Michael Bublé: "I Will NEVER Be Carefree Again!", Cancer Diagnosis, Dealing With Rejection & Being Mr Christmas!
Guests: Michael
Full transcript · Read the full conversation in order, with its original context.
§01Transcript — part 1
Another summer day has come and gone away In Paris or Rome, but I want to go home Cause this place sucks I should've, I should've, that should've been the lyric. Michael Bublé, the smoothest singer in town. The king of Christmas. Have a holly jolly Christmas. Everything I did was music. I would listen to Frank Sinatra, Bobby Barron, Dean Martin. I don't know why I just do. Emulate them, and then I would steal it all. Because if you steal from one person, you're just a thief.
But when you steal from everybody, it's research. But there's 10 years of clubs, 10 years of every agent saying the exact same thing. We will never sign you. But the reason I didn't stop in those 10 years was because if the right person sees me... I am one of the greatest entertainers on earth. I play 50,000 people, and if there's one looking at their watch, I will play to that man. I'm not leaving you until I break you. And I'm feeling good. But in a moment.
My son's cancer diagnosis was a sledgehammer to my reality. And I remember saying to myself, if we get out of this, If we get out of this, I'm living a different life. And I feel like I'm at this point where I want to do something different. Michael, you're not going to quit music, are you? Michael, what do I need to know about your earliest context to understand the way that you are? Because you are a unique individual personality-wise, talent-wise.
Your life is full of uniqueness. So where is the... what is the oven? Because I always think about humans like an oven. Yeah. You know, they get cooked in this oven when they're young. What is that oven? What is that environment? While the environment was probably having the most incredible family, and everybody says that, everybody says, and of course that's beautiful that people always think their family is the most special. But if you met them, you'd like them all more than me.
And then for me personally, I think being the first child who got way too much attention, You know, probably got told like, you're amazing and you're good at everything. And like, it's probably the reason I talk so much. But everything I am, everything I have, every decision I make is based on that family. Even deciding, I want to be a singer. This is what I'm going to do at 13, 14. By the time I was 16, my grandfather was already taking me to nightclubs.
And when I started playing in the nightclubs at 18, 19, They were full and I was raw, but they were full, full. And people were like, who is this kid? Like, why did, how did he fill up Babaloos? Or how did he fill up the Purple Onion? Or how did he fill up, you know, this theater? Well, they didn't know, but it was, my cousins and aunts and my grandparents and my mom calling all of our friends and saying, come to the club. So this was a strange family affair because we had no connections.
I wish I I didn't. And so instead it took all of these incredible people just loving me and going, yeah, let's go. I mean, I was shocked. I was a fisherman. You know, my great grandfather immigrated from Italy. He was a shipbuilder. My grandfather was a commercial salmon fisherman on the same boat. That took him away a lot, right? Your father? Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. which is something that we understood. And it's interesting because who knew that after leaving that life and having that thing where your father's gone quite a bit would be the life that I ended up leading, where I had to be gone quite a bit.
And the only difference was I could say, "'Dad, why are you leaving?' And he would say, "'Son,' this is my job. This is how I put food on the table. This is how dad pays for our house and for the holidays that we go on and everything. And it changed for me after a certain amount of success because my kids would say, Poppy, why are you going? And I couldn't say, it's to put food on the table, because obviously it was, we passed that point, got very lucky.
How do you answer that question? I answer it by, well, I don't just answer it with language. I answer it with action. So I have probably, I've probably made my tours. I would say financially, maybe one of the most irresponsible tours. in all of touring. So I started a rule where I said, I will do three weeks on, two weeks off, two weeks on, two weeks off, so that I could come back. Or I would literally sit with my wife, and she's a tremendous actress, you know, and she has a great career, and I know how fulfilled she is by it.
And so I would say to her, let's sit down at the beginning, you and your manager, Pepo, and me and my manager, Bruce, and let's go through the calendar. So when are you making those two films? Okay, June, July, I'm done. I come with you. And it can't happen if I tour in a financially responsible way. It's so interesting to me because I'm coming into that phase of life now where I'm going to be starting a family. family soon and I'm going to be getting married.
And it's interesting to hear from you about the trade-offs you have to make. And you have more experience in both sides of the cost and the benefit of those trade-offs. Did you miss your father growing up? Oh man, of course I miss my dad. I remember used to, and you know, it's interesting because I am so lucky to have been born when I was born because my nights on tour away from them, like tonight, I mean, last night, for example, last night was doing a Zoom.
And they put their iPad in the room and I sat with them and I watched a Christmas movie. And they ate popcorn and Poppy was there. I was just there. I was, you know, they were walking around and wrestling. And it's really strange to say this, but I did this thing. Have you ever heard of Calm? Yeah, the app. The Calm app? Yeah, I know the founder, Michael. Yeah, it's the best. Like, so I used to listen to this Calm app to go to sleep. My wife hated it.
And I was on the Graham Norton show and Matthew McConaughey was a guest. I was so excited. And Graham was like, why are you so excited? Everyone loves McConaughey. He said, oh, no, no, no. I love it because my wife would hate it. But every night I would listen, hi, it's Matthew. Hey, hey, hey, I got a sleep story for you. And I would like listen every night. And I was like, Matthew, you sleep with my wife and I. I was like, I listened to your calm sleep story.
And it became, you know, he was a very good sport. And he thought it was funny. And then calm called. And they were like, hey, you wanted a sleep story? I was like, hell yeah. I want to do a sleep story. But I didn't know. So last night, every night's the same. So we chill. And then I put on Poppy's sleep story. Hi, this is Michael. And tonight, in this sleep story, woof. And the kids just go. That's so beautiful. So what I was saying about, you were asking about my father.
Dude, my dad used to carry a sock full of quarters. And every two weeks, he'd come into port. And he'd wait in line at a payphone. And then he'd call. And then he used to, oh man, it makes me emotional. But, and I do the same thing now, but he used to, he would leave notes and he'd hide them everywhere. And so he'd be gone for like a month or something. And you'd go into a drawer to go get your pencils and then you'd see the note. I remember being like seven, eight years old.
And I don't know if you ever did this stuff or maybe I'm just a weird kid, but I remember like holding his clothes, being little and like, and just crying, you know, missing him so much. And this was the closest thing that I would get to him. And, and it's crazy that as life went on, I became, dude, I'm him. Like, thank Jesus, thank God I'm him. But I turned out to be my dad. Your granddad played a huge role in your life, didn't he? Yes. Grandpa Mitch.
Grandpa Mitch, yeah. Huge, huge, massive. As a matter of fact, yesterday, I did one of the probably scarier things that you can do in this entertainment business. I... I was asked to be a surprise guest to sing a song as a tribute to Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees in his induction into the Kennedy Center Honors, which I think is, in my opinion, maybe, if not the pinnacle, one of the pinnacles of Americans celebrating culture. But weirdly enough, my grandpa, he passed away five years ago yesterday.
Oh, wow. And more than anything, I was standing backstage and I could hear my introduction. And I was like, my mouth was dry. And my heart, I could hear my heart beating in my ear. And I just took a big breath and I said like, wow, grandpa, okay, this is us, man. This is us. And I always think about my kids and say like, okay, be strong. Don't let your kids ever see you weak. Don't let your kids ever see you scared. And weirdly, it just brought this wonderful calm over me.
And it was really nice, man. Like I, it just brought me calm. And I went out there and I thought I killed it. I thought I was very charming. He was my hero, is my hero. At 13 years old, we were always best friends. I don't know why, you know, you know, dude, sometimes certain people you connect and it's like you were made for each other. And that was my best buddy. We talked about hockey and we talked about music. And even at a young age, I was fascinated by by the great American songbook.
I was just, I didn't know how, I didn't understand. And I remember being confused why I was the only one too. How could other people not understand that Nat King Cole is that unbelievable. What's wrong? How could they, how does some ways not hear Ella Fitzgerald and just shit a brick and realize that is stupid. That's just too good or that that, gorgeous orchestral arrangement of that song and those horns doing that thing. And that, that swinging, we're like, I know hip hop is great, but no, that beat that I just heard in that Dre song, that isn't close to being as fat as the one I just heard backing up Bobby Darren in Mack the Knife.
