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'Rocket' Man: Twenty years later, Jason Mraz thinks his debut album “holds up just fine”

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Alison Dyer

Twenty years ago Saturday, Jason Mraz‘s career blasted off with the release of his debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come.  Today, Jason still has love for the album — or, at least, there isn’t anything on there that really makes him cringe.

“I think musically, it holds up just fine,” he tells ABC Audio. “Lyrically, there’s a couple of moments … that I think, ‘Oh, OK, I was 20 when I wrote that.’ I didn’t either have time or the experience to fully think that thought out, or who I was at that age … I hear moments like that [and] I think, ‘Oh, OK, I may not be him anymore, but I accept who I was.'”

Waiting for My Rocket to Come (Expanded Edition) is available Saturday, featuring two acoustic live tracks that haven’t been available digitally: “The Remedy (I Won’t Worry)” and “Tonight, Not Again.” Of course, “The Remedy” was the big hit from the album, but Jason was a bit ambivalent about it at first. 

He wrote “The Remedy” about his friend who was battling cancer, but his record label brought in the pop production team The MatrixLauren Christy, Scott Spock and Graham Edwards — to add a happy, sing-along chorus. But Jason has since made his peace with the song.

“I learned to love it very quickly … when I started to feel how it was connecting with audiences, I realized that this is a good thing,” Jason recalls. “It supported my friend who inspired the song … it was a gift to all of us in many ways.”

In fact, Jason says a few months ago he ran into Christy at a party and they played “The Remedy” together.

“It was so fun!” he says. “I wouldn’t change a thing.” 

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