Michael Buble: "I Will NEVER Be Carefree Again!", Rejection, Cancer & Stealing!

Michael Bublé 0:00 Another summer day has come and gone away in Paris or Rome, but I wanna go home 'cause this place sucks.

Steven Bartlett 0:10 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 0:10 I shoulda, I shoulda that- that should've been the lyric.

Steven Bartlett 0:14 Michael Buble, smoothest singer in town. The king of Christmas.

Michael Bublé 0:18 Have a holi-jolly Christmas. Everything I did was music. I would listen to Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin. I don't know why. I just do. Emulate them, and then I would steal it all, 'cause 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 could play 50,000 people, and if there's one looking at their watch, I will play to that man. I'm not leaving here until I break you. And I'm a-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, um, if we get out of this, I'm living a different life." And I feel like I'm at, uh, this point where I wanna do something different.

Steven Bartlett 1:25 Michael, you're, you're not gonna quit music, are you? Quick one. This is really, really fascinating to me. On the back end of our YouTube channel, it says that 69.9% of you that watch this channel frequently over the lifetime of this channel haven't yet hit the subscribe button. I just wanted to ask you a favor. It helps this channel so much if you choose to su- subscribe. Helps us scale the guests, helps us scale the production, and it makes the show bigger. So if I could ask you for one favor, if you've watched the show before and you've enjoyed it, could you please hit the subscribe button? Thank you so much, and I will repay that gesture by making sure that everything we do here gets better and better and better and better. That is a promise I'm willing to make you. Do we have a deal?

Steven Bartlett 2:12 Michael, what do I need to know about your earliest context to understand the way that you are now? 'Cause you are a unique individual personality-wise, talent-wise. Your life is full of uniqueness. So where is the, what is the oven? 'Cause I always think about humans like an oven.

Michael Bublé 2:28 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 2:29 Um, you know, they get cooked in this oven when they're young. What is that oven? What is that environment?

Michael Bublé 2:33 Well, 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, um, got way too much attention, pre- you know, prob- (laughs) probably got told like, "You're amazing, and you're good at ev-" and like, uh, it's probably the reason I talk so much.

Steven Bartlett 3:05 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 3:05 But everything I am, everything I have, every decision I make is based on that family. Even deciding, you know, "I wanna be a singer. This is where I'm gonna do it," 13, 14. You know, 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, "H- what, who is this kid? Like why did... How did he fill up Babalu's 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, my grandparents and my mom calling all of our friends and saying, "Come to the club." So this was a strange family affair because, uh, we had no connections. I wish I had nepotism to lean on, but, uh, I didn't. And, uh, so instead it took all of these incredible people just loving me and going, "Yeah, let's go. Let's..." I mean, I was shocked. I was a fisherman. You know, my fa- my great-grandfather immigrated from Italy. He was a ship builder. Um, my grandfather was a commercial seine salmon fisherman on a seine boat. Um-

Steven Bartlett 4:24 That took him away a lot, right? Your father?

Michael Bublé 4:27 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 4:27 Family from you.

Michael Bublé 4:28 For sure, for sure, yeah, which is something that we understood. And, uh, it's interesting because, um, 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 le- leading, you know, where I had to be gone quite a bit. And, um, the only difference was I could say, "Dad, why are you leaving?" And he would say, "Son, this is my, this is my job. This is how I put food on the table. This is how, um, this is how Dad pays for, for our house and for the, 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, "You know, it's to pay to put food on the table." You know, because obviously he was... You know, we'd p- passed that point. Got very lucky, so.

Steven Bartlett 5:26 How do you answer that question?

Michael Bublé 5:28 Uh, I answer it by... Well, I don't just answer it w- with language. I, I answer it with action. So, um, I have probably, I've probably made my tours, uh, I would say financially (laughs) maybe one of the most irresponsible tours in, in all of touring. Um, 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, 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, uh, let's go through the calendar. So when are you making those two films?" "Okay. June, July, (snaps fingers) I'm done. I come with you, and it can't happen if I tour in a financially (laughs) responsible way."

Steven Bartlett 6:23 It's so interesting to me because I'm coming into that phase of life now-

Michael Bublé 6:27 Yep.

Steven Bartlett 6:27 ... where I'm gonna be starting a family soon, and I'm gonna be getting married. And it, 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 r- cost and the benefit of those trade-offs.

Michael Bublé 6:38 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 6:39 Did you miss your father growing up?

Michael Bublé 6:40 Oh, man. Of course, I miss my dad. I remember I used to... And this is the t- You know, it's interesting 'cause I am so lucky that, 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, uh, they put their iPad in their room, and I sat with them, and I watched a Christmas movie.

Steven Bartlett 7:04 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 7:04 And, uh, we, they ate popcorn, and Poppy was there. I was just there. I was, you know... They were walking around and wrestling and, um, they... (laughs) I thought... It's really strange to say this, but, uh, I did this thing. Have you ever heard of Calm?

Steven Bartlett 7:19 Yeah, yeah.

Michael Bublé 7:19 The Calm app?

Steven Bartlett 7:20 Yeah, I know the founder, Michael.

Michael Bublé 7:21 So, yeah, th-

Steven Bartlett 7:22 Yeah.

Michael Bublé 7:22 That, it's, it's the be- Like I... So I used to listen to this Calm app to go to sleep. My wife hated it, and, um-

Steven Bartlett 7:26 Same with me and my poppy. (laughs)

Michael Bublé 7:28 I was, I was on the Graham Norton show, and Matthew McConaughey was a guest. I was so excited. And Graham was like, "Why, why are you so excited? Well, everyone loves McConaughey." I said, "Oh, no, no, no, I, I love McConaughey."

Steven Bartlett 7:38 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 7:39 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."

Steven Bartlett 7:50 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 7:50 (laughs) I was, I was like... And, and, uh, I was like, "I listened to your Calm sleep story," and it became a th- You know, he li- He, he was a very good sport, and he thought it was funny. And then Calm called, and they were like, "Hey, you wanna do a sleep story?" I was like, "Hell yeah, I wanna do a sleep story."

Steven Bartlett 8:03 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 8:03 But I didn't know... So last night, that's... Every night's the same. So we chill, and then I put on Poppy's sleep story.

Steven Bartlett 8:10 Oh, wow.

Michael Bublé 8:10 "Hi, this is Michael, and tonight in this sleep story, woof." And the kids just go (snores) .

Steven Bartlett 8:15 (laughs) That's so beautiful.