Like that's smoking. I knew. 13 years old. Oh dude. Even before that. For me, music was, it wasn't even a question. It was, It was a defining part of the essence of me. Like I, Everything I did was music, was just a fascination. And it's funny when many times parents will go like, my daughter is 14 and she's, and do you have advice? She wants to be a singer. And I always, I have advice and it's like, listen to as much music and all of it, like go across the board of every genre and download it and process it and steal all of it, steal the best parts of all of it and you will find yourself.
But another thing I always say is fantasize. Like, dude, for me, I would fantasize about being on stage. I would fantasize about singing in front of the crowd. Every shower was another opportunity to go and fucking kill Madison Square Garden and know that that crowd in the shower was just lovely and crazy. Madison Square Garden. Oh, whatever. You know what I mean? I was 14. Absolutely. And thank God there wasn't the voice of American Idol. Because if I was 13, I would have been in the shower saying, Hey, Simon, check this out.
Did you sound good at that age? Do you have recordings? Do you have like, you know? Yeah, man, I do. I do have recordings. Because I'm wondering how much of your time is- I have a recording when I'm 14 and it tripped me out because I sound, I don't know if it's good, but- Exactly the same? Exactly the same. What? And I think it was like- It had to be you. I sound like that. I sound exactly like that. The same way. And what's weird is like, it wasn't like I put on an effect.
That's what, that's how the voice sounded. And my buddies used to make fun of me. I had one of my best friends, Brad, would be in the bus. And he goes, there's Bublé singing with that fake voice again. There's Bublé. And even today, and he's still one of my, literally, one of my best friends. And we're drinking beer. And he's like, shut up, man. And he loves to sing too. I couldn't believe how much your grandfather and your father and your family...
supported you. Oh, yeah. When I was reading that your grandfather would trade plumbing work for you to go and do singing lessons or, you know, auditions, etc. That's unusual. Because most parents would go, oh, my God, my child's singing. That's not a career. No, I know. I know. It was uncomfortable, too, because he loved me so much. Listen, dude, my grandpa did more than just trade his plumbing things. He took me to auditions. They used to hire me to go work in the malls.
And he got me, like, these gigs where they would pay me 20 bucks an hour. And then I would go to the mall with a guitar player. and I would like busk, I guess it's busking is what it is. Right. And I would go or outside, I'd busk at Granville Island or places and he would just sit. And I loved it, man. I didn't care who was listening, where I was. I did anything. What was the first song? The first time you performed in front of other people and got a reaction?
The first song weirdly was, I think it was a Christmas song. Really? Well, it was because it was Christmas Eve. We were coming home from, I've told this story many times, but we were coming home from my grandma and grandpa's on Capitol Hill. And I think it was like White Christmas or something. And my little sisters, I would have been 12, maybe 11, 12. My voice was just starting to change. And yeah. And the girls were in the back, my two sisters, my sisters are great, beautiful voices.
And they were like, I'm dreaming of a white, red man. With every Christmas card I write. And I think from the back, I went, may your days be merry and bright. And it was like the whole car went, who? And I think that was the first time they were like, what the is that? Where did that just come from? And what's interesting is I think if I really am honest with myself and I look back, That Bing Crosby was the first, because that was like, that was the first record in that style and that played through the house at Christmas.
That was my introduction to big band. That was my introduction to jazz. That was my introduction to that swing and feeling. And then, With that relationship with my granddad, he used to, we used to have a, some a shag, he had just like a green shag carpet and he had a record machine that he attached to a cassette machine. And we would sit down and we would just, I'm not kidding you man, hours. I loved it, I loved it. And I used to go with those cassettes and I had a Walkman and I would just sit in bed and I would listen over and over.
And then I would listen to each of these singers and I would learn the song for grandpa and grandma so I could come over the next day and I could sing for them. And I'd sit at the table with them and we'd, you know, But I started to just steal. I mean, steal. Full on steal. And I started to like almost impersonate each of them. And I would listen to Frank Sinatra with the Pied Piper's there was ways that he would sing and I would try to emulate.
So I would sit there and then I would, I would be like, I was a record player, you know, I'd come home and grandpa would say, okay, what's today? Stormy weather. And I'd say, don't know why there's no sun up in the sky. Stormy weather. I can't do it now, but, and then the next day would be, okay, he'd go Dean Martin, Dean Martin. And, uh, I'd say, I don't know why I love you like I do. I don't know why I just do. And I would emulate them. God damn.
I'd listen to the Mills Brothers. And when I'm saying all of this, you probably have no idea sometimes what I'm talking about. You used to be. Yeah. The way the Mills Brothers were saying, there was this weird, I want to buy a paper dough that I could call my own. Adore that other fella. Or Nat. Just the way he would open up and everything was so... The very thought of you. And I forget to do. And there was all these things that I would just like, oh my God, I love that.
And then I would steal it all. And I would try to emulate all of it. And then one day, you know, sitting with Grandpa, I started realizing, okay, I'm starting to... wow, Grandpa, this is the way I do it now. Taking all those things and- And that's what creativity is, right? It is, man. And I've told this story too, too many times, but I remember the first time I met Tony Bennett, I said, you know, Tony, I'm obviously, you know, I'm a huge fan, I've stolen so much from you and Bing and Frank and all of them.
And he said, good. He said, because if you steal from one person, you're just a thief. But when you steal from everybody, it's research. And I thought that was amazing. And I've told that story a million times too, but it was everything, man. Like Elvis was a big part of it. And you know, I just, all of those things that I loved. But. Why was your grandfather doing that in hindsight? Why was. Are you kidding me, dude? Yeah. Like, are you kidding me?
So. It was better than crack. For who? For both of us. It's my happiness. It's my, it's my passion. It's my thing. And, you know, and like I love – he would have died to know that his grandson was continuing the legacy of our heroes. You know, because if he was being honest, when I played Madison Square Garden for the first time and I said, did you think I'd get here? He said, oh, no, no, definitely not. There's a clip of him on a documentary. He goes, no, I thought you'd be good.
You know, maybe Vegas. But I just think it was because how could I? We were this – My grandpa was a plumber and we came, we're fishermen. We didn't know anybody. We're never going to get, we're never going to get to there. We didn't even know, we're from Vancouver. We didn't even know anybody. How are we going to get to there? Your story is not a straight line because you went and worked on those fishing boats as well. So it's not just you started singing at 30.
My story isn't even a straight line from fishing boats to Chuck E. Cheese to working at restaurants to singing. There's 10 years of clubs. There's 10 years of me moving to Toronto. There's 10 years of me going into every record company, not getting in the door. There's 10 years of every agent saying the exact same thing. Every manager. I thought they had a fucking note that they would send each other. The note that said, you're really talented. You're a great young kid.
We just don't know what to do with you. Over too much, dude, to a point where I was like, you know what, okay, I'm 26. It's too late. And in this business, people can say, oh, 26. No, dude. is late if you haven't been signed or you haven't made a bunch of noise at 26 27 i don't think it's right i think there should be late bloomers but it's it isn't the usual you know like the record companies they'll be like And so I was going to go back to Canada.
I was going to go back to Vancouver and I was thinking about going to SFU or Douglas and taking up journalism. So even then, once I was in Toronto, I got, I got, you know, connected to the prime minister of our country who their daughter was getting married. And she asked if I would sing at the wedding. And cause I'd given an independent CD to another guy at some corporate gig I had done. And yeah, I was like, yeah, okay, what an honor. And she was like, David Foster will be there.
And this producer, who, and he's one of the biggest producers in the world, billions of, I mean, half a billion or a billion records, I think. Okay, this is my chance. This is the shot for somebody to see me. But even then, after he saw me, this story didn't, it wasn't like, David Foster didn't say, you, I found my guy. He said, come to LA and you're on my, he actually said, you're on my radar now, is what he said. Well, I didn't know that he had another 18 kids that were on his radar.
You know, I was, you know, man, I got, I was good. I was gonna, I was in the atmosphere now. You know, I was closer than I'd ever been to a real guy. 10 years in. 10 years in, that could make it. And I remember- I think, I have to say, Michael, I think it's really, very important not to brush past this 10 years because that is the no man's land. that only passion could make someone wade through. And that is where 99% of people quit. And it's the bit that no one ever gets to see.
