Jason Mraz to give earnings from new album to social justice

NEW YORK — Jason Mraz has a new album coming out and he wants everyone to buy it and love it. But he’s not going to make a penny on it.

The two-time Grammy-winner has promised to donate all earnings from sales and streams of his reggae album “Look for the Good” — including his $250,000 advance — to groups working for racial equality and justice.

“This is bigger than me,” Mraz tells The Associated Press from his ranch in Southern California. “Now the CD itself has a purpose. The record itself actually can go out and serve.”

Sales will fund Black Lives Matter, San Diego Young Artists Music Academy, RISE San Diego, Grassroots Law Project, Center on Policy Initiatives and Equal Justice Initiative.

“For me, this is my cardboard sign up at the march. This is me putting my body and my music and my name on the line to say ‘I stand with this movement and I want to help move this down the field towards a more equal and just world,’” Mraz said.

“Look for the Good” will be released Friday, which also is Juneteenth, a celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. Mraz vows to make donations to progressive groups annually on Juneteenth.

“I’ve made plenty of quiet donations and that’s great. But I also want to inspire other leaders in business and other leaders in music to do the same,” he said.

The 12-track album was recorded last summer but finds itself quite prescient, with uplifting messages of togetherness and unity. “Something about reggae says, ‘You’re welcome here’ or ‘This is for everybody,’” Mraz said.

The album includes the song “You Do You,” a collaboration with actress Tiffany Haddish, who raps the line “We gonna march until our voices get heard.” On another song, Mraz sings: “We were born to love not hate/We can decide our fate.”