Michael Bublé 8:18 Yeah. 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 pay phone. 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, uh... He would leave notes, and he'd hide 'em everywhere. And so he'd be gone for, like, a month or something, and you'd go into a drawer to go get your, you know, pencils, and, and then you'd see the note. And, uh, 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, uh, 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

Michael Bublé 9:24 dad.

Steven Bartlett 9:24 Your granddad played a huge role in your life, didn't he?

Michael Bublé 9:27 Yes, sir.

Steven Bartlett 9:27 Grandpa Mitch.

Michael Bublé 9:28 Grandpa Mitch, yeah. Huge, huge, massive. As a ma- as a matter of fact, yesterday I did one of the probably scarier things that you can do in this entertainment business. I, uh, I was asked to be a surprise guest, uh, to sing a song as a tribute to Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees in his induction, uh, into the Kennedy Center Honors, which I, I think is, in my opinion, maybe if not the pinnacle, one of the pinnacles of, of, uh, Americans, uh, celebrating culture. But, uh, weirdly enough, my grandpa, um, he passed away five years ago yesterday.

Steven Bartlett 10:08 Oh, wow.

Michael Bublé 10:08 And so, um, more than anything, I was standing backstage and, um, 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, um, I just took a big breath, and I said, like, "Wow, Grandpa, okay, this is us, man. This is us." And, um, 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, um, it was really nice, man. Like, I, I... It just brought me calm. And I went out there, and I thought I killed it. I thought I was very charming. (laughs)

Steven Bartlett 10:58 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 10:58 He was my hero, is my hero. Um, at 13 years old... We were be- always best friends. I don't know why. You know? You know, dude. Sometimes certain people, (snaps fingers) 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 h- 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, how does someone my age not hear Ella Fitzgerald and just shit a brick and realize that that is stupid? That's just too good. Or that that gorgeous, uh, orchestral arrangement of that song and those horns doing that thing and that, that swinging. R- Like, I know hip hop is great but, no, th- the, that beat that I just heard in that Dre song, that isn't close to being as phat as the one I just heard, um, backing up Bobby Darin.... in Mack the Knife.

Michael Bublé 12:11 Like, that's smoking.

Steven Bartlett 12:12 You were what age that-

Michael Bublé 12:12 I knew.

Steven Bartlett 12:13 ... 13 years old?

Michael Bublé 12:14 Oh, dude, even before that. For me, music was... it wasn't even a question. It was, it was a defining part of my, the essence of me. Like I, everything I did was music, was just, you know, a fascination. And, uh, it's funny when many times parents will go like, "My daughter is 14 and she's... and do you have advice? You know, 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, that... for me, I would fantasize about being on stage. I would fantasize about singing in front of a crowd. Every shower was another opportunity-

Steven Bartlett 13:11 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 13:11 ... to go and fucking kill Madison Square Garden and, you know, know that the, uh, you know, that that crowd in the shower was just loving-

Steven Bartlett 13:19 Madison Square Garden?

Michael Bublé 13:20 Oh, wherever.

Steven Bartlett 13:21 In the shower?

Michael Bublé 13:21 You know, like, you know what I mean? Like I was 14. Absolutely. And like thank God there wasn't like The Voice or American Idol because if I was 13, I would have been in the shower saying like, "Hey, Simon, check this out."

Steven Bartlett 13:31 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 13:32 Um...

Steven Bartlett 13:32 Did you sound good at that age? Do you have recordings?

Michael Bublé 13:35 (laughs)

Steven Bartlett 13:35 Do you have like rec- ... You know?

Michael Bublé 13:37 Yeah, man, I do.

Steven Bartlett 13:37 Okay.

Michael Bublé 13:37 I do have recordings.

Steven Bartlett 13:38 'Cause I'm wondering how much of your talent was-

Michael Bublé 13:39 I have a recording when I'm 14 and it tripped me out because I sound ex- ... I don't know if it's good, but-

Steven Bartlett 13:47 Exactly the same?

Michael Bublé 13:48 Exactly the same.

Steven Bartlett 13:49 What?

Michael Bublé 13:49 And I think it was like, << It had to be you >> I sound like that.

Steven Bartlett 13:55 Jesus Christ.

Michael Bublé 13:55 I sound exactly like that, the same way. And, um, what's weird is like it wasn't like I put on an effect. That's what... that's how the voice sounded. And, uh, my buddies used to make fun of me, be... having... One of my best friends, Brad, would be in the bus and he'd go, "There's Buble singing with that fake voice again."

Steven Bartlett 14:12 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 14:13 "There's back." And even today, and he's still my, one of my back... literally one of my best friends-

Steven Bartlett 14:19 Fake voice. (laughs)

Michael Bublé 14:19 ... and we're drinking beer and he's, he's like, "Shut up, man." And he loves to sing too. And, uh, but, um-

Steven Bartlett 14:25 I couldn't believe how much your grandfather and your father and your family supported you.

Michael Bublé 14:30 Oh, yeah.

Steven Bartlett 14:31 When I was reading that your grandfather would trade plumbing work-

Michael Bublé 14:34 Yeah, man.

Steven Bartlett 14:35 ... for, for you to go and do singing lessons or-

Michael Bublé 14:37 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 14:37 ... you know, auditions, et cetera.

Michael Bublé 14:39 Mm-hmm.

Steven Bartlett 14:40 That's not... That's unusual.

Michael Bublé 14:43 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 14:43 Because most parents would go, "Oh my God, my child singing, that's not a career."

Michael Bublé 14:46 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. He would s- ... When... They used to hire me, um, 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 and with, uh, a guitar player and I would like busk. I guess it's busking, is what it is, right?

Steven Bartlett 15:10 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 15:10 And I would go 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. And-

Steven Bartlett 15:20 What was the first

Steven Bartlett 15:21 song, the first time you performed in front of people and got a reaction?

Michael Bublé 15:24 The first song weirdly was, uh, was I think it was a Christmas song.

Steven Bartlett 15:28 Really?

Michael Bublé 15:28 Well, it was because it was Christmas Eve. We were coming home from, uh... this is... I've told this story many times, but it's... Uh, we were coming home from, uh, my grandma and grandpa's on Capitol Hill, and, uh, 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, um, and the girls were in the back. My two sis- ... My sisters are great, beautiful voices. And they were like, << I'm dreaming of a white Christmas >> You know? << 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?"