So it's maybe the more important part of the journey, which is why does someone continue doing something for 10 years of their life when there's no Madison Square Gardens, there's no million dollar checks, and there's no fame and fortune? Like that's the, because it's a recurring theme on my show that these very, very successful people, they did something which is objectively dumb. Which is like they gave up their amazing chance of being an academic and they went and played magic on restaurant card tables.
I know. Comedians, you could have been a lawyer. Yep. And now that, you know. It's funny. I was going to tell you today. I watch your show religiously and I was like, what if you just call yourself failure and why it's so great? Because it's like so many of the stories that are told across this table are, I failed, I failed. They said no over and over again and over again. And I just continued to go for it. These people seem like they had no choice though.
And when I say no choice, I mean, because of passion. Listen to me, man. I'm going to say, it's going to sound like it directly, it's sort of, I don't want it to be condescending at all, but half of that 10 years was, gave me humility, gave me appreciation for when it would happen, I would, be appreciative and I would still have humility and I would still be able to be present and aware enough of how lucky I was. But the reason that I didn't stop in those 10 years was because I knew I was the best in the world.
I mean, no doubt that if the right person sees me, I am one of the greatest entertainers on earth. And all you need to do is come into my room and you don't have to pay to see me. You can be there just to drink booze and get laid. But by the end of the night, you'll know. How do you know that's not delusion? No, no, dude. At that point. You know what? I knew because every room I ever walked into, I was such a, I was a sensitive, insecure kid, really sensitive.
And I think that beautiful kindness and empathy that my family drove into me and my sisters is what made me that man on stage. You understand, even now, man, I play 50,000 people and if there's one looking at their watch and I will play to that man. And my mission, my mission, I love the rest of 49,999 of you, but you, I'm not leaving here until I break you. I'm not leaving here until, you know, You get me. You might not. I might not be your cup of tea.
I might not be your favorite. But you'll walk away and you'll say, okay, the kid's better than, you know, he's okay. I get it. One of your kids comes to you and says, dad, I know. And they go, dad, dad. They go, no, they go, dad, listen. They sing and it's terrible. And then they go, dad, I know. And this is what I'm getting at. I was like, how do we know we're not just deluding ourselves? Yeah. Well, you know, it's interesting you say that because if that was just me sitting in my bathroom mirror and going, I'm amazing.
Yeah, that's, I understand that. But it wasn't, it was 10 years. of, I don't care if it was a shopping mall or a street corner or a nightclub or a bar or a wedding or a funeral, every room was the same. Every single room was the same. So why wasn't the industry letting you in? Why would they? I didn't do anything that was mainstream. I mean, I used to do, it was like I had an indie record. I would do indie festivals. It's so funny, man. I talk about it now.
It's like, you know, I'm so like mainstream, whatever you want to call it, like where I could probably, you know, but I was like an indie act. It was a full on indie act. It was like doing weird shit that no one else was doing. And I think it was just so outside. Even listen, David Foster, that David Foster producer guy I'm talking about. It's funny. He doesn't remember it this way, but I remind him many times that, that like Dave, I said, when are we going to do this?
You're going to produce my record. And he said in quotations, I will never produce your record and we will never sign you, never. He had a very sweet assistant named Neil, who's a beauty, the sweetest kid. And when I see him once, I mean, I would see him and he would laugh and he would go, dude, I remember that I would like say to you, just walk away because this isn't going to happen for you. You know, he's not, you're not, you're not the one. I remember he said to me, he got pissed with me because I had again said to him, hey man, come on, like sign me.
And he was like, you need to get out. You need to go. He said like, listen, dude, I told you you're on my radar. You and another 19 kids are, you know, it's just not happening. And it, and it's funny because he's, The reason it happened when it came down to it was I was like, what do I need to do? Surely this is not impossible. And he went, okay. Um, it's this much a track and six tracks minimum and, uh, Money. And I was like, okay. And so this manager and I literally went back to Vancouver and she was an amazing woman.
And she went door to door, bank to bank. And we found this incredible dude who underwrote and we bought the money, we brought the check. And I went to David's in Malibu and said, we said, we got it, here's the money. David's a massive producer. I think it was a hundred thousand a song. And I think poor David, I remember sitting up, he had this room in Malibu and he had like all the Grammys all over his piano. And I remember we were like, we got it.
And he was like, you got it? It was like, well, okay. You know, okay. He said, but Warner will get the first ride of refusal. And even that wasn't the end of the story. We started making a demo and. that we ended up going, he got Paul Anka. Do you know Paul Anka? No. Okay, well, Paul is, I'll remind you of who Paul Anka is if you don't know. Paul at 16 or maybe 15 had written a song called Put Your Head on My Shoulder. Put your head on my shoulder.
Or Diana, I'm so young and you're so old. He wrote another song called Mile Way. And now the end is near. Huge, massive star. He was Justin Bieber, okay? Yeah, I agree with that. And he's still a huge star. He's still. But he got involved. And then he was like, you don't need that money. My guys will get the money. And for whatever reason, when we started making the record, that deal somehow fell through. And David was like, it's over. The money deal fell through.
Yeah, the money deal fell through. And he was like, it didn't work out. And somebody else will do this. And I was like, dude, you know. And there was another producer named Umberto Catica. He was another massive producer. Beautiful guy. And he said, he took me into the car. I was destroyed because I was this. I was there. I was making the record. I was four songs into making a record. And... And then it was done. And David was like, I'm really sorry, Mike.
It's just not gonna happen. Why didn't you quit like Neil told you to? Well, a big deal was Umberto. And he said, he's a Chilean guy. And he said, hey, man, you need a, he said, I drive you to your apartment. And I was dead. Like I was, I had it. I was there, dude. It was there in my hand. It was there and then it was gone. And he drove me home and I remember he parked, I lived in Westwood, I'd rented this little place in Westwood and Humberto parked the car outside and he looked at me and he said, okay, Michelito.
He said, David Foster is a strong guy but he doesn't like confrontation at all. He said, here's what you're gonna say to him. And he literally told me what to say. And about three days later, David had brought me in, hired me to do something. I think it was for Kenny G and his wife at the time had an anniversary party. And I said, David, can I speak to you? And he said, like, OK. And I took David to this other little room beside the banquet hall.
and literally regurgitated word for word, you know, what Umberto had told me to tell this guy. You know, David was my hero, right? David is a scary guy. You and you're, you know, you look, wow, this is my, and basically the gist of the conversation was, we have done something incredible. We have four or five songs here that are, you know, they're amazing. Please give me one opportunity to go to Warner Brothers Records. and to speak to the president and play my case.
And if he doesn't want me, I will never ever bother you again. You'll never hear from me again. You want me to show up and do stuff for you, I'll do it, but I'll never ask that question again. And He was like, okay, and I don't think he did love confrontation. And I remember he called me about a day, two days later, and he said, let's see what a 26-year-old kid knows about the record business. And I went into Warner Records in Burbank. Maybe probably the scariest day of my life, of my life.
And wood building, you know, look up on the wall and it's Prince and Tom Petty and Madonna and Red Hot Chili Peppers and like, you know, holy shit, you know. And I sat in the meeting with Wally. Tom Wally is the president. And he's like real good looking dude. Like imagine like Eric Stoltz or something. But as the executive and he sat down in the office. And I think he said, well, why should we sign you? We have Sinatra on reprise. I think that's one of the first things he said.
§02Transcript — part 2
Sinatra on reprise, what does that mean? So reprise was a subsidiary of Warner that Frank had started. And they had Frank on the label. You know, they had Sinatra on reprise, you know. And he said, why should we sign you? We have Frank. Must be like getting to the pearly gates and having one opportunity to get in. And I said, with all due respect, Mr. Wally, Frank's dead, you know. Don't bury the music. I said, I will keep it alive. I love it. I cherish it.
I will break my ass for you. I will go out there and I will will this to be great. And he sat, he listened to the four demos. And then two days later, I had flown my grandfather down to LA Because I mean, it's funny, when I walked out with David that day, I say, thank you, David, for putting your balls on the line for me like that. I said, so what do you think? And he looked at me and he said, I think you did a great job. But Mike, I have no idea what that meant.
