- My first guest's voice is incredibly heavy.
That's only 'cause it's made of pure gold.
See what we did there with that little dad joke?
You're welcome.
He's got a new album called "Harmony,"
and tickets are on sale for his virtual holiday concert.
Let's give it up for Josh Groban, everybody!
(audience cheers and applauds)
- Hi, Kelly.
- Hello!
- Oh, wow. - How are you?
- Oh my God, not Zoom.
- [Kelly] I know.
- This is extraordinary.
- [Kelly] This is what it's like outside the box.
- I'm loving it. This is amazing.
Thank you for having me.
- No, thank you for coming.
How are you?
- I'm good. I'm here for the gift.
- I'm here for the gift.
- Yeah, yeah. I, just so we all know -
- Well, like I mentioned before -
- First and foremost, first of all,
props to Edward and what he's doing, I -
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- That is like my dream life.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- To just take care of dogs and fly around.
If you ever need a theme song, let me know.
- [Edward] Thank you.
- Maybe, so, wait.
I don't know if you've heard, but it's almost Christmas.
- [Josh] I have heard, yes.
- Are you like, what's the Groban household like?
- Well, I mean, I grew up with
just such magical Christmases.
I was very lucky.
My dad comes from a Jewish family,
but when he married my mom, my mom is so Christmassy.
Like, she loves putting Santas everywhere.
She's got a collection of Santas, and you know,
she loves trees and decorations so much
that even if there isn't room,
we'll find a place for a second tree.
The house growing up, smelled like such a forest that -
- Oh, they were real trees, too?
- Oh, they were real trees. Oh yeah, yeah.
I think there was a bird in one of them once.
Yeah. It's a whole thing, so -
- Like a real bird?
- Oh yeah, yeah. It was still alive, thankfully.
We cut it down and tied it to our car,
drove it home and then it was like
(he imitates a bird call)
So, yeah, it got out okay.
- But speaking of your childhood home,
and just your childhood in general,
you love to share throwback photos.
So, here's one.
So give me the backstory of this little one.
- [Josh] Oh, hey.
- [Kelly] What's up? You are so cute in your short shorts.
- [Josh] Have you done "Who Wears Short Shorts" yet
for your karaoke?
That, look at those shorts, I am -
- [Kelly] Those shorts are awesome.
- [Josh] I'm the original Evan Hansen.
Look at that arm.
You know, I, that, I think that is the exact moment
I knew that it was, the arts were for me.
I think that's, you can see the look on my face.
You zoom in. You can see the sadness behind me.
- [Kelly] Oh my God, that's amazing.
- [Josh] I want to be in a play so bad.
- You look adorable.
- [Josh] Oh, thank you.
- It's so cute with the little cast.
- Man, little Joshy on "The Kelly Clarkson Show."
Look at that.
- [Kelly] It's adorable. We love kid pics.
- Full circle.
I just called in to apologize,
mainly, because I gave all my friends
your Zoom room instead of my Zoom room by accident.
- When we were you going to say,
sorry for not inviting me to your poker game?
Just curious, just waiting for that one.
Is it just all full, no room?
- Yeah, I, you should,
you should check your junk folder.
I think it's probably in there somewhere.
- You're so full of it, Groban.
(audience applauds)
All right, what's up everybody?
I'm here with Josh Groban
and that was a look back at our season premier
when Josh gave his friends the wrong Zoom address
for his virtual poker game, real classy.
I'm still waiting on my invite, by the way.
That's fine. Do you have poker games often?
- That was my one and only poker game.
I'll tell you, Kenny G plays dirty.
Yeah, I lost it all.
I shouldn't have doubled down on jacks.
I feel like that was the wrong,
I was playing the wrong game.
- [Kelly] Oh my God, I love you so much.
- But, no, next time, of course,
you're more than welcome, but -
- Okay, you heard it. Y'all all heard it.
- [Josh] You're in. You're in.
- No, I have to ask you, have you been doing a lot of, like,
I know a lot of musicians and artists
have been doing virtual concerts.