Steven Bartlett 16:12 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 16:14 And I think that was the first time they were like, "What the fuck is that? Where did that just come from?" And, uh, (laughs) , 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, um, those... that swinging feeling. And then with that relationship with my granddad, he used to... we used to have a... so my shag... he has like a green shag carpet and he had a, well, a record machine that he attached to a cassette machine. And we would sit down and we would just for... I'm not kidding you man, hours. I loved it. I loved it. And I used to go with those cassettes and a Walkman,

Michael Bublé 17:08 and I would just sit in bed and I would listen over and over. And then I would, I would listen to each of these singers and, um, and I would learn the song for grandpa and grandma so I could come over the next day and I could s- ... I could sing for him and I'd sit at the table with him and we'd... you know. But I started to just steal. I mean, steal, full on steal. And, uh, and I started to like almost impersonate each of them. And I would listen to Frank Sinatra with The Pied Pipers. There was ways that he would sing and I would try to emulate. So I would sit there and then I would... it 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-

Steven Bartlett 18:05 Please do carry on. (laughs)

Michael Bublé 18:05 ... 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, man. I'd like, listen to the Mills Brothers. And- and when I'm saying all of this, you probably have no idea sometimes what I'm talking about, because-

Steven Bartlett 18:28 Used to be.

Michael Bublé 18:28 Yeah. It's the way the Mills Brothers would sing. There was this weird, "I want to buy a paper doll that I could call my own. A doll that other fella..." Where Nat just, he would- 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 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, I'm starting... This is the way I do it now." Taking all those things and...

Steven Bartlett 19:08 And that's what creativity is, right?

Michael Bublé 19:09 It is, man. And I met- I'm- I've told this story too, too many times. But I remember the first time I met Tony Bennett. I said, uh, "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... S- all of them." And he said, uh, "Good," he said, "'Cause if you steal from one person, you're just a thief. But when you steal from everybody, it's research."

Steven Bartlett 19:32 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 19:32 And I thought that was amazing. And I've told that story a million times too, but it was everything, man.

Steven Bartlett 19:37 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 19:37 Like, Elvis was a big part of it, and, you know, I just... All of those things that I loved, but, um...

Steven Bartlett 19:43 Why was your grandfather doing that, in hindsight? Why was-

Michael Bublé 19:46 Are you kidding me, dude?

Steven Bartlett 19:47 Yeah.

Michael Bublé 19:48 Like, are you kidding me?

Steven Bartlett 19:50 So-

Michael Bublé 19:51 It was better than crack.

Steven Bartlett 19:52 For who?

Michael Bublé 19:53 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- I love... Um, he would have died to know that his grandson was continuing the legacy of our heroes. You know, 'cause he- 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."

Steven Bartlett 20:14 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 20:15 (laughs) He's- there's a clip of him on a, on a documentary. He goes, "No, I thought you'd be good. You know, maybe Vegas."

Steven Bartlett 20:20 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 20:21 Um, but I just think it was because, how could I? We were this... My grandpa was a plumber and we came from... We're fishermen. We didn't know anybody. We're never gonna get... We're never gonna get to there. We didn't even... We're from Vancouver. We didn't even know anybody. How are we going to get to there?

Steven Bartlett 20:38 Your story is not a straight line because you went and-

Michael Bublé 20:39 Mm-hmm.

Steven Bartlett 20:39 ... worked on those fishing boats as well. Like, so it's not-

Michael Bublé 20:41 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 20:41 ... just you started singing at 13.

Michael Bublé 20:42 Dude, my story isn't even a straight line from, from fishing boats to Chuck E. Cheese to working at restaurants to singing. It's... There's ten years of clubs. There's ten years of me moving to Toronto. There's ten years of me going into every record company, not getting in the door. There's ten 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. I-i-i-i... 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, you can, people can say, "Oh, 26..." No, dude, it's 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 will be like, "Mm-mm." And, uh, so I was gonna go back to Canada. I was gonna go back to Vancouver, and I was thinking about going to SFU, or Douglas and taking up journalism. So even then, once I- I was in Toronto, I got, I got, you know, connected to, um, 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'd done. Um, and, um, they sa- I, I, I was like, "Yeah, okay." You know? Like, "What an honor," you know? And she was like, "You know, David Foster will be there." And this one- this producer who... And he's, uh, 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... (snaps fingers) He didn't... David Foster didn't say, "You. I found my guy." He said, "Come to LA and, uh, 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.

Steven Bartlett 22:50 Mm.

Michael Bublé 22:50 You know, I was... Uh, 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.

Steven Bartlett 22:59 Ten years in.

Michael Bublé 22:59 Ten years in. That could make it, Mike. And I remember,

Michael Bublé 23:02 he had this-

Steven Bartlett 23:02 I think... I have to say, Michael, I think it's really very important not to brush past this ten years because that is the no man's land that only passion could make someone wade through.

Michael Bublé 23:15 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 23:15 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, more important part of, of, of, th- the journey, which is, why does someone continue doing something for ten years of their life when there's- there's no Madison Square Gardens-

Michael Bublé 23:31 Mm.

Steven Bartlett 23:31 There's no million dollar checks, and there's no fame and fortune? Like, that- that's the ask- 'cause it's a- it's a recurring theme on my show.

Michael Bublé 23:40 Yeah, I know.

Steven Bartlett 23:40 That these very, very successful people, they- they did something which is objectively dumb. (laughs)

Michael Bublé 23:45 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 23:45 Which is like, they gave up their amazing chance at being an academic and they-

Michael Bublé 23:49 Uh-

Steven Bartlett 23:49 ... went and played Magic on a restaurant card table.

Michael Bublé 23:51 I know.

Steven Bartlett 23:52 Comedians.

Michael Bublé 23:53 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 23:53 You go, "You could have been a lawyer."

Michael Bublé 23:54 Yep.

Steven Bartlett 23:55 And now they're, you know-

Michael Bublé 23:56 It's funny. I- I was gonna tell you today. Like, I've watched your sh- I watch your show religiously.

Steven Bartlett 23:59 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 23:59 And I always like, "What if you just call yourself Failure: And Why It's So Great?"

Steven Bartlett 24:04 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 24:04 (laughs) Because it's like, so many of the stories that are told across this-

Steven Bartlett 24:08 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 24:08 ... table are, "I failed, I failed, they said no." Um, "Over and over again, and over again."

Steven Bartlett 24:16 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 24:17 "And uh, I just continued to, to go forward."

Steven Bartlett 24:19 These people seem like they had no choice though. And when I say no choice, I mean because of passion.

