NEW YORK ( CNN ) -- For someone who claims to be incredibly laid back , Jason Mraz is certainly piling up the accomplishments . Jason Mraz was recently honored with a songwriting award for his work , which includes the hit `` I 'm Yours . '' The singer-songwriter was the recipient of the Hal David Starlight Award at last week 's Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee ceremony in New York . The honor typically goes to newcomers striking a chord in the music industry . Or , as Mraz puts it , `` I hope it has something to do with their savvy freshness . '' Mraz , who turned 32 this week and took his parents to the celebratory dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square June 18 , says he feels great about the honor . `` I never thought my songs would escape my bedroom , '' he said . `` To have the music shared all around the world , and to be acknowledged by communities like this ... it 's inspiring . '' Mraz 's 2008 album `` We Sing . We Dance . We Steal Things '' has been a runaway success , with more than 2.5 million copies sold worldwide . It also led to three Grammy nominations , including song of the year and best male pop vocal performance for the reggae-inflected hit `` I 'm Yours . '' Mraz ( whose name reflects his family 's Czech heritage ) hits the festival circuit overseas before kicking off his stateside `` Gratitude Café Tour '' July 25 . The tour 's quirky title was inspired by a wholesome San Francisco , California , restaurant Mraz loves . A fan of maintaining a diet of predominantly raw foods , Mraz is also a farmer of sorts : He owns an avocado farm in his home city of San Diego , California . He 's also a juggler , a skill Mraz taught himself during the downtime that comes with touring . Watch the multitalented Mraz perform » . Mraz shared tales of his avocado farm , as well as what it 's like to get the cold shoulder from Simon Cowell , when he sat down with CNN recently . CNN : So , you live on an avocado farm . What 's that like ? Jason Mraz : It 's fantastic . Anytime you 're harvesting something in your yard -- whether you have a small herb garden or I 've got avocados , and now we have a solar system so we 're also harvesting sun energy , which is great -- for me that 's when I became an environmentalist . I was like , `` Wait a second . This is my environment . This is my piece of the Earth that I 'm responsible for . '' Yes , the trees give me avocado and fruit that we sell and we eat tons of , but I feel like I have a role to play back to that , too . So it 's cool . CNN : So if you 're at home , daily how many avocados would you eat ? Mraz : At least two . Sometimes three or four . CNN : So you must have very nice oily skin . Mraz : I do , thank you . It 's the avocado . I just lather it on . CNN : Do you really ? Mraz : I do . Yeah , why not ? I 've got tons of them ! CNN : Do you cook ? Mraz : I prepare . There 's not much cooking in our household . We do a lot of raw food so it 's more about putting the right ingredients together to create something scrumptious . See Mraz 's chocomole recipe . CNN : When eating healthy is so important to you , how difficult is that to maintain when you 're traveling around the world so much ? Mraz : Well , I bring tons of backup supplies with me . CNN : How did you like performing on the `` American Idol '' final ? ( Mraz performed `` I 'm Yours '' with contestants Anoop Desai and Alexis Grace . ) Mraz : I loved it . It was such a great event . And I have compassion for every one of those kids that dares audition . I was n't a contestant . I was just there to sing , and when I saw Simon at the end of that panel I freaked out . I was like , `` What does he think ? '' And then I had to stop myself and say `` Dude , you 're not a contestant . '' He 's aloof . But I watched during the rest of the night and he did it to all the acts . That 's just his way . CNN : Do you think you could hack it as an `` American Idol '' contestant ? Mraz : It is really tough . I watch what those guys do backstage between songs and their weekly schedule is super intense -- to learn new songs , to shoot videos , to learn dance moves and all this . They actually go through a pretty amazing transformation during the course of that show . I just do n't know that I could commit myself to something like that . I 'm a little more laid back . And some days if I ca n't show up to work , I do n't show up to work . And I love that ( laughs ) . CNN : Were you surprised by the success of `` I 'm Yours '' ? Mraz : Very surprised . There 's something simple about it ... like a nursery rhyme . I thought it was so playful . I never expected the world to really grab it and run with it the way they have . CNN : Can you talk me through how you went about writing that song ? Where were you ? What were you doing ? Mraz : I was at home . It was a sunny afternoon . And just as any afternoon where I play music , I was playing on an electric guitar , just chugging around , feeling a little reggae in me you know , and the melody and the words just started to pop out rather quickly and so I recorded it rather quickly . And the whole process only took about a half an hour . CNN : You 're about to go overseas to play various festivals . Is there anywhere you 'll be going for the first time ? Mraz : This year we 're going to explore South America , which I 've visited as a tourist , but I 've never taken my music down there . I hear the crowds turn up in masses , so I really want to see what that 's like . I love getting to bounce around and explore so much . I love Scandinavia . I love Spain . It 's so mystical and romantic , yet it 's gritty . CNN : Do you speak Spanish ? Mraz : No , but I have the Rosetta Stone . I have begun my level one training .
Jason Mraz recently presented with songwriters award . ` ` I ' m here '' artist amazed at where fame has taken him . Not least by appearance on ` ` American Idol ''