Atlantic adopts Blunt approach in breaking Jason Mraz.

Slow-burning campaign the key to enduring success, claim the team behind Back To Bedlam's global achievements

By Stuart Clarke

THE TEAM THAT LED JAMES BLUNT to global superstardom is hoping to repeat this slow-burn success with Jason Mraz, whose album We Sing We Dance We Steal Things recently entered the UK Top 10 six months after its release.

Atlantic president Max Lousada, who was behind the strategy that pushed Blunt up the charts - his debut Back To Bedlam spent the better part of a year in the lower regions of the Top 75 before finally hitting the number one spot in July 2005 - says he is confident of pulling off the same trick with Mraz.

"We have gathered a real momentum on this record now and we have to sustain that," says Lousada. "The intention is to work on making it a big summer record."

We Sing We Dance We Steal Things was originally released in the UK last August, selling 14,000 copies to Mraz's fanbase before Atlantic deleted physical copies of the album the following month.

It has remained available to buy digitally since, while the record company has focused its efforts on radio, steadily amassing support for the album's lead single I'm Yours, released last December.