Michael Bublé 24:24 Mi- listen to me, man. I'm gonna say... It's gonna sound like it directly, um...... it, it's sort of ... I don't want it to be condescending at all. But, um, 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, you know, still be able to be, uh, present and aware enough of how lucky I was, you know?

Steven Bartlett 25:00 Mmm.

Michael Bublé 25:02 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, you'll know.

Steven Bartlett 25:31 How do you know that's not delusion-

Michael Bublé 25:32 No, no, dude.

Steven Bartlett 25:32 ... at that point?

Michael Bublé 25:33 I, b- y- you know what? It, I knew because every room I ever walked into, I was such a, I was a sensitive, um, insecure kid. Really sensitive. And I think that that beautiful kindness and empathy that my family drove into me and my sisters is what made me that man on stage. You, uh, you understand this?

Steven Bartlett 25:56 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 25:57 I, even now, man, I could 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 the 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 ... And 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, yeah. He's o- he's g- I get it."

Steven Bartlett 26:27 You, one of your kids comes to you and says, "Dad, I know," and, and they go, "Dad, Dad."

Michael Bublé 26:32 (laughs)

Steven Bartlett 26:32 They go, and 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 as like how do we know we're not just deluding (laughs) ourselves?

Michael Bublé 26:40 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 26:40 Because it's-

Michael Bublé 26:41 Well, you know, it's interesting you say that because if that was just me sitting in my bathroom mirror-

Steven Bartlett 26:46 Mm.

Michael Bublé 26:46 ... and going, "I'm amazing."

Steven Bartlett 26:47 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 26:47 Yeah, that's, I understand that that's ... But it wasn't. It was 10 years of a m- 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.

Steven Bartlett 27:05 So

Steven Bartlett 27:06 why wouldn't, why wasn't the industry letting you in?

Michael Bublé 27:07 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. Um, it's so funny, man (laughs) , I talk about it now, it's like, you know, I am so, like, mainstre- or whatever you want to call it, like, where I could probably, you know, 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, uh, um, I think it was just so outside. Even, listen, David Foster, that David Foster producer guy I'm talking about, um, it's funny, he doesn't remember it this way, but I, I, I, I remind him-

Steven Bartlett 27:42 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 27:43 ... many times that, like, Dave, I said, "Dave, when are you gonna, you know, when are we gonna do this? You gonna 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, um, when I see him once or, 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 'cause this isn't gonna happen for you.'" You know, he's not, you're not, you're not the one. I remember he said to me, y- I got- he got pissed with me 'cause I had again said to him, "Hey, man, come on, like, sign me." And he was like, "Uh, 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 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. Uh, it's this much a track and six tracks minimum and, uh-"

Steven Bartlett 28:54 Money.

Michael Bublé 28:55 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, and we brought the money. We brought the check. And I went to David's in Malibu and said, we said, uh, "We got it. Here's the money." Um, David's a massive producer. I think it was 100,000 a song. And, uh, (laughs) I think poor David.

Steven Bartlett 29:24 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 29:24 I remember sitting up here at this room in Malibu and he had, like, all the Grammys all over his piano and, and I remember we were like, "We got it." And he was like, "You got it?" Like, I was like, "Well, okay." You know? "Okay," he said, "but Warner will get the first right of refusal." And even that wasn't the end of the story. We started making a demo and that we ended up, uh, going ... He got Paul Anka. Do you know Paul Anka?

Steven Bartlett 29:47 No.

Michael Bublé 29:48 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, um, a song, uh, 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 My Way. << And now, the end is near >> Huge, massive star.

Steven Bartlett 30:11 Of course I knew who-

Michael Bublé 30:12 He is Justin Bieber, okay?

Steven Bartlett 30:13 Yeah, I, of course I knew who the song was.

Michael Bublé 30:13 And he's still a huge star. He's still a ...

Steven Bartlett 30:15 Yeah.

Michael Bublé 30:15 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."

Steven Bartlett 30:27 The money deal fell through.

Michael Bublé 30:28 Yeah, the money deal fell through and he was like, "Uh, it didn't work out and somebody else will do this." And I was like, "Dude," you know? And there was a, another producer named Umberto Guttita who was another massive producer.... beautiful guy. And he said- (laughs) he took me into the car. I was destroyed 'cause I was this, I wa- I was there. I was making the record. It was, I was four songs in to making a record. And, uh, and then it was done. And David was like, "I'm really sorry, Mike. You know, it's just, it's just not gonna happen."

Steven Bartlett 30:57 Why didn't you quit like Neil told you to?

Michael Bublé 30:58 Well, it was, a big, a big deal was, uh, Umberto. And he said, um, he was a, he's a Chilean guy, and he said, "Hey, Buble, man, you need a..." He said, "You need a, I drive you to your apartment." And I was d- I was dead. Like, I was, I, 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 Umberto parked the car outside, and he looked at me, and he said, "Okay, Miklito." He said, "David Foster is a strong guy, but he doesn't like confrontation at all." He said, "Here's what you're going to say to him." And he literally told me what to say. And about three days later, uh, David had brought me in, hired me to do something. I think was for Kenny G and his wife at the time, at a anniversary party. And I said, "David, can I speak to you?" And he said, like, "Okay." And, uh, 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 in your, you know, you're look, "Wow, this is..." And, uh, basically the gist of the conversation was, um, "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 Brother 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, uh, he was like, "Okay." And he, I don't think he did love confrontation. And, uh, 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, uh, I went into Warner Records in Burbank, maybe, probably the scariest day of my life, of my life.

Steven Bartlett 33:11 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 33:11 And, uh, wood building, you know, look up on the wall, and, and it's Prince, and Tom Petty, and Madonna, and, uh, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and like, pooh. You know, holy shit, you know? And, uh, I sat in the meeting with Wally, Tom Wally is the president, and he's, like, real good-looking dude. Like, like, imagine, like, Eric Stoltz or something. But, you know, as the, you know, the executive and, you know, um, I s- he sat down in the office, and I think he said, uh, "Well, why should we sign you? We have Sinatra on Reprise." I think it's one of the first things he said.

Steven Bartlett 33:47 Sinatra on Reprise, what does that mean?

Michael Bublé 33:49 Uh, there, so Reprise was a subsidiary of, of Warner that, that Frank had started.

Steven Bartlett 33:54 Ah.

