LOVE ME TENOR - ROUSING BALLADEER JOSH GROBAN ADMITS TO A NOT-SO-SHOCKING CRUSH ON JULIE ANDREWS — BUT HE ALSO TALKS STRIP CLUBS
Josh Groban may have the best poker face in music. For 10 years, he dutifully filled the role of Adult Contemporary’s boy wonder, selling more than 25 million albums full of mom-friendly, vaguely religious uplift (“You raise me up so I can stand on mountains”). But this year, in a surprise segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the musician showed his cards, mocking Kanye West—and himself—by setting a selection of the rapper’s ridiculous tweets to an operatic score, belting out verbatim Kanye-isms like “I make awesome decisions in bike stores!!!” If Groban’s public about-face came as something of a surprise, well, let’s just call it a welcome revamp for the singer, who, after a three-year absence from recording, delivered 2010’s Illuminations, an unlikely collaboration with Rick Rubin—the bearded industry veteran better known for his work with Adele and Metallica. Shortly before Groban’s thirtieth birthday last year, he moved from Malibu to Manhattan, putting 3,000 miles between himself and ex-girlfriend January Jones. This month, he colors farther outside the lines with his feature-film debut in Crazy, Stupid, Love., as Emma Stone’s caddish boyfriend. Groban for the win!
ELLE: Your music famously puts women in the mood. Are you aware of that?
JOSH GROBAN: I’m delighted. I’d like to get the message out there to guys: I’m here to help.
ELLE: What music do you play when you have a lady over?
JG: Not mine.
ELLE: Never?
JG: One time when I was lying in bed, this girl went to my laptop and put on one of my songs. I remember yelling from the other side of the room, “What is that? Turn that off!”
ELLE: So what happened to that girl?
JG: I kicked her ass out of the room.
ELLE: Really?
JG: No, I’m kidding. I politely said, “Hey, why don’t I come over there, and let’s look at the songs together?”
ELLE: A reporter once asked Katy Perry, “Who is your most embarrassing crush?” She answered…you.
JG: I know Katy quite well. And no—I don’t take it personally. People were asking if we’d dated. I’ll leave it at that.
ELLE: What’s the grandest gesture you’ve made for a woman?
JG: If I’m in a relationship, I’ll go to the ends of the earth. If I’m on the road and we have a conversation, and she says, “God, I really wish I was there with you right now,” I’ll hang up the phone, send a car, and have the plane ready.
ELLE: Baller! Are you in the Mile High Club, then?
JG: I’ve never done it on a plane. That’s always been a fascination…. The logistics. The covert planning. The interesting use of blanket.
ELLE: Is a volatile argument a sign of a healthy relationship or a troubled one?
JG: If there’s crying, and you get through it, that’s a good thing. I’m all about, Go ahead, throw that shoe. I’ll catch it.
ELLE: If you could bed one woman in the history of music, who would it be?
JG: Oh man, what is her name? From The Sound of Music…
ELLE: Julie Andrews? Really? She made clothing out of drapes.
JG: No, she was sexy in that movie! There was a spicy vixen under all of that.
ELLE: You’re in the middle of a six-month world tour. Have you ever spotted an attractive woman in the crowd and invited her back to your dressing room?
JG: The road is lonely, but I’ve never done that.
ELLE: I don’t believe you.
JG: I might be crazy, but I can’t be intimate with a girl unless I really think she’s into me. Also, I could never get away with that. What would I be doing when she walked into my dressing room? Casually sitting in a velvet robe, sipping brandy? Like, “Oh, I see my assistant found you. Please enter. Cigar?”
ELLE: Your tour began in New Orleans. Did you get into any trouble there?
JG: Well, when I was there for my first tour in 2004, my crew dragged me to a strip club.
ELLE: Dragged, huh?
JG: The crew said, “Josh, get over yourself. Nobody’s going to recognize you.” Well, this guy with a trucker hat was sitting next to me, and we’re kind of doing our thing: “Yeah, look at her.… Oh, she’s pretty flexible.” Then he says, “I’m taking my wife to your show tomorrow night.”
ELLE: You recently moved from L.A. to Manhattan. What’s different between the women in New York and California?
JG: A New York girl would have no problem saying straight off the bat, “I’ve never heard of you.”
ELLE: In Crazy, Stupid, Love., you play a tool who calls his girlfriend nicknames like “Hannah Banana.” What’s the worst nickname a girl’s ever given you?
JG: When I was a kid at summer camp, a girl called me Alf.
ELLE: As in, the ’80s TV show?
JG: Yeah, Alf. “Alien Life Form.” Hates cats. At that age—like puppies and their paws—I hadn’t quite grown into my face. I had huge hair and really accentuated facial features.
ELLE: What’s the most painful thing a woman’s ever said to you?
JG: Besides calling me Alf? Whenever a woman gives me that look—Aww, you’re sweet!—that burns with the heat of a thousand suns.
ELLE: Would you say your good-guy image hurts your chances at love?
JG: People assume that because I make romantic music, I must be moments away from pulling up in my golden gondola. I’ve tried to be edgier than I am, and it looks ridiculous. But there are always bad girls who like to corrupt the good guys.
ELLE: So it must be working out for you.
JG: I’ve been in opposites-attract situations. Let’s put it this way: I’ve been very, very happy that I’m me.
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