Like he had no idea. And he honestly, I don't think he had any concept when we walked out of those doors what Mr. Wally was gonna say, you know? And then two days later, I flew my grandfather down. I said, Grandpa, I can't do this. I need you, man. So he flew down to LA and in that little Westwood apartment, and I was down on the treadmill and the door sort of flung open and he and the manager at the time, Bev, they opened the door and they were just crying, you know?
I said, you know- Come on, Bev. Yeah, come upstairs, come upstairs, come upstairs, you know? And so we took the elevator up and I grabbed the telephone and said, hello. And David said, hey, Mike, man. And I said, hi, David. And he said, hey, Mike, man, I want to welcome you to Warner Brothers Records. And I want you to know we have your back and you're never going to have to worry again. And it was like, man, it was, I don't know. And again, dude, it sounds like that's the end of the story, That wasn't the end because the record came out and it was awesome, but I believe I debuted at 198 on Billboard.
And I had a manager named Bruce Allen. He was known as one of the greatest managers in the business and still is. And he said to me, kid, you're an American signed act, but you're not killing it. There's not a ton of interest. He said, would you consider going to Southeast Asia and Africa. And I was like, yeah, I'll go anywhere you want. And I did, dude, I just started going to all the, and man, that's where it happened. I made it in, my first big hit was in the Philippines, South Africa.
I started to do pretty good. I'd sold a couple million records and my manager Bruce would call and he would say, hey kid, you wanna go to Germany? I'd say like, what's in jur... Well, they got about eight journalists there and you'd be singing in the Hyatt lobby doing a showcase. And I guess there might've been a thought at even that point, maybe that's beneath. And I was like, no shit, man, go, yeah. And I did it, dude. I just went, literally, man, I did that in...
all over Asia, Switzerland, Jerm Pol- dude, you name the country and I showed up and did a showcase. What age were you when you thought, shit, this is, you know, this is big now? Oh, probably, I don't know. Probably 30, 20, 29. So like it's happened late for me, man. Like this whole thing happened late. I was really, for what isn't the norm? Yeah, man, I didn't know what, I had my first taste of fame at maybe 28. That is so- And it was in the Philippines.
And I went to get sushi at a mall in Manila. And there was a security guy who was like, don't go. without me. And I was like, yeah, sure. And I went and went and bought sushi. And then all of a sudden I was like surrounded by all these beautiful Filipinos speaking Tagalog and asking for pictures. And I was like, and I remember he was really pissed with me. He was really upset that I hadn't taken him to security. I was like, why? I don't need security.
And then he took me, we went up to my room and I was like, dude, I'm sorry. Like that was crazy. Like I've never, this is crazy. I feel like. Backstreet Boy or something, you know? And then I remember that he opened the curtain, and this curtain opened, and it was a building facing us. And, dude, the full building was just my face. You're joking. Yeah, and I was like, oh, shit, I understand now. But, dude, it was so new, you know? When you've had to fight to get there for, say, 14, 15, 16 years, whatever it is, Is there a part of you that is sort of innately scared of losing it in a way that someone who just got it like that might not appreciate?
Yeah, there was. For sure there was, man. And does that result in work holism? There is for all of us. There is for you. I'm sure you sit and go like, I'm kicking ass right now, but you know what? Well, you know why? Because naturally everything that goes up must come down. No, there's no career. I don't care if you're a school teacher or you're a doctor. I mean, nothing just continues to go. I mean, you have to understand that there are peaks and valleys and that there are times when you might not be the hottest, but those are the times when you continue to stay true to the brand.
You don't panic. It's hard not to panic. Like I was talking about Paul Anka, but you know, Paul is very sweet. Like he'll call me just out of the blue and he'll go like, Hey dude, you're the man. Don't trip. You know, whatever you're feeling, if you're feeling it's up or down, just keep doing your thing, man. Be true to yourself. Don't panic. And it's beautiful. It's a beautiful, you know, and listen, for me having four kids, and a wife that is my favorite human being in the whole planet, that made, it makes the process of that worry easier because, you know, it's funny, dude.
I, I was terrified yesterday at that event. Terrified, man. I want it to be great and scary to be in front of your peers. That's something, you know, is so important. And, uh, this morning I woke up and I was brushing my teeth and I was on FaceTime with my wife and the kids, you know, and, uh, And she said, okay, how are you? How do you feel? And it was like, I said, listen, Lou, I said, faith, number one, my family, number two, and my career, a really, you know, a distant third.
And so for me, I'm, I'm blessed to really feel that because of course I get scared, man. I don't want to lose it. And there's a million ways to lose it. And But I also haven't put all of my eggs into that one basket. Has it always been as clear the priorities? No, man. No, of course not. Absolutely not. And by the way, there can be times where my false self allows that to change. My false self? Yeah, my false self. I would say the ego. I, you know, I should read more Eckhart Tolle in Power of Now.
And he tells stories about the hockey team that I'm a part owner of, the Vancouver Giants. He talks about the ages, how substantial that is. But he is a big part of my life too, you know. And by the way, practicing to get to this place where it's really easy to let your fears and your false self give you these negative messages and... And it was helpful for me to understand that I could control that, not allowing those negative things to get ahold of me.
One of my sort of deep, I think, existential fears is that I'm not gonna have my priorities in the right order and I'm gonna find out too late. I've said this a few times on this show. I'm scared that as a guy who's like spent, I don't know, 12 years building businesses and pursuing success in whatever form, that life is going to tell me, Steve, at the moment when you needed to have your priorities in order they weren't, when maybe you want to have a family or a wife or something, you know, what was it that changed, illuminated the true nature of what your priorities should be?
Listen, like I said to you before, this whole thing starts with family. And I have never been so out of touch because I have too good of a family. My mom and dad are just... They're just two beautiful people and my grandparents. And listen, I may not do it, but I know what the difference is between right and wrong and putting ego first. I don't wanna get too deep into it because it's not that it is uncomfortable for me, but my son has his own life and his own story.
My son's cancer diagnosis rocked my world. It pulled a curtain from over my eyes. And I don't wanna get deeper into it, but I can tell you that I don't think that I had what you're talking about. I don't think I had context. And that was a sledgehammer to my reality. And I will never be carefree again in my life. And that's okay. it is a privilege for me to exist. And that pain, the fear, the suffering that comes with those sort of things, I guess it's part of that.
beautiful this life, you know, it's, but it, I, if I wasn't clear and I wasn't clear, and it's interesting because when it actually happened, I was going through, I think a crisis, like really, like the crisis that you're talking about, you know, I don't think I had my priorities straight. I mean, I always, my family was always a love of, you know, I think I don't think I was a terrible guy, but dude, it was blinders, career, you know, ambition.
How do I become the baddest, biggest, best, you know, more ego, more power, more money, more. And, um, on Halloween, however many years ago that was, dude, it's like life was lived with like a curtain in front of me, like a filter. And the moment that they said, this is what's happening. Um, I, that reality hit me. Um, Filter gone. Filter gone. And I mean in a moment, in one moment, gone. And I went, okay, this is it. This is life. This is it. This is what's important.
Um... And that's when, it's not like I thought about it. It didn't, there was no time to process it. It was, you have your priorities. This is what your priorities are. And this is what your priorities must be in order to be happy in your life. And it is. I just can't imagine. Yeah, it's faith, family and. A member of my family got diagnosed with, a very similar illness. And I remember where I was and where I stood when I got that call. And again, I'd been running, you know, just in my own little world, hadn't called them in a while.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wasn't really in touch with them. And then in that exact moment, it made me realize the true reason why I do what I do. Like I, you know, and that my life should never have been so focused on self in such a way, if that makes sense. Yeah, of course, absolutely. Absolutely. Dude, I remember being at CHLA. I remember peeing in a stall. I know it sounds weird and it's not sexy, but I remember just sitting in the stall, standing there, you know?
The children's hospital. Yes, sir. And I remember closing my eyes and saying to myself, if we get out of this, if we get out of this, I'm living a different life. a better life. And I did. I made that promise to myself in like a moment, you know. I want to be kinder. I wanna be more empathetic. I don't ever wanna allow that ego and that false self to take over. I wanna know how lucky I am. And dude, I'm a lucky man. Like I, you know, I just look at my wife, like, you know, it's like, how did that happen?
