Jon Batiste Recalls His 'Unbelievable' Experience Being Approached by 20-Plus Fans at the Airport (Exclusive)

The Grammy winner opens up to PEOPLE in this week's issue about his new album, 'World Music Radio'

For Jon Batiste, making music is more than just a career — it’s a way of sharing his values with the world.

Sometimes that means releasing songs and simply hoping they get heard. But other times, at unexpected moments, it becomes clear that he is, in fact, making an impact.

The Grammy-winning jazz musician opens up to PEOPLE in this week’s issue about making intentional music, something that was never more evident to the star than during a recent experience he had at the airport.

Batiste, 36, says he was approached by more than 20 people, all of whom had a deep personal connection to him and his accomplishments.

“I love when folks come up and share stories. This one is saying, ‘Oh, I saw you when you were in Brazil, and that changed my whole perspective on music.’ Then this other one’s like, ‘I watched you every night with Stephen, and I would sit with my grandmother, who loves you too,’ ” he says. “It’s like, ‘Wow, all of these things we’re doing really matter.’ But it’s not me doing anything other than what I’m meant to do.”

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So far, doing what he’s meant to do has served Batiste well. In 2021, he won an Academy Award for his score on the Disney-Pixar movie Soul, and in 2022, he was the most-nominated artist of the night at the Grammys, eventually taking home five wins.

In spite of his impressive resumé, Batiste says he’s still working out just what it means, not only to him, but to young artists of color watching his rise to fame.

“It took a long time for me to process [what that meant], and I’m still processing,” he says of his Grammys wins.

There to help guide him along the way has been jazz legend Herbie Hancock, who was the last Black artist to win both album of the year at the Grammys and Best Original Score at the Oscars before Batiste did so.

After Batiste’s big Oscars win, he stopped by Hancock’s for a visit, and the two spent the day playing piano and meditating.

“I went to see him just because it felt like something was unleashed in the metaphysical realm, us connecting and showing love and me paying homage to him. Then I looked at his Oscar and it was the same year that I was born,” says Batiste. “It’s just stuff like that, connecting the dots of history and opening doors for the future generations. It’s very deep stuff.”

Batiste stepped away from his role as bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last August after seven years, and has used the time since to focus on crafting his newest record, World Music Radio.

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The album finds Batiste taking on the role of Billy Bob Bo Bob, an interstellar traveling griot and DJ broadcasting to earth a curated hour of music that ranges from reggae and disco to rock and soul.

Its creation really picked up when Batiste met producer Rick Rubin, who encouraged the star to go record at Shangri-La, his Malibu recording studio. Batiste took Rubin up on the offer, and hunkered down in Malibu for a month working on the recording “pretty much 24/7” as a rotating door of musicians came in to help, like Kenny G, Lil Wayne and Lana Del Rey.

“I just feel like I’m making stuff that I want to make. Once it stops feeling like that, then maybe there would be more pressure,” he says. “[World Music Radio] was a very, very epic artistic accomplishment. I don't think I’ve ever made anything that is literally designed to be listened to in every single scenario of life. You can listen to it with anybody in your life. It’s one of those kinds of things. So I think people should approach the album like it’s a friend, and find these different pockets for the music to just add to the frequency of your life, what it was designed to do.”

For more on Jon Batiste, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.

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