Parting Shot

Josh Groban

“everything that’s happened has been unexpected,” josh groban says of his career. As a teenager, he studied acting, but that high lyric baritone could not be denied: By 2007, was the No. 1 pop artist in the U.S., thanks in part to his 2003 hit “You Raise Me Up.” In 2015, he was offered a starring role in the Broadway musical Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, an electro-pop adaptation of War and Peace, and that earned him a Tony nomination. Now, a few TV cameos (The Office, Crazy Ex-girlfriend) over the years have evolved into his own show, Netflix’s The Good Cop, from Monk creator Andy Breckman. Groban plays Tony “TJ” Caruso, a by-the-book New York City police officer; Tony Danza co-stars as his dad, a disgraced ex-cop. The series debuts on September 21, which also happens to be the release date for Groban’s eighth studio album, Bridges. “The timing was perfect,” he says of Good Cop’s four-month shoot. “It fit right between finishing the album and going on tour [beginning October 18]. When I was done, I got to grow my beard out and make music again.” Your Good Cop character is obsessed with the rules. Can you relate to that?

So much! When I was 5, I stole a dog tag from a pet store, just to know what it felt like to steal. On the way home, I started crying. My mom asked why, and I said, “I stole! I stole a dog tag!” At the time, I wanted to be a cowboy, so my mom goes, “Josh, cowboys don’t steal. We should do what cowboys do, which is to give it back and apologize.” Of course, I learned later that cowboys steal all the time.

What was going through your mind when you wrote your latest single, “Granted,” with Toby Gad and Bernie Herms?

We were watching the news and thinking about the political divide in this country. A lot of young people feel discouraged, like their voices don’t matter. When I feel uninspired or depressed, I try to think about what lit that ɿre, when I felt that inspiration. Music is what did that for me when I was younger, and we wanted to write a song that could do that for others. It may sound cheesy, but sometimes you need that message.

Is it true that your terrier, Sweeney Todd, is featured on Bridges?

[Laughs.] His essence is on every album. He’s always under the piano or in the vocal booth. If you were to isolate the piano or the vocal track, you would totally hear his dog breath or the clip-clop of his claws. It’s the ʀoor cut. —Anna Menta

“My dog is on every album. If you were to isolate a vocal track, you could totally hear his dog breath.”