★★★★★
Summary: Flatfooted and cyclical, Mraz's latest offering also serves as his epitaph. 8 of 8 thought this review was well written Lumped into the all-encompassing category of mainstream pop-rock is our prime specimen here, Mr. A to Z. While this classification initially seems to spell doom, Mraz has been able to successfully prove his mettle at the art of writing music that's simple for those who desire for it to be simple, as well as complex for those looking for something a little deeper...
- www.sputnikmusic.com
2012-07-19
★★★★★
American singer/songwriter Jason Mraz is back with his fourth studio album titled Love Is a Four Letter Word. Going against the usual pre-album hyping process (aka lying to the press), Mraz didn't proclaim his new album as the greatest work ever or different from anything he has done before, instead merely stating that it isn't a departure from his sound at all, just containing different tones and textures...
- www.musicreview.co.za
2012-05-31
★★★★★
Twenty two seconds. That's all it takes Jason Mraz to get back to the type of acoustic guitar pop reggae upstrokes that made "I'm Yours" 2008's unavoidable mega-hit on his latest set, Love Is a Four Letter Word. That's it. A mere 22 seconds. Not even half a minute. A few lines, some hand drum sounds mixed with open guitar cords and boom: "The Freedom Song" instantly reminds you of why you fell in love with "I'm Yours" regardless of how much you may have tried not to...
- www.popmatters.com
2012-05-31
★★★★★
is a cheery looking chap. You'd be too, if your previous albums collected enough platinum discs to keep Chilean miners in fresh chupallas until the sun swells red and devours us all. But his glass-half-full demeanour doesn't always translate on studio releases, which perhaps explains the extensive live catalogue he's already built up. This fourth set, arriving four years after his last (We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2013-04-23
★★★★★
In an interview in Voir, our sister publication, Jason Mraz confessed that he's trying to make the same album over and over again. On his fourth, Love Is a Four Letter Word, he almost succeeds at making the exact same album as his breakthrough, 2008?s We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things., the only exception being that, here, the songs aren't as memorable...
- hour.ca
2012-04-19
★★★★★
Singer Jason Mraz in Barcelona, promoting his album Love Is a Four Letter Word in April 2012. Photograph: Toni Garriga/EPA Given that his 2008 breakthrough was courtesy of the anaemic cod-reggae of "I'm Yours", it would have been unreasonable to expect Jason Mraz's fourth album to be a carnival of envelope-pushing thrills, but even by his own standards this is stupefyingly insipid and pedestrian fare...
- www.guardian.co.uk
2012-04-16
★★★★★
As major label pop stars go, Jason Mraz is an easy guy to root for: he's possessed of what is quite obviously a great voice, and he's openly one of the indoor kids. But there's one glaring flaw in his artistic persona that negates much of that goodwill: he comes off as impossibly smug. The disgusted expression on his face when Moby read, "Fountains of Wayne," rather than his name as a Best New Artist nominee at the 2004 Grammy nomination ceremony was nothing short of schadenfreudelicious...
- www.slantmagazine.com
2011-01-17
★★★★★
Part of the fun of "Waiting for My Rocket to Come," Jason Mraz's 2002 debut, was his white-boy funk and his rap-inspired, tongue-tied vocal technique. Although his deft songwriting is intact on his sophomore studio effort, "Mr. A-Z," his trademark spunky vocals and funk are lost. Self-confidence, a newfound love--rumored to be Virgin recording artist Tristan Prettyman--and traveling are running themes throughout the new, 12-song album, produced by Steve Lillywhite (Dave Matthews Band, U2)...
- www.soundspike.com
2010-12-07
★★★★★
"I knew it was going to be good, but that was amazing" I think this quote from one raving fan after Jason Mraz's sold out second London show on his most recent tour sums up the night at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo perfectly. I had seen and heard how well his current run of tours dates had been faring all across Europe, so figured me and the thousand or so others packing the Apollo were in for a right treat.....
- hangout.altsounds.com
2010-11-09