Have you been doing that?
- Yes. Yeah.
You know, when all this started and lockdown happened,
I was right at the end of a long tour.
So luckily, I was about to kind of go off cycle anyway, but,
you know, all of a sudden all that noise turns to silence.
And I didn't know if it would be the kind of thing
that would feel weird or not,
but to be doing these live stream concerts has been so fun.
First of all, to just go back and, you know,
put on something that's not a onesy
and put my band and crew to work -
- That's not pajamas.
- Exactly, and get out there and sing.
But also, even though there's no applause in real time,
you see, like, 85 countries tuned in, you know,
and you see people Tweeting you and Instagramming.
We're all in a box.
You know, I'm in a box doing my show,
and they're in, you know, thousands of boxes
around the world and we're feeling isolated and alone.
So, to be able to do them has just felt us feel,
just made us feel just a little more connected.
- Yeah. It's really cool of you.
It's a nice distraction for everyone, too.
- Thanks.
- And it brings hope so, but your next concert,
it's a holiday concert, right?
- That's right. Yeah.
We're going to, my first ever Christmas concert,
on December 19th.
We're, you know -
- Wait, what?
- I've never done, I know.
I've done a ton of Christmas songs in my life.
I had pretty big Christmas album,
and I've never done a full length Christmas concert.
And so, you know, what better time than now,
when we're all kind of apart and feeling isolated
during the holidays, to do a virtual concert
of the songs that have, you know,
given me so much warmth over the years.
So, I'm looking forward to it, yeah.
- [Kelly] Yeah, that's going to be beautiful.
- Maybe it'll be the first of many.
- I always like to ask performers this,
'cause I feel like everybody always, you know,
everybody knows I'm like an extrovert, obviously,
but I actually was quite introverted
before singing and I was very shy.
We moved around a little bit, and I was very shy.
And then once I kind of found music,
it kind of changed my whole personality,
like my confidence, like everything.
Was that, was music like that for you?
- Oh, 100%.
You know, having an arts teacher to kind of pull me out
from the back, where I was kind of singing quietly,
and just knew I wanted to be a part of it,
but didn't have the confidence to say, hey, you know,
I've got a voice, to have that moment
changed everything for me
because it made me realize that I had a way to communicate.
It helped my grades.
And so, now I'm in a position, as are you,
it's so amazing when we get to team up for arts ed,
because -
- I was just about to say that, that segue.
It, art is so important. People don't get it.
Even if you don't become a singer
or a professional musician, it's so important
for your character, your team building skills.
And just like sports in that sense, and -
- Yeah.
- And it's just, and to be a part of something,
I think to find your kind of group, like in school.
- Absolutely.
- It's also important art.
The arts are so important for school.
- Yeah.
And when you realize that sports is not your thing,
yeah, the arts is right there for you.
I have, it's great when the math shows you
how well it does in schools, you know.
It isn't about finding the next star, you know.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- It's about leadership skills and confidence building.
Graduation rates go up. Home life gets better.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- So -
- People find a purpose, and they find, yeah.
I totally agree.
- And right now, especially, when young people, you know,
are in and out of school because of COVID,
they're looking at our world leaders, they're looking at,
you know, the world at large and they're full of conflict.
They're full of questions, full of fear.
And the arts, you know,
is a way to unlock a lot of that confusion,
a lot of those questions in a way
that makes the world around them much clearer,
much more empathetic, and -
- And if it's done right, it explains it to them.
- It explains it.
- Without, yeah, without punching them in the face with it.
- [Josh] Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- 'Cause it's hard with kids.
But, so Josh also did musical theater as a kid.
We both actually did.
Not many people know this,
but Josh was a guest on the pilot episode of this show
because he's super cool and nice
and totally came and did me a solid.
But we talked about our musical theater backgrounds,
and we realized something strange as we talked.
Take a look.
I remember thinking, though,
when I first was introduced to musical theater,
oh, we're just all cool with like, they're just,
she's just gonna break out in song, like,
as if it's normal?
