"I Won't Give Up" Jason Mraz

After an almost three-year absence from the music scene, Jason Mraz returns older and wiser on his latest single, "I Won't Give Up." The singer-songwriter—whose previous hits have ranged from contentedly chill to jauntily playful—is a serious new man on his latest offering, all lush guitar chords and existential contemplations ("How old is your soul?" he asks at the end of the first verse). While it begins as a relaxing acoustic lullaby that's classic Mraz, the song crescendos into an effectively anthemic chorus—and then unexpectedly veers into country-fried power ballad territory halfway through (complete with gospel choir), a move that may leave some listeners slightly shell-shocked upon first listen. The end result is ultimately quite stirring, though "Give Up" is unlikely to lodge itself in your brain for the next year à la Mraz's mega-smash "I'm Yours." B+