In a darkened room, a familiar melody rises the way it does right before the credits roll—steady, warm, and built for memory. That feeling sits at the center of josh groban’s newly announced album Cinematic, a 10-track tribute to the world of film music set for release May 8 Reprise Records.
What is Josh Groban releasing, and when?
Cinematic is josh groban’s latest album, arriving May 8 Reprise Records. It is framed as a tribute to “the world of the silver screen, ” bringing together songs associated with films into a single, movie-themed collection.
The album was produced by Greg Wells and recorded in both Los Angeles and London—an approach that mirrors the record’s ambition to feel like a wide shot rather than a close-up, spanning places and atmospheres as it revisits well-known titles.
, Josh Groban described the project as an effort to honor “the nostalgia, the drama, the romance” that a song or score can carry. “There’s something incredibly powerful about the way a song or score can elevate a story and stay with you long after the credits roll, ” he said, adding that recording the album “felt like stepping into some of the most iconic moments in film history. ”
What songs and collaborations define “Cinematic”?
The track list is designed like a tour through movie history, with each selection tied to a specific film. The album includes “As Time Goes By” (Casablanca), “Skyfall” (Skyfall), “Brucia La Terra” (The Godfather), “When You Wish Upon a Star” (Pinocchio), “Remember Me” (Coco), “Against All Odds” (Against All Odds), and “Stand By Me” (Stand By Me).
Several moments are built around featured performers. Josh Groban’s rendition of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King includes the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. The album also contains a duet of “Unchained Melody” from Ghost with EGOT winner Jennifer Hudson. Another track, “Moon River” from Breakfast at Tiffany’s, features his father, Jack Groban, on the trumpet.
These collaborations are not presented as side notes; they are part of the album’s narrative. A chorus turns a solitary love song into a communal swell. A duet reframes a standard as a conversation. A trumpet from a family member adds a different kind of intimacy—less spotlight, more living room—inside a project devoted to larger-than-life cinema.
Where does “Cinematic” fit in Josh Groban’s broader moment?
The release arrives during an active stretch that also includes live performance. Josh Groban kicked off his Gems World Tour last month with a sold-out performance in Honolulu and is set to continue later this month with shows in Dublin, London, Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, and Amsterdam.
In June, the tour continues through North America with Jennifer Hudson joining as a special guest. Stops include TD Garden in Boston on June 6, Madison Square Garden in New York City on June 12, and Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on June 16. The album’s collaborations and the tour’s staging appear to be moving in parallel: the record pairs voices and instruments to reimagine familiar material, while the live schedule brings at least one of those partnerships—Hudson—directly to audiences.
Beyond the tour, Josh Groban is also set to return to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace this fall for Gems The Las Vegas Residency.
His current visibility also follows a recent Broadway chapter. Josh Groban most recently appeared on Broadway in a Tony-nominated turn in the title role of the 2023 revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. He was also Tony-nominated for his Broadway debut in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. In that context, Cinematic reads like another performance space—one that borrows the emotional mechanics of film and theater and asks listeners to supply the screen in their own head.
Back in that first, dim room—where a song can make the air feel like velvet—the promise of Cinematic is simple: familiar titles, reshaped by new combinations of voices and instruments, arriving with the hope that listeners will be “transported, ” as Josh Groban put it, when the lights go down and the music begins.