Michael Bublé 33:54 And, and they had Frank in, on the label, you know? They had Sinatra on Reprise, you know? And, uh, 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, uh, he sat, he listened to the four demos, and then two days later, I, I had flown my grandfather down to LA, 'cause I, I mean... I had, and 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. Uh, but Mike, I, I have no idea what that man is..." 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, I can't do this. I need you, man." So he flew down to LA, and, uh, in that little Westwood apartment, and I was down on the, on the treadmill. And, uh, 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? They said, you know, "Come up-"

Steven Bartlett 35:24 Your granddad.

Michael Bublé 35:25 Yeah. "Come upstairs, come upstairs, come upstairs." You know? And so, uh, we took the elevator up, and I grabbed the telephone, and, uh, said, "Hello?" And David said, "Hey, Mike, man." And I said, "Hi, David." He said, uh, "Hey, Mike, man, I wanna welcome you to Warner Brothers Records, and I want you to know we have your back, and you're never gonna have to worry again." And it was like, man, it was... I, I don't know. And again, dude, it sounds like that's the end of the story, but that wasn't the end, because the record came out, and it was awesome, but I believe I debuted at 198 (laughs) on Billboard.

Steven Bartlett 36:03 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 36:03 And, uh, I had a manager named Bruce Allen. Uh, he was known as the, one of the greatest managers in the business and still is. And he said to me, "Kid, you're an American-signed act, but, um, you know, it's not, it's n- it's not, you're not killing it. There's not, there's not a ton of interest." He said, um, "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 had sold couple million records. And my manager Bruce would call, and he would say, uh, "Hey, kid-"... "You want to go to Germany?" I said, like, "What's in Ger-" "Well, they, they, they got, uh, about eight journalists there, and, uh, you'd be singing in the Hyatt lobby doing a showcase." And, uh, you know, and I guess there might have 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, Ger- Pol- like, dude, you name the country, and I showed up and did a showcase,

Michael Bublé 37:16 and-

Steven Bartlett 37:16 What age were you when you thought, "Shit, this is, you know, this is big now"? W- w- w-

Michael Bublé 37:21 Oh, pft- probably, (sighs) probably 30.

Steven Bartlett 37:27 So you're from-

Michael Bublé 37:27 20, 29. So like, it's happened late for me, man. Like, it, this whole, this whole thing happened late. I was really... For, for what isn't the norm-

Steven Bartlett 37:35 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 37:36 ... yeah, man, I, I didn't know what I, I... I had my first taste of fame at maybe 28.

Steven Bartlett 37:46 Hm.

Michael Bublé 37:46 That is so ???. And it was in the Philippines, and I went to get sushi at a mall in Manila, and the s- there was this security guy. He was like, "Don't go without me." And I was like, "Yeah, sure," and I went in 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, uh, (laughs) and I remember he was really pissed with me. He was really upset that I hadn't taken him, the 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 ne- this is crazy. I feel like a fucking Backstreet Boy or something, you know?"

Steven Bartlett 38:25 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 38:25 Like, they were, they...

Steven Bartlett 38:26 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 38:26 And then he, I remember that he opened the curtain, and this curtain opened, and it was a building facing us. And the f- dude, the full building was just my face.

Steven Bartlett 38:39 You're joking (laughs) .

Michael Bublé 38:40 Yeah, and I was like, "Oh, shit. I understand now. This is, uh..." But, dude, it was so new,

Michael Bublé 38:46 you know?

Steven Bartlett 38:46 When you've had to fight to get there-

Michael Bublé 38:48 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 38:48 ... for say, 14, 15, 16 years-

Michael Bublé 38:50 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 38:50 ... 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 (fingers snap) might not appreciate?

Michael Bublé 38:59 Yeah, there was. There for sure there was, man.

Steven Bartlett 39:01 And does that result in work holism and-

Michael Bublé 39:02 There is for all those. There is for-

Steven Bartlett 39:03 Yeah.

Michael Bublé 39:04 I'm sure you sit and go like, "I'm kicking ass right now, but you know what?"

Steven Bartlett 39:07 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 39:09 Well, but you know why? Because naturally, everything that goes up must come down. No, there's no s- there is no career, I don't give a, I don't care if you're a school teacher or you're a doctor.

Steven Bartlett 39:19 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 39:19 I mean, nothing just continues to go. I mean, um, you have to understand that there are peaks and valleys, and that there are times when, um, you might not be the hottest, but those are the times when you continue to, uh, stay true to the brand, you know? 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, 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, an inc- like, a wife that is my favorite human being in the whole planet, that made-

Steven Bartlett 40:07 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 40:07 ... 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, I wanted to be great, and it's scary to be in front of your peers at 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 say, "Listen, Lou," I said. "Faith, number one, my family, number two, and my career are really, you know, a distant third." And so for me, I'm, I'm blessed to f- 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.

Steven Bartlett 41:01 Has it always been as clear, the priorities?

Michael Bublé 41:03 No, man. Pffft. No. Of course not. Absolutely not. And by the way, there can be times where my false self allows that to change.

Steven Bartlett 41:14 My false self?

Michael Bublé 41:15 Yeah, my false self, my, my, I would say the ego. Um, I, I, you know, I, I, you know, I should read more Eckhart Tolle and-

Steven Bartlett 41:23 Hmm.

Michael Bublé 41:24 ... Power of Now and he tells stories about the hockey team that I'm a part owner of, the Vancouver Giants.

Steven Bartlett 41:29 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 41:29 He talks about e- the ages-

Steven Bartlett 41:30 Yeah, yeah.

Michael Bublé 41:30 ... how, how substantial that, that is. But, uh, 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, and your, uh, your false self give you these negative messages, and, and, um, it wo- it, it was helpful for me to understood- to understand that I could control that, you know, not, not allowing those negative things to get ahold of me.

Steven Bartlett 41:58 One of my

Steven Bartlett 41:59 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.

Michael Bublé 42:08 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 42:09 I'm scared that as a guy who's, like, spent, I don't know, tw- 12 years building businesses and d- Yeah. ... pursuing success in whatever form, that life is gonna tell me, "Steve, at the moment when you needed to have your priorities in order, they weren't," or 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?

Michael Bublé 42:30 I n- I, listen, I had, like I said to you before, this whole thing starts with family, and I, I, I have never been so out of touch because I have too good of a family. My mom and dad are just, they just, they're just two beautiful people, and my grandparents, and, um... Listen, I may not do it, but I know what the difference is between-... right and wrong and, and, um, and putting ego first. Um, the, I don't wanna get too deep into it 'cause it's, it's not, uh, it's not that it isn't comfortable for me, but my son has his own life and his own story.

