Yes, yes, I know. Previously, Josh Groban has not exactly been the top 40 material. Maybe it’s his classic-esque voice (he literally dropped out of Carnegie Mellon University at 18-years-old because of his record deal, but I’m not bitter), his covers of show tunes, his signature long hair and even longer coat that cause him to be so excluded from the college student repertoire.
It’s true, you don’t hear much of Josh Groban at parties or on the radio. However, do you know you hear him literally everywhere else? I listened to one of his covers and all of a sudden all of my recommendations are random soundtracks and commercial-songs that are making me say “Oh, so that’s who sings that?” It seems Mr. Groban has snuck his way into most things I already listen to without me knowing it at all. And he’s actually so good on, like, all of them.
I have decided to fully embrace it. Without further ado, here’s the absolutely anticipated list of my favorite Josh Groban songs!
- You Raise Me Up
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You have probably heard this one. It’s played a lot in the background of inspirational videos and self-aware advertisements. Regardless, his vocals are unmatchable (seriously, there have been other covers of this song and they are not good).
- Finishing the Hat
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This is the song that turned me from someone who thought he sang “music your mother listened to” into someone who recognized that his voice was absolutely insane. This song is extremely emotional and complex. He nails it on both counts. The way his vocals sound when he sings “from a WIN-dow…” in the first verse is utterly beautiful.
- Evermore
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This is Josh Groban’s version of the song from the live-action movie Beauty & the Beast. It’s gorgeous. His tone adds such a melancholy vibe to a song that is originally so flat-out depressing. Great voices make a good song seem better and that is certainly the case here.
- So She Dances
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Curveball, but this is a good one. It has the lyric “a waltz for the girl out of reach…” I mean, c’mon. It’s such a beautiful story-song in general. It made me think of all the other voices I would like to hear sing this song because it is so good. But his version is perfect in particular.
- Believe
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This is the first song I heard of Josh Groban when I watched the Polar Express movie more times than were probably healthy as a child. I did not know who Josh Groban was or that he would reappear in my life years later in college. Either way, it is such a good Christmas song. It totally belongs in a computer-animated movie, as it’s almost too flawless to be people.
In conclusion, please give Groban a chance. After all, he was once a college student just like us.