VIDEO INTERVIEW – Where Does the Good Go? Jason Mraz Knows: The musician opens up about coming out as bisexual and talks Pride, protesting and our current uprising

The coronavirus pandemic has forced Pride events around the world to go virtual this year. For Jason Mraz, that means he can, for the first time, take part in the annual summer festivities. After all, thanks to the virus, the "I’m Yours" singer-songwriter can’t tour in support of his latest album Look for the Good. Usually, he says, he’s on the road during Pride season.
"I’ve got friends and neighbors who invite me every year, but my schedule never allowed it," Mraz says during our recent Zoom call. This summer, he says, he’s "probably gonna hole up with my friends and neighbors and do the virtual Pride event and go hard."
From his home studio in San Diego, Mraz, 43, discussed his side hustle – food agriculture – as a metaphor for the fight for racial and LGBTQ justice, how Mister Rogers inspired his latest album, why he’s thanking his childhood bullies who used to call him a "fag," and his journey to being openly bisexual.
GayCalgary: Jason, how are you and your family doing? And the avocado farm?
Jason Mraz: I’m fine. I’m a bit of an empath, so yeah (gets choked up) ... feeling pretty terrible about what’s going on. I’ve tried to use my superpowers for good. I’ve tried to sing songs of hope and positivity and peace and joy. So, you know, thinking about how I’m going to keep singing and breathing life into a better future. We have a little apricot tree, which for the first time is producing fruits. It really is a pleasure and a privilege to work in food production and to work with the Earth and to have that level of peace, and that interaction with nature.
GC: I once read that one of the best things to do is to go outside and just lay on the ground. Just feel the Earth underneath you.
JM: So nice. I think one of the best things to do is just lay down in general, which I always forget. I’m always on my feet. I’m always going, going, going. A cool thing I like to do when I lay down on the Earth, especially at night, is remember that we’re not necessarily sitting on top of the globe; we’re kind of stuck to perhaps the side of it, or depending on how it’s photographed, maybe we’re on the bottom of it. Who’s to say the poles are really on top and bottom? We’re floating in a vacuum of space. There’s really no up or down. So when I’m laying on the side of the Earth, I like to imagine I’m on the side of it, just dangling. And if you put your feet up, you’re really dangling out into the universe, which is this big vast ball of confusion. It’s a good thing.
I know right now is not really the time to lay down and be quiet and look at the stars, but let’s talk about food for just one second. You can’t grow food overnight. It...