How did I get, you know, this incredible human being who's the best of all of us, you know, to sort of lead me through and carry me through these things, you know? Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a, it's, it's, um, I was just thinking about, um, goes back to what I was saying about how I don't want life, life to show, show me my priorities. Um, especially as it relates to my romantic relationships where, you know, you can end up in divorce court or you lose something and you think, fuck, what's, what are all these gold coins worth?
Yeah. No, but I have the dude. It's funny. We've all had those moments too. Listen, much younger I had that moment where I was like, oh, dude, do you like you? Do you trust you? Do you respect you? And then I was like, if you don't, and you're expecting that person to, or any person to, maybe you're asking too much. I hope we're allowed to look at ourselves in the mirror. And man, it's so easy to lie to other people, but it's even easier to lie to yourself.
You know, dude, it's so easy. And it's like, um, I hope everybody has the chance to figure your way to do it. I don't know what it is or how you get there. If you need like medicine or mushrooms or whatever it is, but like to look in the mirror and to go, these are the things that I think I suck at. Um, and, uh. And I hope, I really do, I hope within us there's a opportunity for all of us to have that self-diagnosis and honesty and to go, yeah, I can do better than that.
I, on this podcast so many times, I've spoken to parents about grief, but I've never really shone a light on grief. just the trauma of going through moments like that and really the like blast radius of knock-on effects to that person's life that it can have, implications to their mental health. Your son, Noah, is it Noah? Yeah. You've got four wonderful kids I hear. Yeah. Is doing great. Ten years old? Ten years old. Ten years old. Yeah. But for all the priorities and the curtain that it pulled back, is there still a healing process there that...
needs to have it happen that you typically see similar to grief if you know what i'm saying oh no no no because you already i think any parent i mean i've now i've become i i've had such great relationships with so many parents and people have not just come through this i mean listen man going through any kind of thing with like you know you're you're not going to get away without it man i don't know if you have already but i haven't had kids yet no i'm not talking about kids i'm talking about your siblings or your mom and dad or we all gonna go i mean you It's just a part of life.
It takes a piece of us, you know, like my grandpa, man. I miss my grandpa every day, but that's just, that's life. That's a part of life. And I don't know that any of us even have the capacity to deal with it. I think it's why, obviously, we move to faith. You know, something feels good about hoping that there's something more. But men in their mental health, we don't talk about these things. No, dude, you must be soft. Don't be soft. And no crying.
I'm guilty of this more than anyone, especially as like a CEO. And I've been a CEO since I was 18 and I had hundreds of employees. So I felt like I couldn't flinch. Yeah. But how do you, can I ask you, how do you, because you are a brand now, man. I know you're a beautiful, nice guy, a human being, but dude, there's a brand, it's a brand. And I know you have people on your team and I know you have a team that like, they come to you and say, we'd love you to do this.
And your team goes, you can't do that. That is off brand. Yeah. How do you, how do you Are you able to, because you're in the wave, man, that tidal wave is moving, but you're inside it. You got all your people on top and they can all kind of see, how do you deal with it? Like, what do you do? Do you feel it? Do you think you're self-aware enough to know what the brand is or how to protect it or how to move it forward? I think it comes back to this point about authenticity.
You know. You know when something is you and when it's in line with you. And you know when you're kind of abandoning yourself. Some signal inside of me goes, you know this isn't right. you know especially if someone offers you a lot of money to do something yeah sure oh god oh i know that's not me so fortune Go ahead. I was gonna say, this shows a good example, which is a good question is what are the sponsors? The sponsors are companies that are in line with my values.
So, you know, my Zoe, my, you know, the products that I, and also I'm a shareholder in those companies, they're sponsored the podcast and I'm in the team. That's a good example of it. Whereas some brands aren't aligned. Yeah. I think what I meant even more than just brands is like, you know, I'm, you don't understand. I'm two different people, right? Who's the other guy? Well, the other guy is, this is me. I'm Michael Bublé. Yeah. I'm an idiot who is, I think, sweet and- It's the only guy I met.
A little bit. Well, I knew the other guy from stage. Yeah, but that's a completely different dude. That guy, that's Michael Bublé. This is, I'm Mike. Fantasy football, hockey-loving idiot who, you know- you know, is a bigger idiot than you, than you're seeing here. Even I'm, I'm a little bit more of the suit guy. Oh fuck. Yeah, man. Like, I would say closer to Michael Scott from the office. But dude, every night I go and I put on this, like this suit.
And then when I walk out on stage, I become the guy that I always wanted to be. He is so cool and Teflon. And he says all the right things and nothing can, nothing can. And I can be goofy, but, you know, but there's this, there's an other, I mean. Can I meet him? Oh, dude, you're going to meet him. you're going to meet him. I'm going to make sure that the whole world meets him for 20 years. I have done the same thing. Sick. It's been cyclical. Michael writes and, uh, makes a great record.
And then I go and I promote it. I go to 40 countries and promote it. And then I go and tour for a year and a half and for 20 years, it has been write it, promo it, tour it. And, um, And I feel like I'm at this point of my life and my career where I wanna do something different. Listen, again, music will never, it will always be my happy place and my love, but I need time to do some other stuff, man. I need time to challenge myself and to wake up and go, yeah, this is different and fun and, And it's really, it's about being that other guy, not the suit guy.
Being Mike. Being Mike, man. And doing that, whether that's in movies or television or whatever it is, it has to happen now. Why? Because, dude, this is my favorite part of me. And I've never really, there was just, it was just too good. All the other stuff was so... Because I love the other stuff. I love touring. I love making money doing that. That's amazing, dude. What's the symptom telling you that you should do more of Mike and less of Michael?
Well, just that I... Honestly, truly, the excitement of doing something different. You know? Like, yeah, it's time to... It's time to take that challenge. It's time to take that trip, you know? Like... And I know it's there. The same way I kind of told you, like, that I had so much faith in... in knowing like, hey man, I think I got a pretty good voice and I'm a good entertainer. Like I can, if I do this, I have the potential to really have fun doing that at a level I think I can do.
For the challenge as well, for the pursuit of... Yeah, it's fun to wake up and go like, you know what, instead of that same cycle, I'm going to do the record, make the record, sell the record. A musical, again, will always be there, but I need to express myself in a different way for me, man. And it really isn't for them. It isn't for the audience. It's for me. It's like... But is there a moment where something happens? Because I'm trying to put this into, like, my world or whoever's listening to this world.
Is there a moment where you wake up and you go, I'm just a little bit less excited, and it's just fallen below the level of excitement that I need to do this again? No, no. No, because, man, honestly, genuinely... I love being out with, I love making, dude, I just, the music is just, it fills me up with happiness, you know? So the second, I mean, I just did, I literally like a corporate gig the other night with my boys and this band has been with me for 20 years.
They're my brothers, man. So I get up there and it's like, I'm home. And it's fun. It's fulfilling. It's everything. But, dude, it's IMS fulfilled in acting. When this tour started to wrap down and I was like, you know what, I want to have fun doing something a little different. Everyone can relate to that in their own context, because when you have a comfort zone, per se, something you're really good at, and then you have the rewards also will align with the thing that you've developed mastery in.
It's very easy to spend a decade doing, or two decades doing that thing, and wake up one day and go, shit, I'm a lawyer. Why am I a lawyer again? Oh, because it paid really well and I'm good at it. Yeah. But that doesn't necessarily mean it'll make you happy, right? Totally. And I think the branding stuff definitely had an impact where all of a sudden, It wasn't, we want you to come and sing something. It was like, you know, we want you. Yeah. We want Buble.
We want Buble to do a bubbly commercial, or we want Buble to show up and do an Asda commercial, or we want, you know, we want you to be the face of our thing. We want you. And I was like, okay, well, what do I sing? And they were like, no. No, we don't want you to sing. We just, we want you to be your idiot. Self, I mean, that Asda ad that I just did, I don't know if you've seen it. That was like getting to sit with Taika Waititi, who's one of my favorite directors and writers of all time.