Steven Bartlett 43:06 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 43:06 Um, my son's cancer diagnosis rocked my world. It pulled the curtain from over my eyes and, um, I don't wanna get deeper into it, but I can tell you that, um, 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, um, I will, I will never be carefree again in my life and that's okay. Um, it is a privilege for me to, to exist and, uh, and that, that pain, the fear, the suffering that comes with those sort of things is, I guess, it's part of that beautiful, this life, you know? It's, uh, 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, um, I don't think I had my priorities straight. I mean, I, I, I, I always l- my family was always a love of, you know, I think, I don't think I was a terrible guy, but, um, dude, car- it was blinders, career, you know, ambition. How do I become the baddest, biggest, best, uh, 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.

Steven Bartlett 44:55 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 44:56 And the moment that they said, "This is what's happening," um, I, that reality hit me, um, (snaps fingers) 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, this is it. This is what's important." Um, and that's when, that's when, it's just not like I thought about it. I didn't. There was no time to process it. It was, um, you have your priorities, uh, this, this is what your priorities are and they, this is what your priorities must be in order to be happy in your life. And, um, it is.

Steven Bartlett 45:47 I just can't imagine. I just can't imagine.

Michael Bublé 45:48 Yeah. It's fa- it's faith, family, and, and ...

Steven Bartlett 45:51 A member of my family got diagnosed with, um, a very similar illness.

Michael Bublé 45:57 Mm-hmm.

Steven Bartlett 45:57 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.

Michael Bublé 46:04 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Steven Bartlett 46:05 Wasn't really in touch with them.

Michael Bublé 46:07 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 46:07 And then in that exact moment, it made me realize the true reason why I do what I do.

Michael Bublé 46:13 Mm-hmm.

Steven Bartlett 46:15 Like I, I, you know?

Michael Bublé 46:16 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 46:16 And that my life should never have been so focused on self in such a way, if that makes sense.

Michael Bublé 46:20 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?

Steven Bartlett 46:35 The Children's Hospital?

Michael Bublé 46:36 Yes, sir. And, uh, and I remember closing my eyes and saying to myself, "If I get, if we get out of this, um, 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 wanna 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, I look at my wife like, you know, it's like how the f- h- w- 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, to have sort of lead me through and, and carry me through these things, you know?

Steven Bartlett 47:33 Mmm. (sighs)

Michael Bublé 47:34 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 47:34 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-

Michael Bublé 47:51 Mm-hmm.

Steven Bartlett 47:51 ... you know, you can end up in divorce court or you lose something and then you think-

Michael Bublé 47:54 Mm-hmm.

Steven Bartlett 47:54 "... Fuck, what's all, what are all these gold coins worth?" (laughs)

Michael Bublé 47:56 (laughs) Yeah, no, no.

Steven Bartlett 47:57 (laughs) Oh, God.

Michael Bublé 47:58 No, but I had, dude, it's funny, you know, I've, we've all had those moments too. Like, listen, much younger I had that moment where I was like, "Oh, dude-"

Steven Bartlett 48:05 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 48:05 "... do you like you?"

Steven Bartlett 48:07 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 48:07 "Do you, do you trust you? Do you respect you?" And then I was like, "If you don't-"

Steven Bartlett 48:12 Yeah.

Michael Bublé 48:13 "... and you're expecting that person to or any person to, maybe you're asking too much." Uh, 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?

Steven Bartlett 48:25 More harmful.

Michael Bublé 48:26 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-

Steven Bartlett 48:40 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 48:40 ... but like, to look in the mirror and to go, "Hey, these are the things that I think I suck at." Um, and, uh, you know, and I hope, I really do, I hope within us there's a opportunity for all of us to, to have that self-diagnosis and honesty and to go, "Yeah, I can do better than that."

Steven Bartlett 48:58 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 48:59 ... you know?

Steven Bartlett 49:00 I, on this podcast so many times, I've spoken to parents about, about grief. But I've never really shone a- shone a light on just the trauma of going through m- moments like that, and really the, like, blast radius of, of knock-on effects to that person's life that it can have, implications to their mental health. Your son, Noah ... Is that Noah?

Michael Bublé 49:22 Yeah, yeah.

Steven Bartlett 49:22 And you've got four wonderful kids, I hear.

Michael Bublé 49:23 Yeah. Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 49:24 Um, is doing great. 10 years-

Michael Bublé 49:26 Yep.

Steven Bartlett 49:26 10 years old?

Michael Bublé 49:27 10 years old.

Steven Bartlett 49:27 10 years old?

Michael Bublé 49:28 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 49:28 But for all the, all the priorities and the, the curtain that it pulled back, is there still a healing process there that, that needs to have happened that you'd typically see similar to grief, if you know what I'm saying?

Michael Bublé 49:41 Oh, no, no, no. Because you already ... I think any parent, I mean, I've, now I've become ... I, I, I've had such great relationships with so many parents and people who have not just gone through this. I mean, listen man, going through any kind of thing with, like, you know, you're gon- you're not gonna get away without it, man. I don't know if you have already, but-

Steven Bartlett 49:56 Haven't had kids yet, so um-

Michael Bublé 49:57 No, I'm not talking about kids. I'm talking about your siblings or your mom and dad or-

Steven Bartlett 50:01 Oh, yeah.

Michael Bublé 50:01 ... we're all gonna go. I mean, 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, um, I don't know that any of us even have the capacity to deal with it. I think it's why obviously we, we move to faith. You know, something feels good about hoping that there's something more.

Steven Bartlett 50:24 But men in their mental health, we don't talk about these things.

Michael Bublé 50:26 No, dude. You must be soft. Don't be soft and no crying.

Steven Bartlett 50:29 I'm gu- I'm guilty of this more than anyone-

Michael Bublé 50:31 Mm-hmm.

Steven Bartlett 50:31 ... especially as, like, a CEO, and I've been a CEO since I was 18-

Michael Bublé 50:33 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 50:33 ... and I had hundreds of employ-

Michael Bublé 50:35 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 50:35 So I would, I can't f- I felt like I couldn't flinch.

Michael Bublé 50:37 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 50:38 You know?

Michael Bublé 50:38 But how do you ... Can I ask you, how do you ... Because you are a brand now, man. Okay, I know you're a beautiful, nice guy, a human being. But dude, there's a brand. It's a brand-

Steven Bartlett 50:47 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 50:47 ... 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."

Steven Bartlett 50:56 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 50:57 "That is off-brand."

