As the biggest fan, James Corden has best seat in house

If you criticize a musician in front of James Corden, be prepared for him to push back.

On a recent morning in his office at CBS Television City, the host of “The Late Late Show” was describing his favorite Grammy Awards performances when he recalled a 2015 duet between Annie Lennox and Hozier in which the former Eurythmics star and the young Irish singer did a medley of Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” and the R&B standard “I Put a Spell on You.”

“Oh, my God, it was like a master class,” rhapsodized Corden, 38, who’s hosting this year’s Grammys on Sunday night. That sounded about right, he was told: Lennox came on like the world’s most intimidating teacher, while Hozier resembled a frightened second-grader.

“No, that’s not fair!” Corden replied. “He was great — a true collaborator. Have you heard his song ‘Someone New’?” At that, the British actor and presenter leapt up and went

to his computer, calling up the song on YouTube. Then he called up several more.

That enthusiasm has driven Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” segments — in which he drives around various singers, belting out their hits with them — to viral ubiquity. (At last count, the installment featuring Adele had over 147 million views.) And more than his own musical ability, that sense of excitement is what he plans to draw on Sunday. “I’m a massive fan of everybody in that room,” he says, “and I’m going to try and share that with the audience.”

Which is what he does with “Carpool Karaoke,” attempting to amp up the artist.

“I think that’s the role of an audience at a show,” he says. “Without an audience, it’s just a sound check, you know? It’s why every time you watch Bruce Springsteen, it’s like this sort of conveyor belt of love and energy. The audience goes, ‘We’re so happy you’re here,’ and Bruce Springsteen goes, ‘I’m so happy you’re here.’ It’s not manufactured, when we do those bits in the car or I introduce bands on the show. Mostly it comes from a place of going, ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this.’ ”

I came to see Coldplay at your show a few years ago, and I remember thinking: This dude loves Coldplay.

I do! That band means so much to me. I feel about Coldplay the way people who are just ever so slightly older than me feel about U2. From the minute I heard Chris Martin singing, “In a haze, a stormy haze / I’ll be around, I’ll be loving you always,” I was like, “This is it.”

This gets at why you might be right for the Grammys: You’re a fan, but you clearly spend a lot of time thinking about why music affects you.

We did a bit on our show a few weeks ago talking about George Michael, and I was really trying to sort of find the words to think what it would be. And what I ended up thinking was not just particular to George, which is that music has this power to say to you, “You’re not on your own.”

What have you learned about musicians from being around them in the very specific way of “Carpool Karaoke”?

I think lots of artists — actor, musician, writer, anyone with a sense of being a public figure — spends a fair amount of their life working out, “Oh, is this someone I can trust?” So we start from a place of saying, “This is a safe place. This is a place that only wants to celebrate you.” And as soon as you do that, people say, “I can be myself here.” We’re not trying to catch anybody out, you know?

The thing I’m most proud of in those “Carpool” bits is the interview that comes with it. What makes a great interview? Seeing a side of someone that perhaps you didn’t know was there. So when you see Adele talking so freely about the Spice Girls or rapping to a Nicki Minaj song — that’s what I’m really proud of, that you see those people in a setting you definitely won’t see on another TV show.

An important theme at the Grammys this year is tradition versus innovation. You look at Adele and Beyoncé, the two biggest pop stars in the world — yet they signify dramatically different ways to be an artist. Does one of those ideas hold sway for you?

No, because one doesn’t exist without the other. You spend a lot of time thinking about this if you join the world of being a late-night television host, where there’s lots of people who would like these shows, it seems, to all be the same. But that’s absurd. Jimmy Fallon’s not unique without David Letterman, do you know what I mean? I’m pleased to live in a world where I would never have to make a choice between Adele and Beyoncé.

Did you see Adele’s tour last year?

Yeah, yeah. I’ve known her for a very long time. She’s a very good friend.

I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a show where you could feel more goodwill for the artist.

She’s the truest artist in the world, I think, to herself and her music and her fans. I’ve given this a bit of thought. When Beyoncé is onstage, you’re watching her and going, “This is unbelievable. This is incredible. I don’t know how she does that.” And when Adele is onstage you go, “This is unbelievable. This is incredible. She’s representing me up there.”

Meeting all these stars doesn’t seem to have diminished your fascination with them.

How could it? I’ve got so much respect for them. There are so many people who’ve made one great album, and that was it — 12 good songs in them. To have any sense of longevity in the arts is so difficult. You’ve got to have a wish bone and a funny bone and a backbone. Those are the three things you need: a wish bone to have dreamt to get it, a funny bone to not take yourself too seriously and a backbone to ride through everything that’s going to get thrown your way.

Did you just make that up?

I’ve just thought it right now.