And to have him direct this thing, I mean, I had so much fun and it wasn't singing. It was just... It was literally, you know, we had this talk about the concept and we were like, what if I'm this, I was like, what if I, he said to me like, dude, dude, what if you're the head of, you know, quality control? And I was like, yes. And I think I know what exact, but I'm an asshole who has no idea what I'm doing. But. you know, egotistically, I am, you know, and he understood exactly what I was going for, and we laughed.
We had, it was three days of us just... you know, just laughing, laughing at ourselves, laughing. And at that, just, I was so happy. And it's like another reason why I'm like, man, this is my personality. This is me. Where'd you go for support, Michael? When you're, when you're struggling or when you're trying to figure out these sort of impasses in life, is there, have you ever been to therapy? Do you speak to each other? Yeah, I've been to therapy, but I don't know.
I don't know what to say, man. I don't know if it worked for me. Like it felt good to talk about stuff, but then after about like four times, I was like, am I bullshitting right now? Am I just telling her something just to fill up the hour? Because I sort of went through my big stuff. And it didn't, and the therapy doesn't feel like it worked very well. You know, hey man, for me, listen, my relationship again with, with God and, and that, that is a far, that brings me far more satisfaction.
And, uh, and so that for me, and by the way, and like my wife, like being able to say to my wife, like, and I'm so honest with her, I'm like, Hey dude, I'm not doing good with this thing. And, uh, And, and, um, she's like, well, stop being an idiot, you know? That's her advice. My partners, I think that's part of the role of being a, a wonderful partner is that they, they call you out on your bullshit. Oh God, I love you that you're opening it. Are we allowed to drink this?
We are allowed to drink it if you want to drink it. God, my morning, my morning just got way better. I just found this on the floor. No, I didn't really. Um, Fraser and Thompson. Yes, sir. This is a whiskey brand that I'm holding in my hands that you have built in a building with an incredible team of whiskey experts. I know nothing. They've told me that you're driving this business and incredibly involved, which is- Oh yeah, I mean, like I'm involved in this, but like, what do I know about whiskey?
No, I mean, what do you know about Fraser and Thompson? I know that, listen to me, I know. that if you don't know what you're doing, you hire and bring in the greatest people in the universe who literally hold your hand and tell you what to do. And you know that when you find a guy like Paul Serka, who is one of the greatest whiskey connoisseurs in the world and he, And then you ask him how big his brewery is. And he tells you idiot is called a distillery, not a brewery.
You realize that you don't know what you're talking about. But this is you. You've worked with Paul Phenomenal Exit. Three years, dude. We took three years. I tell you what, I worked three years because I wasn't going to be part of something that I didn't love and the truth, man. we tried to reverse engineer a whiskey for people that may not love whiskey. And, you know, I know that there's highfalutin, fancy, dancy whiskeys that we can talk about the oakiness of the barrel.
And they've been aged 47 years. And this isn't that. This is an approachable drink that truthfully I love. And as you're opening it, my mouth is going like, And my wife loves it and my friends all love it and all the whiskey snobs I know like it. And I'm so proud of it. And Paul Circa, you don't know who that is, but he's a star. Oh, I've read about him. Three years. And we went, I was a pain in the ass and I drove them all crazy. I was researching photos of you and Paul and seeing you down at the distillery at the Lisa Brewery.
I know. Fraser and Thompson. Where does the name come from? That's from my grandpa. Because when I was a kid, my grandpa used to take us up to camping and we would go to, in British Columbia, we have the Fraser River. It's like the muddy Fraser. And we have the mighty Thompson, which is glacier water. And they come together in this beautiful confluence. And the truth is that it was in tribute to my grandfather. But better than that is they said to me, you know, we have the juice.
Now we need a name. And, like, there was all these stupid ideas, like, and then, and serenade in blue and all these musical things. And I was like, and every time I'd come up with a good one, like something I thought was, like, real cool and sophisticated, they'd be like, that one's taken. And finally, I was like, you know what? Why don't I just... pay tribute to my grandpa who is my guy. And it's funny, man. If you look on the bottle, there's all these little hidden Easter eggs like his birthday's on there.
1927? Yes, sir. Born at the fork of two rivers, Fraser and Thompson. Yeah, and doesn't it just sound so good? It sounds, the branding, you've nailed it. No, you have because there's a story there and it's a very authentic story. But the smell. Yeah. You know what I really like? I actually pour out a little bit of the bottle. And then I take like this, I take like brown sugar, I mix it up and I put like brown sugar in there with vanilla and a little bit of bitters.
And then I smash an orange and I just put it in the freezer. And it's weird because my wife was never a whiskey drinker. But again, that's what it was for. It was for, it was to make an approachable, delicious whiskey for everybody. And you know what I really like about it? We were talking about money. So I was like really happy that we could come up with what it was. I think it was like 35, 40 bucks. And I was like, that is, I was like, that is great value.
Cause my dad is a fisherman. He talks about value all the time. Cause even in my ticket sales, he's like, if you know, son, if you just bring them, if you give them value for their money, they'll come back. You know, if they feel that they've been ripped off, you'll never see them again. So that was part of the whole thing. Are you scared? No, can I drink it a little bit? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you keep touching it? Yeah, let me have a glass. Can we have a little high glasses?
Ah, here we go. Look at this guy. Am I scared of getting wasted with you at the table? No, no, no. It's like a reinvention, isn't it? It's a new mountain to climb building a whiskey company. Dude, it is, what's nice, you're talking about brand, it's so me, dude. It's just like, it's an easy thing, it's me. And again, you know how we were talking about the challenge of it? We were talking about the challenge. This isn't just me. This is a, this is my wife.
We're partners. This is my best friend, Ron, my dad, um, my manager, Bruce. Uh, we're all like, this is our thing. It was like part of that thing of going, um, what can we do? That's fun. And like, and new, it would be really nice to make a gillion dollars. You know? I have a feeling it's going to do extremely well because it has all the core components of just a beautiful brand and product. I mean, it's gorgeous in every respect. I'm sorry, man.
I don't even know what to say. You know what? I hate selling shit. Can I be honest with you? I really do. I feel itchy. Yeah. I just hope people will go and however they need to do it, get it free. What do you want them to? I want them to just try it. I feel like if people just try it, they'll go like, Booble, Booble, you don't suck. I actually, one of the first things I did was called Ryan Reynolds. Oh yeah. Because this company is the same. These, my partners are the same as, as Ryan with his aviation gin.
Right. And so I called Ryan and I was like, Ryan, do like, what do I do? And he was like, Mike, just have fun, dude. Like have fun. I was like, Ryan, but I don't know what I'm doing. And he was like, I didn't, he goes, you don't have to know. Let, Let the other people that are helping make it and let them know what they're doing. He said, just have to just be yourself and have fun. It's really, it's really incredible. So, you know, one of the things I always think about people that become really successful, I always wonder if it's a curse in a way, because you've been such a successful artist.
You've been, I mean, your Christmas record was released in 2011. I'm so sorry about that. And I'm told it is one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. Isn't that crazy? You know what's cute? Yesterday when I was on the bus, I was driving to the White House because of the Kennesaw Annars. My first time, you know. I think I was the only Canadian. And Sigourney Weaver was behind me, and I was sitting with Sheila Easton, and there was all these fancy people on the bus.
§03Transcript — part 3
And I got on the bus, and... And we got to the White House and the first thing that I heard was me going, have a holly jolly Christmas. It's the best time. And I was like, oh, shit. I am so sorry. Has that ever bothered you that you were so successful with that Christmas album that you hear yourself every Christmas? At first, you know what's funny? Like about seven years into it, I was like, I was, because, you know, all I would get was calls, like, especially to come October.
It was like, if you were a famous person with a movie or a record, I was, you were calling me. Like, I'm not even exaggerating. Like, it was, you know, and I would get so excited. It was like, oh, my God, you know, this, oh, my God, my heroes call. Are they going to ask me to be in the film? Are they going to do a duet? And it would be like, so we're doing a Christmas. And I'd be like, oh, shit. It's actually funny, Jack Whitehall, you know Jack?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He called me the other day. He's like, Mike, I have this idea. And I was like, you're gonna say Christmas, aren't you? And he was like, yes. And I was like, Jack, I love, dude, it's interesting. We were talking about my son and that moment, but that again was an epiphany moment for me where I was sitting in the hospital room and I was like, Oh my God, I am now synonymous with this beautiful time of year where people don't treat each other like assholes.