Steven Bartlett 50:58 Yeah, yeah.

Michael Bublé 50:59 How do you, how do you ... Are you able to ... 'Cause you're in the wave, man. You're ... That tidal wave is moving, but you're inside it.

Steven Bartlett 51:07 Mm-hmm. Sure.

Michael Bublé 51:07 All ... You got all your people on top, and they can all kind of see... But how do you deal with it? Like, what do you do? Can y- 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?

Steven Bartlett 51:21 I think

Steven Bartlett 51:22 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, "Hey, you know you're f- you know this isn't right."

Michael Bublé 51:31 (laughs)

Steven Bartlett 51:32 You know, especially if someone offers you a lot of money to do something-

Michael Bublé 51:34 Yeah, sure.

Steven Bartlett 51:35 ... and you go, "Oh, god. Oof. I know that's not me."

Michael Bublé 51:36 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 51:36 So fortune-

Michael Bublé 51:37 Mm-h- Go ahead. Sorry.

Steven Bartlett 51:39 No, I was gonna say e- fr- eh, this show's a good example, which is, the good question is what are the sponsors? The sponsors are companies that I, uh, are in line with my values. So-

Michael Bublé 51:47 Yes.

Steven Bartlett 51:47 ... you know, my Woo, my, my Zoe, my, you know-

Michael Bublé 51:50 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 51:50 ... the products that I ... And also I'm a shareholder in those companies. They're sponsoring-

Michael Bublé 51:53 Okay.

Steven Bartlett 51:53 ... the podcast, and I'm in the team.

Michael Bublé 51:55 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 51:55 That's a good example of it. Whereas-

Michael Bublé 51:56 Yes.

Steven Bartlett 51:57 ... some brands aren't, aren't aligned.

Michael Bublé 51:58 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 51:59 But ...

Michael Bublé 51:59 I think what I meant even more than just brands is like, you know, I'm ... you don't understand. I'm, I'm, I'm two different people, right?

Steven Bartlett 52:06 Who's, who's the other guy?

Michael Bublé 52:07 Well, the other guy is, this is me. I'm Michael Bublé.

Steven Bartlett 52:09 Yeah.

Michael Bublé 52:09 Um, I'm an idiot who is, I think, sweet and, um-

Steven Bartlett 52:14 So the guy I met.

Michael Bublé 52:15 Little bit. Well, yeah.

Steven Bartlett 52:16 Well, I knew the other guy from stage.

Michael Bublé 52:17 Oh. Yeah. That, that's, that's a completely different dude. That guy, that's Michael Bublé. This, I'm Mike. Uh, fantasy football hockey loving idiot who, you know, um, you know, is a bigger idiot than you, than I'm, you're seeing here. Even I'm bec- I'm a little bit more of the suit guy re-

Steven Bartlett 52:37 Really? Even ... (laughs)

Michael Bublé 52:38 Oh, fuck. Yeah, man. Like-

Steven Bartlett 52:39 Bigger? (laughs)

Michael Bublé 52:40 Um, more, I would say closer to Michael Scott from The Office.

Steven Bartlett 52:45 (laughs) Yeah.

Michael Bublé 52:45 Uh, but dude, every night, I go and I put on this, like, th- 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 f- nothing can ... And I'm, I mean, I can be goofy, but you know, um, but there's this, there's an other ... I mean-

Steven Bartlett 53:10 Can I meet him?

Michael Bublé 53:11 Oh, dude. You're gonna meet him. You're gonna meet him. I'm gonna make sure that, that the whole world meets him. For 20 years I have done the same thing. Cyc- 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, for a year and a half. And ev- for 20 years it has been write it, promo it, tour it. And, um, and I feel like I'm at a, this point of my life and my career where I, I want to do something different. Listen, again, music will never ... It will always be my, my happy place and, and my love. But, um, I need time to do some other stuff, man. I need time to challenge myself and to, to wake up and go, "Yeah, this is different and fun." And, um, and, and it's really, it's about being that other guy, not the suit guy. Um-

Steven Bartlett 54:12 Wow. Being Mike.

Michael Bublé 54:13 Being Mike, man. And, and doing that, whether that's in, in movies or television or whatever it is, it has to happen now.

Steven Bartlett 54:21 Why?

Michael Bublé 54:22 'Cause dude, that's my favorite part of me, and I never, I've never really ... There was just, it was just too good. All the other stuff was so ... Um, 'cause I love the other stuff. I love touring. I love, like, I love making money doing that. That's amazing, dude.

Steven Bartlett 54:39 What's the symptom telling you that you should do more of Mike and less of Michael?

Michael Bublé 54:43 Uh, well, just that I i- uh, honestly, truly, the excitement of doing something different. You know? Like, yeah, it's time to. Um, it's time to take that challenge. It's time to take that trip, you know. Like, uh, and I know it's there. The same way I kind of told you, like, that I had so much faith in-... in, um, in knowing like, "Hey man, I think I'm a, I got a pretty good voice and I can be g-, 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, I can do."

Steven Bartlett 55:17 For the challenge as well, for the pursuit of, of-

Michael Bublé 55:20 Yeah. It's fun to wake up and go like, "You know what? Instead of that same cycle, I'm gonna do the record, make the record, sell the record," the musical, again, will always be there-

Steven Bartlett 55:28 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 55:28 ... but I need to express myself in a different way for me, man. And, and it really isn't for, for them. It isn't for the audience. It's for me. It's like-

Steven Bartlett 55:39 But is there a moment where you, you, something happens 'cause I'm trying to put this into, like, my world or whoever's listening to it.

Michael Bublé 55:45 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 55:45 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"? (laughs)

Michael Bublé 55:53 No, no. No, because man, honestly, genuinely, um, 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, uh, like a corporate gig the other night with my boys, and this, that band has been with me 20 years.

Steven Bartlett 56:11 Hmm.

Michael Bublé 56:11 They're my brothers, man. So I get up there and it's like I'm home, you know. And it's like, it's, it's fun. It's, it's fulfilling, it's everything. But dude, it's, I'm as fulfilled in, in acting, you know. When this tour started to wrap down and I was like, "You know what? I, I wanna have fun doing something a little different."

Steven Bartlett 56:32 Everyone can relate to that in their own context because when you have a comfort zone per se, something you're really good at-

Michael Bublé 56:38 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 56:38 ... and then you have the rewards also will align with the thing that you've developed mastery in-

Michael Bublé 56:42 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 56:42 ... 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-"

Michael Bublé 56:50 (laughs) Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 56:50 "... and I get good at it?"

