“I had just finished a Christmas album; he had just finished a Metallica album”: It might have been “a bit of a whiplash” for some of his fans, but Josh Groban says he has no regrets about his “ballsy” decision to make an album with Rick Rubin

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 11: Recoding artist Josh Groban and honoree Rick Rubin attend the P&E Wing Event honoring Rick Rubin at The Villiage Studios on February 11, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/WireImage).

You know how it is. You’re sitting around at a bit of a loose end and suddenly think to yourself, ‘I might as well make an album with Rick Rubin’.

OK, we don’t know how that is, but then we’re not singer-songwriter Josh Groban, who’s told the iPaper that he started working with the legendary producer on the record that would become 2010’s Illumination because, creatively at least, he was “bored”.