Josh Groban Takes a Risk

Friday, July 11, 3:45pm

Josh Groban is sitting inside a Hollywood studio listening to a track he's just cut for his sophomore album (due in November). It's a cover of Michael Jackson's balladic '80s hit ''She's Out of My Life'' that offers at least one distinct departure from the original. ''I decided not to cry at the end,'' Groban jokes. It's a good rule of thumb: Baritones don't bawl. Jacko covers notwithstanding, Groban is known primarily for applying his bottomless lungs to classically minded, romantic material -- as in Romance languages. His 2001 self-titled debut album has sold more than 3 million copies in America, and he has no desire to alienate the audience that wanted to hear a young man who sounded more like Caruso than R. Kelly. This new effort will introduce some wrinkles -- like a cover of Linkin Park's ''My December'' that he just cut with a full orchestra -- but not many. ''David [Foster, who discovered him] and I hit a great thing on the first album, so I need that familiarity on a second to make sure I don't lose my way,'' Groban says. ''I learned from other artists not to experiment too much on album 2. You don't want to scare people. Album 3 is the album to do that.''

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