And there's kindness and goodness. And I get to be a part of this. And then people invite me into their homes at a time that is everything to them and their connection with the people they love and their memories. And then I started getting deeper and I was like, oh my God, oh my God, they're not going to, the people aren't going to remember shit when I die. They're not going to remember home or the duet or this whiskey. It is my favorite song. Excuse me.
You know what I mean? But like it goes, you know what I mean? But I'm like, dude, 200 years from now where I am deader than dead, you know? People are going to be singing, have a holly jolly Christmas. I'm going to be there. It's so cool. It's so fucking tight. It's so cool. Yeah. I associate you with great memories, good times. And I have to say, Home is my favorite song. Oh, dude, I love you. Thank you. I mean... I was in karaoke before you came an hour ago.
And I said, put the- Are you joking, really? No, it's on video. That's amazing. I went, go on YouTube. I went, put on Michael Bublé home. And I had a lyric video. We're going to do karaoke. And there was four of us. I was the only one singing and I can't sing. Yeah. But I sang, I know every word. I know every word of that song. Thank you. What's your favorite song? Other Christmas stuff? No, no, no. Oh, of anything? Yeah. No, of songs that you sing and that you...
Yes, songs that you sing. Songs that I sing? Of the standards? Either your own or someone else's. Oh my God, there's so many. Just one. It's impossible. It's impossible, man. It's impossible. Could you sing some home for me? Home? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Another summer day has come and gone away In Paris or Rome But I want to go home Because this place sucks I should have, that should have been the lyric. I was, yeah, that's, it's so weird, you know, like not to get too deep and too like weird, but I have this friend Dion and I do his, I love doing his accent, he's South African.
And before I wrote that song, I remember he used to say, oh, my God, Bacic. He's from South Africa. He'd say, oh, my God, you know what? The greatest artists in the world just open up their minds to the universe, and they let the universe in. So when you're writing, just open up your mind to the universe. And I was in the shower, and I was like, you know what? I'm going to open up my mind. It's so weird. But I was like, hmm, you know, enter. And I think, weirdly enough, I...
for whatever reason, I had like Canon and D in my head. And I just went, another summer day has come and gone away. And Paris are own, but I want to go home. And the whole, literally, almost the whole, I mean, that and the pre- Boom, in two minutes. And I remember getting out of the shower with a towel. And in those days, we didn't have the iPhone or anything, right? I had like one of those little tape recorders. And I remember singing a tape recorder and listening back and going, oh, no, no, I've most definitely stole this from somewhere.
I stole this from somewhere. And it was cool. And at that point, too, my record company, they were like, we don't want original songs. You're the Frank guy, man. You're going to sing, you're going to do the standards. And I was like, no, I think I can. I write. It's weird. Even as I got on to writing other songs, I had the second record I wrote everything in Hold On or Lost, one of the songs. And I remember the president of the label. We were at the video shoot for everything.
And he said, man, I wish I would have known that you wanted original music, because we would have hired writers for you. And I was like, oh my god, this is terrible. But it's weird, man. Like, you know, like, I live in a weird place artistically, too, right? You know what I mean? I don't belong. I never did. I never did. Like, I go to those Grammys and stuff, and I would, like, look around, and I was, like, I was not in the pop thing, and I was not in a classical thing, and I wasn't in a jazz thing, and...
So many times I was like, early on, I was like, what am I? This is weird. Like, I'm doing standards and yet my, you know, I'm on the radio. It was weird. Still weird sometimes. I think about this when you say this and I go, but isn't not belonging how you end up? doing these kind of numbers because if you were more of the same artistically vocally you wouldn't have have all these grammys and all the you know best-selling six multi-platinum albums five grammy awards more billions of streams than i could possibly count stream myself a lot yeah but i go if you were if you were like everybody else you wouldn't have those achievements.
Yeah, I don't know. It just feels lonely. Like sometimes I look at like, like I go to those award shows, even last night at the Kennedy Center Honors, I felt like everybody knew each other. Like they kept like high-fiving and then there was like this group of Broadway people that all know each other from the functions they do on Broadway. And there was like cool pop people. And like, and then there was like me. And I was like, I saw Herbie Hancock.
I was so excited. I love Herbie Hancock. But I didn't want to go in it. He was talking to Chita Rivera, and I love her too. And I didn't want to be that guy that went in. But you know what I mean? I don't know where. I mean, maybe I'll never know where I really belong. But I'm trying to say that that's why you're so special. I don't know. Even with what I do here, I absolutely don't feel like I belong anywhere. I'm not a journalist. I'm not qualified to do this.
Yeah. I go to, they don't invite me to the award shows for journalists and media. I'm not invited to them. How does that work? I don't know. I don't know where we sit. I don't even know what we are. Are we a podcast, but it's on TV? It's this, it's on planes, it's on track. So you do have that sense of like, someone's gonna come up to you and tap you and go, what are you doing in this room? Yeah, it's interesting. Cause I feel like I, if you asked me, if someone asked me about you, I would, I would, I would in a sentence be able to, define what I feel is.
Please give me the sentence. Oh man, I honestly think watching you and watching this show like I have for years is a perfect mix of education and entertainment. I don't know how else to say it. It's like really, it really is, it's both things. I'm often highly entertained by what's happening, but at the end, I feel like I, I was educated. I learned something, either something that is you know, either ideas or philosophies, or sometimes it's literally, literally logistic science.
You know what I mean? I can't tell you how weird that is to hear from you. Someone that I've looked up to since I was a kid at home in Plymouth all those years ago watching my TV. Four kids, Michael. I know. They come to you now, line up in front of you here, and they go, Daddy, listen. just need some advice on this thing called life yeah you know you've lived a great life and it's twisted and turned and all those wonderful things daddy what should we know about the nature of living a good life and i say that i dude i they ask me they don't ask me in that way yeah i was gonna say jesus christ they ask me and i say that dude i'm telling you right now i have the same i have the same answer every time i say rich isn't what you think it is kid That word rich that your friends use, rich sounds like money and stuff and things and Lamborghinis and tickets to go see Massey.
That's not rich. Rich is having a strong faith. Rich is having a great family and loving your family. Rich is having great friendships because those rich things they're talking about, the money, the people that I know that have the most stuff are the most miserable people that I know. And I don't know how else to explain it. Those are all, it's lovely. Listen, it's easy to say, right? It's easy for somebody watching this podcast to go like, well, that's easy for you to say, Bublé.
You got a bunch of stuff, but it doesn't take long to realize that life has nothing to do with stuff. And we're all sitting on that deathbed. We're all going to die, every single one of us. And nobody looks back and says, shit, I wish I collected more stuff. What would you regret if today was that day? Nothing, my friend. Not a thing, not one thing, not one thing. I have lived a beautiful life. I have been so blessed. I don't even think it was like I made this, thank God.
I got a great family. I got beautiful, my wife is the best thing I ever loved me. And I got kids. I look at my four kids. I mean, I was scared to have the fourth one. I was like, oh my God, how are... And then now I look at this little girl Cielo and I think like, wow, how could I ever, how did I live without her? Like this gorgeous, little, fat, little, beautiful personality. Like, you know, not a thing. And I say, it's funny, I said it to my wife many times, you know, God forbid, you know, it's my time.
I've said it many times. I would just know that I would, I am completely satisfied, satisfied. I have lived a full and beautiful life and that I have no regrets. Except that I didn't drink more of this whiskey faster. Your story is so incredible. The thing that, I mean, the perseverance at the heart of your story and where you come from and the fantasizing about the life that you now lead, all of those things are so unbelievably inspiring because there's so many people out there that are, you know, they're Michael at 14.
Maybe they're Michael at 14. Maybe they are that fantasizing Michael that was 14, but maybe they're 44. And they're still holding out hope that maybe those dreams, that ballet dancing in the hills of Peru or playing the piano or starting that business, is it too late for them? No, dude, this is going to sound so cheesy, but dude, it is... I say this to people all the time. I just did a masterclass thing for these beautiful kids, these underprivileged kids, basically.
