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Jason Mraz: Singer and Sometime Personal Shopper
Acoustic-rocker Jason Mraz, the singer behind cool hits like "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" and "You and I Both," played personal shopper for us, buying a bunch of rad gifts for one lucky ym reader. He was a natural. So with the holidays coming up, we just had to ask him about gift-giving.
What's the worst present you've ever received?
There's no such thing as the worst present is there? Worst gifts happen every single year for Christmas and birthdays! My mom always gets me underwear and socks. And I tell my mom over and over again: I don't wear these.
Does she give you the wrong type?
She still buys me tighty-whities. Then again, I just donate them. It's fine — bring them on Mom.
Do you have any tips on how to buy the perfect gift for someone?
You should always know who you are buying for. Otherwise, you're just going to end up keeping all the stuff for yourself because you're out in the store enjoying yourself.
Are you a pretty patient shopper?
I am a patient shopper if I'm going out to buy stuff for me or my family. If it's just me shopping, hell I'll spend all day. I'll spend hours in the store, I'll talk to the clerks. I get the most information I can. If I'm with someone, I speed it up. You find a healthy balance, but if I'm just tagging along and someone is shopping for linens or auto parts, I'm not really going to be too patient.
Do you usually have an idea of what you want before you go to the store or do you just figure it out once you're there?
I usually have to figure it out beforehand. I think about the person and then I place that person somewhere, whether it's in a part of town or in a specific store or in a particular room in a house. Then you start designing in your mind, imagineering.
What do you think is the most creative gift you've ever given?
When I was 15, I took all my parents old Super 8 movies and I projected them onto the wall. I had a friend that used to do professional photography and I used his equipment to transfer all of the Super 8's to VHS. I spent hours going over to this guy's house editing, and I made an eight-minute video collage of my sister and me as babies and I gave it to my parents for Christmas. I spent weeks on it.
Did you get some tears from Mom out of that?
Yeah! Oh my god! It was beautiful, because it was to the theme song of Forrest Gump, which really takes you on an emotional roller coaster. Pictures of my sister and me, and my parents when they were still together.
Sounds like a tear-jearker. Do you ever give music as gifts?
Oh, yeah! Two years ago, I made a holiday EP for my parents. A year later, I had my friend Danielle guest-star on it, so she could give it to her parents. She sang some opera on a few of the tracks. It was a collection of non-denominational holiday songs, like Holy Folk.
Is there anything in particular that you love or hate to shop for?
I'm going to have to go with toys and arts-and-crafts stuff. I love shopping for that type of stuff. In arts-and-crafts stores, you run into stuff like sidewalk chalk, and think, I need that! Water balloons, I need those, too.
As far as the ym shopping trip, what was your favorite thing you bought?
I'm always happy to buy a Polaroid. It just makes me feel so good. A friend of mine gave me a Polaroid about a year ago, when I first hit the road. He told me that he wanted me to take pictures on the road and send them to him. I just got way into it. I don't know what it is about it — I want to pass that along to other people. Have fun with photography, get some memories. But Polaroid film is so expensive that it's not practical these days. I'm trying to keep it alive.
Do you keep scrapbooks of stuff, or do you give the photos away?
I was actually organizing my collection on Friday. I need to ship some home. I have two huge books full of Polaroids, and I have another stack of 100 or so that are just laying around that are not protected.
We're even giving a signed Polaroid photo of you away with the gifts you got.
Yep. I take Polaroid pictures of myself and the band and throw them out to the audience as souvenirs at my show, so I thought it would be a nice touch. It's kind of like my trademark now.
Jason Mraz Plays Mr. Claus
Who needs Santa when you've got singer Jason Mraz? View our slideshow and see all the cool things he picked out for one of you. Buy a copy of the December ym to win them.
