Michael Bublemay be a music star himself, but that doesn’t mean he’s not also a fan.
The crooner, who returns March 25 withHigher,adoresThe BeatlesandTaylor Swift.
Like much of the rest of the world.
Warner Records
“It said, ‘I hear you’re making a record.
We’re so excited for you!
And I have this song that means a lot to me.
Andy Prevezer
And I really think you’d do a great job,’ " he recounts.
“And I thought, ‘Wow, that’s incredible.’
And I knew the song.
I wrote back, ‘I would love Paul’s help.’
I said, ‘I’m going to work.
I’m trying to come up with a concept that’s deserved of me interpreting this great song.’
“No guitar or drums, just all the movement coming from the symphonic writing.
“There’s certain things that he has that you could’t put on paper,” Buble gushes.
But first, there’s a new album to put out into the world.
Would you sayHigheris similarly built around one particular theme?
MICHAEL BUBLE: Listen, when I made that record, I was struggling.
I was limping back into the world.
Not that it wasn’t ambitious.
But I’ve definitely healed.
I was able to reach and be ambitious and the opposite of protecting myself.
Honestly, I tried to put myself in uncomfortable situations because I could.
That last album was your return to music after a very difficult time in your family’s life.
Now this one was recorded and came out of this lockdown and pandemic period.
Are you like, “Can the next one just be normal?”
[Laughs] No.
The process was really exceptional for me.
I was really moved by it, so I recorded a song for him.
I did a video with my kids and my family.
There was one copy.
He passed away not long after that.
His daughter asked if she could use something to play at the funeral.
What a beautiful hopeful, brave man.”
He gave us so much and I thought, “What a wonderful way to start the record.”
I love 1940s MGM musicals.”
You’ve basically been the producer.
You have written, you have arranged, you have had your hands on everything.”
And I got hurt by it because I said, “What, Al?
You don’t think I’ve done good work?”
He said, “No, Mike, you’ve obviously done good work.
You’ve sold 70 million records.”
I spent this whole process making sure that I didn’t hold things too close to my chest.
You wanted to be more open and creative and not keep so tight a leash on things.
How do you feel that ended up manifesting itself?
Through COVID, it naturally and organically manifested itself.
I’m putting all my ideas in it and saying, “Now, here you go.
Now you take two days and you put your ideas.”
So it’s all building, no destroying.
It just ended up working like that in the pre-production and it was so different for me.
I like the process so much that I think I would like to continue down that path.
How did that happen?
Well, this came from the “dude.”
I call [producer] Bob Rock, the “dude.”
We were in the studio and I always loved Willie’s single, “Crazy.”
Bob said, “You know we’re neighbors in Maui?”
I was like, “What?”
And he said, “Yeah, dude.
Do you want me to call and ask if maybe he’ll play the guitar on the track?”
And they said yes.
It’s my favorite duet of all time.
It’s one of two songs on this record that I could listen to over and over.
How did you decide what films you would feature in that?
She’s a daughter of [producer] David Foster, and she’s like my sister.
I had all these different concepts I liked.
She said, “Mike, you love cinema more than anyone else I know.
Why don’t you take a journey through a bunch of movies into your favorite films?”
I was like, “Oh, Amy, this is amazing.
What a great idea.
Now I just need to cast the right lady.”
Amy said, “You’re an idiot.”
I’m not lying, that’s exactly what she said.
And I was like, “Why?”
She said, “Your wife is the greatest actress, the most beautiful.
And by the way, you happen to be madly in love with this woman.
What are you thinking, idiot?”
I was like, “Oh my God, you’re right.”
It was one of the most moving things that’s ever happened in my life.
Because I thought [my wife] would say, “Oh cool.
Yeah, that sounds cool.”
But she didn’t.
She said, “You want me?”
I said, “What do you mean I want you?”
She said, “You really want me to do it with you?”
I said, “Oh my God, yes.”
[starts getting choked up] Why do I cry all the time and everything to do?
I got to get my sh– together.
How’d you end up with the snippet from Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” in there?
Well, I’m a Swiftie.
I love Taylor Swift.
She’s an amazing singer and songwriter and entertainer.
That 10 minute film is beautiful.
We were talking about it, and he was like, “What about that?
That belongs in those great love stories.
And how cool is it to be able to include something that’s so current?”
I had no idea that it would have the effect it did.
I wondered if it was just me where people would go like, “What’s this?”
By the way, my wife killed it.
It was really important for her to get that moment as close as she could.
She loved the challenge of recreating these scenes from our favorite films.
I think she really liked me in the wig ofThe Notebook.
Clearly it’s had an impact on you.
I want to work with this person"?
I would very much like to work with Jon Batiste.
He’s a great soul who just happens to be an incredible musician.
One of my good friends is a young guy named Sebastian Yatra.
He’s a great singer.
I’ve worked with him before.
We did this song with Gary Barlow together, but we’re great friends.
He’s another one I love.
I’ve asked her in the future, if she would ever be interested in producing for me.
I’ve had those conversations with Diana Krall, as well.
Because I’m a big fan of Diana as a person and as a musician.
I think of myself as a soul singer, who loves jazz and the American songbook.
The roots of jazz grow into the tree of everything that we love.
It’s rock and roll.
It’s R&B.
It’s hip hop.
You don’t want to turn “Paradise City,” or whatever, into some bad swing thing.
