‘Dancing With the Stars’: Jason Mraz Shares the Inspirational Meaning Behind Most Memorable Year Dance (Exclusive)

Jason Mraz is feeling the “joy” again as he revisits a pivotal moment in his life during Dancing With the Stars‘ Most Memorable Year Night. The singer-songwriter opened up to PopCulture.com ahead of Tuesday’s live show, revealing the emotional significance of his and pro partner Daniella Karagach’s quickstep to Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.”

Looking back on 1999, Mraz recalls quitting school and moving to California at 21 years old to pursue his musical dreams. “I was so scared,” he told PopCulture. Alone in his car while listening to a mix CD, “all of a sudden, Willie Nelson’s ‘On the Road Again’ comes on the mix, and the lyrics just landed on me in a way that was so profound. And so in that moment – being on the road, chasing after a dream, making music with my friends … seeing things I may never see again, I just wept and I wept and I wept for both gratitude and fear of the unknown and all the work that I had ahead of me.”

Mraz put the song on repeat for the “entire duration” of driving through Texas, listening to it “easily 200 times.” Since that moment, “On the Road Again” has become “such a motivator” for the Grammy Award winner, and Nelson has been such an “idol and a mentor” for him. “So I love that I get to revisit that childish dream of moving to California and now being on the other side of it, living the dream,” Mraz said of performing his quickstep Tuesday. “Even beyond my touring life, I find myself now on Dancing With the Stars, which is just unbelievable. I mean, it was something I never would’ve put in my vision for what my future could look like, and I’m just so grateful to that 21-year-old kid for taking a chance on me.”

Having just announced the dates for his upcoming tour as previously planned before learning his song for the week, Mraz finds even more meaning in “On the Road” now. “I think there’s also some beautiful synchronicity happening in the universe that is letting me know I’m in the right place,” he told PopCulture. Having taken a hit in scoring during last week’s Foxtrot to “A Whole New World,” Mraz said his “brain was a little locked up” during Disney100 Night, but he’s now  “back to the joy, the humor, the freedom, the fun of even singing along to the track and helping tell a story to the audience, which I really enjoy doing.”

Mraz also credits Karagach — who welcomed her first child with husband and fellow pro Pasha Pashkov in May — with inspiring him to give his all in every performance. “She was only three months into being a new mom when she came into this season to be a pro, learning all the pro dances, [being a] teacher and a coach to an amateur like me, and [keeping] the schedule that she does,” he gushed. “Right away, I knew that nothing I was doing in my life would compare to the energy that she’s putting into this. And her husband, Pasha … I see the two of them as new parents doing this incredible job. And just their energy became mine right away. As much as I wanted to complain about the schedule, that was impossible because how they show up every day is incredible.” 

Dancing With the Stars airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on both ABC and Disney+ and streams the next day on Hulu.