“I thought I’d be done at 40,” says Mraz, who – six years later – has responded to middle-age with a surprise left turn.

Half the songs on Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride embrace dance-pop and vintage disco. They were inspired, in part, by such Mraz favourites as Chic, Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, The Bee Gees and Jamiroquai.

“When I was a little kid, I saw being in your 40s as old age,” Mraz says. “As a teen, my 20s were something to aspire to – 40 always seemed just out of reach. I thought I’d be done [with music] by then and the ideal life would be a family, kids and moving on.

“When you turn 40, it’s exciting. I celebrated my 40th birthday performing at the Hollywood Bowl. But when you turn 42, nobody cares.”

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Not coincidentally, Mraz muses about having turned 42 in the lyrics to “Little Time”, a lilting ballad from the new album. In the same song, he also ponders what might happen “if I reach 65”.

“Getting Started”, “I Feel Like Dancing” and “Feel Good Too” – the album’s opening three numbers – sound like energetic odes to dancing the night away with youthful joy, if not outright abandon.

Mraz pauses for thought when asked if he has undergone a midlife crisis.

“I don’t think I’ve had a midlife crisis just yet,” he replies. “But maybe I have – and I haven’t lived long enough past it to see that: ‘Oh, yeah, that was definitely a midlife crisis.’

“I have absolutely shaken things up, over and over, for myself. I can see that pattern reappearing throughout my life. And every time I do, I rediscover myself through the power of songwriting. And I think: ‘I’m OK.’”

The pros and cons of ageing can differ from person to person, as Mraz readily acknowledges.

Superficial concerns can fade. Wisdom can be gained from experience. But for a veteran artist who has been in the public eye for more than 20 years as music trends constantly change, feeling secure about your position can be challenging.

“The older I get, certain worries and stresses just sort of fade away,” Mraz says. “I don’t stress as much about how I look or surface-level things, like fashion. As a young person, I cared about: ‘Do I fit in? How do I look?’ There was a lot of vanity in my youth.

“The cons, as you get older, are that I’m not really in the youth category any more. Here I am, making a pop album and dance album. In music, those categories are dominated by young people, 18 to 28, and always have been.

“So, there’s this feeling of: ‘I’m not really in the little kid category any more – or the older group. I’m floating in the middle.’”

Middle age is not the only factor that inspired Mraz to write and record new songs specifically designed to encourage him – and his listeners – to party down and shake their collective booty.

He also credits his mother, June Tomes, for encouraging him to make an overtly pop-oriented album. Mraz wasn’t getting any younger, she noted, so he should do a pop album “before it’s too late”. He concurs. The liner notes for Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride dedicate the album to “Mama June”.

Speaking recently from his farm home in Oceanside, in southern California, Mraz – who married Christina Carano in 2015 and recently announced their divorce – stresses that he specifically sought to make a pop album that embraced old-school music values.

“I always really wanted to make a dance-pop album, but not an electronic [dance] album that leaned on computer programs and drum machines,” he says.

“I wanted to make human dance music. So, sonically, that’s what our effort was. And thematically, I noticed that what was missing from my shows – year after year – was that I didn’t have enough uptempo songs that could turn the show into a dance party for my audience and myself.

“How would I rate my dancing? Right now, about 3 out of 10. But I want to be better. And that’s how a song like ‘I Feel Like Dancing’ finds its way through my subconscious and lands on the page. Because I try to generate experiences I haven’t had yet, or want to have, and songs can help.”

For at least half the selections on Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride – whose title comes from the lyrics to “Disco Sun”, a song on the album – Mraz takes a deep dive into the music of the 1970s and early 1980s.

Mraz’s new album reunites him with Sweden’s Martin Terefe, whose recording production credits range from Train and Mary J. Blige to Yungblud and Coldplay.

Terefe produced Mraz’s 2008 album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things, which includes two of Mraz’s biggest hits – “I’m Yours” and “Lucky” (the latter featuring Colbie Caillat) – and remains his biggest-selling release, with sales of nearly 5 million.

Mraz has made five albums since then – including 2020’s reggae-inspired “Look for the Good” – and his sensitive singer-songwriter persona has remained intact.

“This is the first album since We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things that feels the most like a sequel to that album, more so than anything I’ve made since then, because of how…” His voice trails off.

“I don’t know,” he says a moment later. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m just happy this album is out. It feels new and yet familiar, like something I would have done in 2008 but it happens to be in 2023.”

The fact that he has released three albums since turning 40 suggests Mraz’s career should extend beyond middle age.

He performed May 6 at San Diego’s Snapdragon Stadium, in the US state of California, on a double-bill with Jimmy Buffett and will be on tour for much of the summer with the group Mraz bills as his Superband. Their itinerary includes a July 22 concert at Fivepoint Amphitheatre in Irvine, also in California.

“I was really surprised to get to my 40s and still be generating songs and ideas, and to be diving deeper. I kind of woke up one day and realised this is what my life would be,” he says.

“I had the pleasure of sitting with Willie Nelson four or five years ago – when he was 85 – in Maui. It was just the two of us and all he wanted to do was play demos for me! He was like: ‘Hey, want to hear a new song I wrote?’ He played one CD after another of his new songs for me, and he was 85 or 86 at the time! He’s 90 now, still recording and touring.

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“It occurred to me at that point, sitting with Willie: ‘Why would we stop doing what we love doing? Why would we ever consider retirement, or think our ideas would dry up?’

“That was really inspiring. It made me realise that I’ll probably do this my whole life. The playing field may change – musical trends, who my colleagues are, or what the perceptions of me are – all those things will be in flux.

“But I can rest assured knowing I’ll wake up every day with interesting new music ideas, or a new idea accident that will happen on my instrument that will lead to a new song. Every heartache will lead to a new song, every celebration will lead to a new song.”

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