- [Josh] Oh, yeah.
- Like, she's just, like talking, and -
- That's the thing, right, right.
- I'm feeling a song, so I'm just going to do that?
I kind of thought that was awkward.
- It is awkward, and people who are sometimes
a little weird about -
♪ Is it me ♪
♪ Or is it just the way he smiles that leaves me breathless ♪
♪ How can I not tell her ♪
♪ That I love her ♪
- So, like Idina Menzel. That is crazy.
- Yes, crazy, right?
- Crazy. You got to tour with Idina Menzel.
- [Josh] We're -
- I mean, she got to tour Josh Groban.
- No, no, no, we are about to hit the road together.
She is truly.
- Oh, you're about to -
- We're about to hit the road.
- I thought just did.
- No, no, we're about to do it.
No, she's just unbelievable.
You know it, you know how it is. I mean, she's just
♪ And all at once, my life starts to have meaning ♪
♪ And all at once I can't ever look back ♪
- But crazy that y'all
are going to be there the same time, right, 'cause, like -
- Same time.
- You're going to get to sing "Let It Go," possibly.
- "Let It Go."
Well, I don't know, I mean, she sings "Let It Go,"
and I just listen.
- Yeah. I would like to hear you sing "Let It Go."
- I would like to hear myself sing "Let It Go,"
but you know what?
Sometimes you just got to let those dreams go.
- Do you sometimes sing "Let It Go" in the shower?
- In the shower. Best reverb of all time.
♪ I finally found him ♪
♪ I finally found her ♪
♪ And I'll never be ♪
- It is so great to talk to you.
- I just adore you.
- You're so awesome.
I totally forgot that.
♪ I also forgot ♪
I love you so much for doing that.
I just remembered, after watching that,
he literally learned that right before we did it.
Like we put that together right before we did it.
And you were so game.
- Well, you only gave me one line.
I mean, it was really, it was -
- [Kelly] Whatever.
- Look, you've graduated from stools to,
look at that beautiful couch.
- And look, and I have a band now,
like a full band.
- [Josh] Oh my gosh.
- It's all amazing.
Look what you helped me accomplish.
- [Josh] Oh, no listen -
- You did this, Groban.
- It was an honor to be there then, and it is now.
- Oh my God. All right.
Well, your new album is called "Harmony."
Is there a theme to it, other than maybe harmony?
- This was an interesting process.
Yeah, I mean, we called it "Harmony"
for a couple of reasons.
One, obviously the musical connotations,
but also just the incredible moving parts
and effort that had to go into making an album right now.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- You know, this is the weirdest, hardest experience
I've ever had making an album, and it's because
we obviously had to do it safely.
We had musicians from all over the world
that had to be separated
and had to take different time outs in order to be safe.
And so, you know, I've never made an album
this virtual, you know.
It's like, we're seeing your audience here.
We had string players in London
while our producer was in Nashville.
- Especially artists like you,
because you always have the kind of big orchestral elements.
- I'm pretty, I was lucky
that I got to be raised pretty old school
in this business where like, you're the, you know,
you're in the room with the group,
and you don't want to be the bum note of all the 60 people.
You're doing it all together.
- Yeah.
- And so, we couldn't do it that way this time.
And so, in order to make, you know, it come together,
we had to do it, you know, from all over the world.
And so, that's, in many ways,
this is the most special and unique process that I've had
because being able to make this album
and being able to sing songs that have felt so relevant
to the times we're in,
these songs have been such classics
and they remain the soundtracks to our lives,
has just meant so, so much to me.
So I feel very, very, very grateful
that I got to sing a little bit this year
and got to release an album that means a lot to me.
- All right. Well, Josh will be performing "Angels"
for us later in this show.
You can get his new album, "Harmony," out now,
and head to his website for info
on his virtual holiday concert
that takes place December 19th, his first holiday concert,
which I'm kind of still mad about, but it's fine.
- [Josh] Make it a good one.
- We, and it's going to be, better be good.