuring out my comedic timing helped my confidence in talking to the bullies and talking to people in class. If I could make them laugh, then I was in; I was OK.
I'm the world's worst dancer. I have dancephobia.
The time period I had in my life to look like an idiot and fail, and for no one to see that, came and went when I was 17. When you have early success, people are just lying in wait.
Grobanite makes me think of a type of harmless crustacean.
Every day I lugged my backpack through the halls, waiting for the final bell. Then I'd race home and hole up in my room, playing the drums and the piano, composing music.
Music is so 100 percent for me that the idea of giving that up in any way, shape, or form would be terrifying to me.
When it comes to the acting stuff, I like to show up for a couple days and kind of be outrageous and silly, and go back to my day job.
There's no half-singing in the shower, you're either a rock star or an opera diva.
After using four different languages on an album, it's tough to decide which one I'm gonna actually learn to speak. I always study the lyric, make sure I know what I'm singing, and try to get the pronunciation as perfect as possible.
I don't have a circus around me, and that's a choice. I like to be on Planet Earth as much as possible.
I wound up graduating from the Los Angeles County School for the Arts as a theatre major and then was honored to be accepted into Carnegie Mellon's Musical Theatre program.
I grew up in Los Angeles, and my first musical theatre experiences were at the Music Center in downtown L.A.
I wasn't the best student, and for some reason, I always got music. While other people were having trouble figuring out notes on a page, I could listen to it once and play it back.
All of the things an arts education gives a young person enhance leadership skills and help raise grades.
Comedy and music are so similar because it's all about timing.
I would never put any growl on my voice in concert - it's not the kind of music I sing.
I definitely break out karaoke when my friends have birthday parties.
My biggest blast-off hit was 'You Raise Me Up.' If you ever have a wedding or a funeral, it's a good pick.
It wasn't that I got pinned against my locker, but I was intensely aware that the things I valued weren't shared by anyone. Girls didn't like me, and I had few friends.
The honest-to-goodness answer is that Twitter tells me everything, and I have calluses on my fingers from all the mouse-clicking.
As a new artist there's always outside influences trying to tell you how to make a song better for radio and how to do your hair.
Don't try to be like me. Try to be like yourself. Try to be very good at being yourself.
