Jason Mraz Didn’t Realize ‘I’m Yours’ was a Smash Hit Until This Moment
Photo by Jason Mendez/Getty Images Reading Time: 3 minutes
Over a decade after he introduced “I’m Yours” to the universe, Jason Mraz is unpacking the magic of his creative process. Interestingly, the singer-songwriter released the track in 2008 but didn’t know that it was already famous pop song in Sweden. Mraz later realized that the song was stolen from him, so he decided to get into the studio and officially release it.
Jason Mraz Details How “I’m Yours” Was Created
In the song’s 15th Anniversary Commentary Track video, Mraz stated he wrote “I’m Yours” in a sunny afternoon back in late summer 2004. After plugging his electric guitar into his old device, he began exploring his emotions.
“In a way, that was asking the universe, ‘Make me an instrument. I’m yours.’ I’ve not written a song in a couple of weeks or I’m feeling disconnected or I wanna reconnect to my artistry. I’ve fallen through the crack, help me get back,” he said.
Mraz went on, admitting that during that time, he was “literally emoting.” The track was written “very quickly,” since it is basically Mraz surrendering his fate into the stars without any hesitations. Soon after he finished writing, the musician immediately knew the song was something.
“I knew right away it was special, but I didn’t know it was special. I just thought, ‘This is really cute, I like this,'” he said.
To this day, Mraz is still fascinated on how “I’m Yours” has managed to create a magic of its own. As per the musician, the track now “lives outside of me.” When he hears his own song now, he gets to be reminded why he wrote it.
“I get to be an instrument for love, an instrument for peace, an instrument for music. So I’m always uplifted by the song. I’ll probably be singing it forever,” he said.
He Discovered His Song Was Ripped Off in Northern Sweden
Ahead of “I’m Yours” official release date, Mraz found out that the song had already made waves in some parts of the world. Years back, he performed the song at a festival in Borlange, Sweden. Before the song’s release, Mraz was surprised when the crowd sang along, as if they’ve memorized the track’s lyrics.
“People already seemed to know who I was,” he said. “And when I performed ‘I’m Yours,’ the place went crazy. It was easily 10,000 people in the street and they sang every word. My band and I, we looked at each other, couldn’t believe it. What just happened?”
At the time, Mraz has only uploaded the record on his MySpace page. It turns out though that somebody from Sweden had ripped the song off his page and played it on the radio. When they searched a little more, they discovered that his song was already playing in KUCD radio station in Honolulu, Hawaii.
“We started to get this feedback that, ‘We know your fans love it but people who aren’t your fans also love it.’ It was a pretty special song,” he said.
After realizing the whole situation, he went straight into the studio and made a polished version of the song. Mraz has successfully created “I’m Yours” into a masterpiece, it becoming a smash folk hit in 2008.
“If I were to scroll through social media where I’m tagged, it’s basically one after the other, people performing ‘I’m Yours.’ And it’s so cool to just see and hear ‘I’m Yours’ echoed back to me all around the globe,” he said.