It was in Orange County and they didn't have music programs in their school. And the first thing I said to all of them was, I talked about Neil deGrasse Tyson. And I said, you know, the greatest scientist on the planet will tell you that nothing cannot make something. Something cannot come from nothing. I mean, I don't care how many times they run the experiment. Something cannot come from nothing. It cannot exist. Yet somehow, you magical little beasts walk into a room with absolutely nothing and you walk out with something.
You are defying gravity. You are your magicians. And listen, we will be crushed in relationships. Our partners will break our hearts. We will have businesses that fail. We'll have doors shut on us. They'll say no to us a million times. But if you're lucky enough to have something like music or a passion that you really fall in love with, it will never hurt you. It will never leave you. It'll stay loyal to you. And to me, it's a massive gift. And it's funny, it's gonna sound like a really strange transition, but I love TikTok.
And my wife said to me, go on TikTok. I said, like, I'm too famous to go on TikTok. And she was like, you are TikTok. She was like, you will love it. And I was like, no, I'm not going to love it. And then I did my stupid TikTok. And I did a dumb whatever it was, the first TikTok. And then I started to like, I was like, oh, you can go. It's not just about making the TikTok, which I, because I'm an idiot. It was fun. It was about, oh, wow, you can go through TikTok.
And then the addiction began and the addiction wasn't, wasn't about seeing stupid TikToks. The addiction was finding those people you're talking about. And that was like, oh my God. Like, if I, I don't know where my phone, here's my phone, it's in my butt. I could go on to TikTok and can I just, may I do this? This is gonna be weird, but okay. Here's a good example. There's a girl named Julia Michelle voice. That's what she goes under. I think she was making TikToks from like her, maybe her parents' house or something.
I don't want it. But like, I heard her voice and I was like, oh my God, she has a beautiful voice. Like, and I never would have, you know, in the way that our structure of business used to exist. And record labels and stuff. Dude, I never would have heard her. And then there's a girl named Useless Farm who works on a farm where she has emus that attack her. And Adam Rose, who is an actor who is, anyway, I deeply love that I can go on TikTok and it's exactly what you're talking about where I see these people and I'm like, oh my God, you are tremendous.
People need to know. And it's funny because now with some of them, it's happening. It is exactly what we were talking about where it was just inevitable, Mr. Anderson. people were going to find out because they're really good. You know what I mean? It's just. But life just tells you to fucking get your shit together and go get a real job. I know, but I think it might be in this business, it might be changing a little bit with, with platforms like TikTok where, you know, I know it sounds so goofy, but like, dude, I love that there's a community and you know, I love even more that I write them.
You write to them. Yeah, man, I do. I write to them. It's me. I do every day. I love, oh my God, dude, that is hilarious. People making fun of me. Like, can I show you one that I just saw that just- I was going to say, people will think it's your like agent or something. That's where you're socially manager. Let's see if this can work. I'm not great with this. Maybe surrounded- We're going to just do an interlude while I sing. Maybe surrounded by a million people.
I just feel alone. I wanna go home. Let me go home. I don't wanna sing because people are listening. Let me go home. Cause I wanna dance even though he's fat in his pants. I couldn't remember the rhyme. I'm so sorry that this is, here it is, I found it. You never have to apologize. Okay. Sometimes once in a while, like I find stuff like this and I go like, they're geniuses, like truly geniuses. So the Tedding says, when you changed, when you changed the radio station at the wrong time.
Santa Claus is coming. That was a long lead up, but. That's a nice window. Dude, I see that and I go like someone, Like thought of that and then shared it. And it was like, I think, I don't even know, hundreds of millions of times people have watched that. That's crazy. I think it's crazy. I think it's beautiful. And I love that I wrote the guy. I said, this is the mashup that I didn't know I needed. God, imagine getting a message from Michael Bublé when you've made something so ridiculous.
That's what the coolest part of that TikTok is, is that it isn't about you. No one gives a shit about me. And by the way, I don't even belong on TikTok. And no celebrity really does. Yeah. I think the only way you belong on TikTok is if you understand what TikTok is. And TikTok is about a community of creators and like supporting and laughing and being inspired. It's the platform that you spent 14, 15 years fighting for, which, you know what I mean?
Before we had... Social media, those people like you just singing at restaurants and singing here, there and everywhere, just knocking on doors, pulling someone into a back room in a banquet. And now you don't need to go and, you know, attack David in a back room. No. I think it's funny because it started like, I remember Bieber, Justin, talking to Justin about how, you know what I mean? Or even Ed, even Ed, it was... you know, it wasn't TikTok, but it was- YouTube and Bebo.
Exactly. Yeah, back in the day. That's where it first was just- It's so different now, man. And it's like, but it's still fundamentally the same business too, where if you can- It's all about live business. If you can do the job of putting people in seats and to entertain them live, because what's really weird is like, even talking with my record company, it's like, oh, we just signed this act, it's great. And I go like, oh, cool. Like, where can I go see them?
And they go, oh no, they don't tour. No, they've never ever played outside of their bedroom. They've never been in front of people. And you go like, what? different but just what it is and this is not just about music look at me i use the same platforms to build a show yeah and i do you know it's crazy no one knows this i went no one knows this story i went to a big radio station in the uk before i started this podcast and i begged them to give me um an audition I went down there for two hours.
They know who they are. I wouldn't name them because it was either Sky or it was one or it was BBC or it was. I won't say which one it was. You won't say, okay. And I went there and I did. Capital. Somebody. I knew, I knew, I knew. And I went in there. I sat in there and the guy wasn't paying attention to me pretty much at all. I sat in there. My audition started. The guy that's meant to be judging my audition takes a phone call, walks out, doesn't come back.
I'm in there for two hours doing these fake phone calls. I leave the radio station. This was only like three, four years ago. I leave the radio station. I never hear anything. No feedback. No, you did well. You did badly. You were crap. Nothing. Never hear anything. So started a podcast myself, which did well. Yeah. And then, yeah, like a year ago, the same radio station. sent me an email saying, hey, I would love you to come in and do like a little guest thing to promote your book.
And I responded, I said, I'm still waiting to hear my feedback to the guy. And they were like, and they conducted this in like internal investigation to find out why nobody ever got back to me. They really did. Yeah, they really did. Cause they sent me an email asking me to come back and do some like guest appearance. I said, I was like, I came, they were asking me to like a guest show, whatever. And I said, I came in and did an audition and I still haven't heard back.
And it's been almost two years now. Um, But we have these platforms where we can do it ourselves. Whether you're a podcaster, a singer. That's what I think I find so cool about it is that there's no more, the gatekeeper. It's gone. It's gone. That one guy who, why the hell, why was he the gatekeeper? What did he have? And now it's like, no, no, no. Now nobody likes you but the people. Like the people get to choose. Exactly. Right? And there's no, honestly, sometimes like I'll watch something and there's no, even there's no rhyme or reason.
It just... It resonates, man. And you go like, oh, okay. Well, that's the people have spoken. That's a vote, isn't it? Yeah. Michael, thank you. Thank you. We're done? We're done. Okay, fine. Now I'm ready for my second cup. I'm feeling really, I'm starting to feel really good and loose. I've got one last question for you. Oh, yeah. Go, yeah. We have a closing tradition where the last guest leaves a question for the next guest, not knowing who they're going to be leaving it for.
Interesting. The question that's been left is, what was your last big fork in the road decision and how did you make it? It's coming. Right, literally, it's coming, I would say within weeks. And I will make it by speaking to, number one, first thing I'll speak to my wife, and then I'll speak to all the people that I trust, and I will weigh what everyone says, and then they'll help me make the decision. It's coming. Michael, you're not gonna quit music, are you?
No, no, I'm not, never. It's impossible. That's like saying, are you going to stop breathing, dude? No, no, no. I like to breathe. And music is my breath. I can't stop. Give me a little bit of concern. That's all when you say- Oh, no, no. Don't let it be like it. It's a good thing. Oh, okay. It's just a big, you know, just a big decision. Interesting. Yeah. We shall wait and we shall see. Yeah. Michael, thank you so much. Where do I leave my question for the next guest?
In the book. Oh, I'm so excited. I've got so many. Thank you so much. Do you need a podcast to listen to next? We've discovered that people who liked this episode also tend to absolutely love another recent episode we've done. So I've linked that episode in the description below. I know you'll enjoy it.