Josh Groban performs movie classics: “When you get the chance to sing these songs, you feel like you’re part of the movie”

Josh Groban is a voice apart in the global musical landscape, an unmistakable tenor voice, capable of crossing genres with rare ease, from classical music to pop, including Broadway and cinema. He is a complete artist, singer, author, composer, but also actor and philanthropist. Nominations for the Tony Awards, the Emmy Awards and several times for the Grammy Awards testify to a rich career and international recognition. In total, he has sold some 35 million albums and on May 8, 2026, the latest release, called Cinematic. A highly anticipated project, thought of as a tribute to the big screen, to the seventh art, to the music that has accompanied our lives.

franceinfo: What made you want to dedicate an entire album to this universe?

Josh Groban : I’ve wanted to do it for a long time and it’s an idea that I’ve had in my head for almost my entire career. Ever since I was little, my parents took me to the movies and I was really moved by the music in these films. These songs are so timeless, so I had a blast singing them, I’m really looking forward to continuing.

When you listen to all the great composers or when you watch a film, the music becomes a character. Did you ever feel like an actor in the performance?

When you get the chance to sing these songs, the style really rocks you. You feel like you’re part of the movie, when you’re in the studio with the orchestra, singing a song like As time goes by or the theme of Godfather. When I close my eyes and sing these melodies, I can see myself inside the film. That’s the beauty of this music for me.

We feel the wonder that you have always had since you were little. You sang for the first time in public, at the age of seven during a school evening. What do you remember from that moment?

I was someone who had a great love of music and singing, but I was very shy. I closed my bedroom door and sang to myself. So I always say that it’s important to pay tribute to our teachers, because it’s a teacher who saw that I had talent, but also that I would never raise my hand to be in the light. So he took me into the choir and he told me, “I’m going to give you a homework assignment.”. That assignment was to sing a piece solo and that moment changed my whole life. I stood a little straighter, the other kids who were mean to me suddenly said, “Man, that was really good.”.

When we hear your voice, it’s like an extension, it’s like a best friend speaking to us. Are you aware that your voice accompanies us and that it is part of our lives?

If I can give just a little bit of what the public gives back to me, I will be very happy. I need the connection this much, it’s really a two-way street. Having the opportunity to express myself through singing and to express myself through song, it changed me and saved my life. So if that connection is there, it’s a two-way street. If I am told that my singing has done them good, I cannot be happier than in those moments.

What is your favorite song on this album?

There are songs that are so fun to sing, like Heavy rain or The Godfather. It’s so powerful to sing Stand by mebut I think it’s Moon River my favorite with my father. It’s not just my favorite song on this album, I think it’s my favorite song of my entire life. It was so personal, it was a moment I will never forget. Besides, my father plays the trumpet on this song and his favorite trumpeter was Louis Armstrong. We went to a studio in Los Angeles, at Sunset and that’s where Louis Armstrong was recording and I told my dad that we also have Louis Armstrong’s stool and that’s where he used to sit and record. So we set up the stool for my father, we brought an old microphone, my mother was there as well as my brother, my two-year-old nephew. We stood there and watched my father return to an instrument that he loved so much when he was young, I can’t tell you how emotional that brought me. It’s truly a song that will always be unique in my life. I’m proud of it and it’s my life’s mission to make my parents proud.