Jason Mraz says his “I Feel Like Dancing” video got him a spot on ‘Dancing with the Stars’

Note to any musician who wants to be on Dancing with the Stars: Try busting a move in one of your music videos.

In an interview with GLAAD, Jason Mraz reveals that when the DWTS producers saw him literally singing about dancing and doing all the choreography in the video for “I Feel Like Dancing,” it “ticked a few boxes” for the show’s casting agents, and he got the invitation. However, he says it hasn’t been easy for him to feel comfortable in the ballroom.

“All day you’re looking at yourself in the mirror, and that can be hard for anybody, any human, to accept themselves looking in the mirror,” he says. “On top of it, then my partner is asking me to move in ways that I’ve never moved before, and my reaction is, ‘I look silly.’ And then you break through that and it’s like, ‘OK, I feel kinda cool.’ And then it eventually becomes confidence, and so it is a journey.”

“Dance is an amazing medium for that transformation and for that accepting of one’s self,” he adds.

On that topic, Jason also spoke about coming out as bi in 2018 and his subsequent divorce from wife Christina Carano. “You carry a lot of shame, guilt,” says the singer, who was named to this year’s Out100 list of the most influential LGBTQ+ people.

“You want to heal as many relationships of the past as possible and at the same time, step into this new acceptance and new identity or whatever I’m claiming, and that’s also hard,” Jason says. “So being on the Out100 … it’s nice to be acknowledged.”