Love Is a Four Letter Word

“I see a sunset on the beach, yeah/It makes me feel calm,” sings Jason Mraz on his new album. For Mraz, calm is the goal, of life and of music. Inspired, perhaps, by the massive success of his lite-reggae anthem “I’m Yours,” he’s added more world-music textures to his folk pop, and turned up the blissed-out vibes on Love Is a Four Letter Word. (“Living my life/Easy and breezy/Peace in my mind,” he croons in “Living for the Moment.”) He’s a Gen-Y version of Jimmy Buffett, with booze and boats replaced by veganism and yoga. The album’s epigram, in the liner notes, comes from Mr. Rogers, of children’s-television fame, and it is not ironic.

Listen to “I Won’t Give Up”:

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• Photos: Random Notes