Michael Bublé Exclusive Interview With CEEK VR!

Many of the legendary crooners who gave us the standards we all know and love to this day—people like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Andy Williams, to name just a few—are all gone, and though their art lives on, somebody has to keep the music playing. For our generation, that man is Michael Bublé.

The Canadian singer has been churning out the best of the best when it comes to traditional pop for almost two decades now, and he’s established himself as one of the greatest voices...perhaps of all time.

The musician just recently returned from something of a hiatus with his critically-acclaimed new album Love, which topped charts around the world and proved that not only had Michael Bublé not gone anywhere, but that he’s still at the top of his game.

Happy to see you come back after a little break. How does it feel to be back?

Michael Bublé: Thanks man. It's different. I just think I'm a different human being. How could I not be? I think I'm a lot more centered. I think I have great perspective on life and what's important, and it's given me an opportunity to know that I'm really lucky. I'm lucky to have you. I've been lucky to be so much grace by people all over the world. I can never, I can never really express how thankful I am for the prayers and the support that we’ve received. To be honest with you, I'm not really able to even comprehend or to process it sometimes. I'm emotional about it.

The truth is I just can't wait to start a tour and to get on every stage in every country, and there'll be about 50 of them, and to be able to show people and express my appreciation for them and what they've done for me and my family. So you know, it's not a small thing, obviously. I'll never be the same guy again, and people have given me faith in humanity, and it's been a hard and beautiful journey.

Happy you're back in this way. When you came back, we were not sure what the album would be because we've gotten Michael Bublé who does standards we all know, and you've also done original material. This album is both, but it's more on the standards side of things, but you mixed the two of them.

Michael Bublé: I think that's really the essence of me, man. I think the more I grow, the more I realize that that's me. I mean, I love writing. I love it. I think I'm a good songwriter. I write nice hit pop songs, but my real love, my real passion comes from interpreting the Great American Songbook and jazz. I think that I can't pretend. It's my happy place, you know? And I know I stand on the shoulders of greats, people like Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. For me, I love that I get to be someone who's a caretaker and someone who continues to hold the torch and bring the music to new generations of kids.

And I look beside me and I see people that I respect and I admire, like Seth McFarlane, who has a beautiful, beautiful voice. He loves this stuff, he's passionate about it. And Harry Connick, Jr. and Jamie Cullun, there's a lot of people. It's awesome. I think that in the weirdest way I feel so protective of the music, especially now, and I like getting to be an ambassador for it.

When you're selecting songs for an album, how do you choose what standards and classics you want, and how do you pick current songs? How do you know if new ones will fit with older tracks?

Michael Bublé: It's a good question. It sounds like such a convoluted answer, but I don't choose the songs, the songs choose me. It's gone past me choosing songs. They come to me in different forms, and I think what I'm best at is rearranging stuff. I'm best as an arranger, honestly, as a producer and arranger. Taking stuff and rethinking it and remaining it, and bringing it to life in almost a cinematic way, that is really what I'm good at. And then when we talk about originals, I write new songs.

Listen, just like you when you're writing a piece or you're putting something together, it comes from what you're feeling. Every single song is a snapshot of your emotional truth that day or that moment, and you just try to be honest. And you hope if you're good at it, if you've succeeded at it, that it resonates with people. And when it's good and when it resonates, there's nothing like it.

You get a song like “Home” or “Just Haven't Met You Yet” and you see how it impacts the world. And sometimes you write a song that you love. I wrote a song called “I've Got It Easy” and it moves me every time. To this day when I hear it, it moves me and I know it probably didn't have as big of an impact that I'd have liked commercially or even critically, but, you know, you hit and miss.

Photo Credit: Michael Bublé