Michael Bublé 56:51 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 56:52 But that doesn't necessarily mean it'll make you happy, right?

Michael Bublé 56:54 Totally. And I think the branding stuff definitely had an impact where all of a sudden it wasn't, "We, we want you to come and sing something."

Steven Bartlett 57:02 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 57:03 It was like, you know, "We want you."

Steven Bartlett 57:06 Yeah.

Michael Bublé 57:07 "We want Bubly, we want Bubly to do a, a Bubly commercial, or we want Bubly 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, I was, 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, and we were like, "What if I'm this..." Uh, I was like, "What if I..." He s- he said to me like, "Dude, dude, what if you're, um, the head of, uh, 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, you, I am, you know..." Um, and, and he understood exactly what I was going for. And we, we laughed, dude. We had, it was, that was three days of us just, you know, just laughing, laughing at ourselves, laughing, and it, that just, I was so happy. And it's like another reason why I'm like, "Man, this is my personality. This is me."

Steven Bartlett 58:22 Where do 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, do you, have you ever been to therapy? Do you speak to each other?

Michael Bublé 58:34 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... I, I don't know if it, if it worked for me.

Steven Bartlett 58:44 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 58:45 You know? Like, it felt good to talk about stuff.

Steven Bartlett 58:47 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 58:48 But then after about like four times I was like, "Am I just, am I bullshitting right now? Am I just telling her something-"

Steven Bartlett 58:56 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 58:56 "... just to fill up the hour?" Because I sort of went through my, my big stuff and it didn't, and it didn't (laughs)

Steven Bartlett 59:02 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 59:02 And the therapy doesn't feel like it worked very well.

Steven Bartlett 59:04 Mm-hmm. It doesn't for everybody.

Michael Bublé 59:05 You know, hey man, for me, listen, my relationship, again, with, with God and, and that, that is a far d-

Steven Bartlett 59:12 Okay.

Michael Bublé 59:12 That brings me far more satisfaction. And, uh, and so that for me, and by the way, and like my wife-

Steven Bartlett 59:18 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 59:18 ... 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-

Steven Bartlett 59:25 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 59:25 And, and, um, she's like, "Well, stop being an idiot," you know? Like... (laughs)

Steven Bartlett 59:30 (laughs) That's very nice. My partners are, I think that's part of the role of being a, a wonderful partner is that they, they call

Steven Bartlett 59:38 you out on your bullshit.

Michael Bublé 59:38 Oh God, I love you that you're opening it. Are we allowed to drink this?

Steven Bartlett 59:41 We are allowed to drink it if you wanna drink it. So Fraser-

Michael Bublé 59:43 God, my morning, my morning just got way better.

Steven Bartlett 59:45 I just found this on the floor. No, I didn't really.

Michael Bublé 59:46 (laughs)

Steven Bartlett 59:47 Um, Fraser & Thompson.

Michael Bublé 59:48 Yes, sir.

Steven Bartlett 59:50 This is a whiskey brand that I'm holding in my hands-

Michael Bublé 59:52 Yes, sir.

Steven Bartlett 59:52 ... that you have built in a building with an incredible team of whiskey experts

Narrator 59:56 (instrumental music)

Michael Bublé 59:56 I know nothing.

Steven Bartlett 59:58 Uh, they've told me that you're in- you're driving this business and incredibly involved, which is atypical.

Michael Bublé 1:00:03 Oh, yeah. I mean, like-

Steven Bartlett 1:00:03 Yeah.

Michael Bublé 1:00:03 ... I'm involved in, in this, this... I'm, you know... But like, what do I know about whiskey?

Steven Bartlett 1:00:10 No, I mean, what do you know about Fraser & Thompson? I mean, this is-

Michael Bublé 1:00:12 I know, I, I know that... Listen to me. I know that if you don't know what you're doing, you, (laughs) you hire and bring in the greatest people in the universe-

Steven Bartlett 1:00:23 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:00:23 ... who literally hold your hand and, uh, tell you what to do. And you know that when you find a guy like Paul Sirka, who is one of the greatest whiskey, you know, connoisseurs in the world, and he... And then you ask him how big his brewery is and he tells you, "Idiot, it's called a distillery, not a brewery," you realize that you don't know what you're talking about.

Steven Bartlett 1:00:47 But this-

Michael Bublé 1:00:48 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 1:00:48 ... is you.

Michael Bublé 1:00:50 You wanna know what-

Steven Bartlett 1:00:51 You've worked with Paul, phenomenal expert, but this is you.

Michael Bublé 1:00:53 Three years, dude. We-

Steven Bartlett 1:00:53 Three years?

Michael Bublé 1:00:54 Three years. I tell you what, I worked three years because I wasn't gonna be part of something that I didn't love. And, uh, the truth, man-We tried to reverse engineer a whiskey for people that may not love whiskey. And, um, you know, I know that there's highfalutin, fancy, dancy whiskeys that we can talk about the oakiness of the barrel, and, uh, they've been aged 47 years. And, uh, this isn't that. This is an approachable drink that truthfully I love. And as you're opening it, my mouth is going like... (laughs) And, uh, 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 Serka. Uh, you don't know who that is, but he's a star.

Steven Bartlett 1:01:46 Oh, I read about him.

Michael Bublé 1:01:47 Dude, three years, and we went-

Steven Bartlett 1:01:48 He's the super genius.

Michael Bublé 1:01:49 We, I, I was a pain in the ass, and I drove them all crazy.

Steven Bartlett 1:01:52 I've researched, I was researching photos of you and Paul and seeing you down at the distillery ...at the brewery.

Michael Bublé 1:01:57 Yeah, dude, I know.

Steven Bartlett 1:01:57 Um, Fraser & Thompson, where does it, where does the name come from?

Michael Bublé 1:02:01 That's for my grandpa, because when, when I was a kid, my grandpa used to take us up to, uh, camping, and we would go to, in, in British Columbia, we have the Fraser River. It's like the muddy Fraser, and it, and, uh, we have the mighty Thompson, which is glacier water, and they come together in this beautiful confluence. And, um, 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 idea like Bublé, blah, and, and then-

Steven Bartlett 1:02:33 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 1:02:33 ... and Serenade in Blue and all these musical things.

Steven Bartlett 1:02:36 Oh, dude.

Michael Bublé 1:02:36 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, uh-

Steven Bartlett 1:02:44 Oh.

Michael Bublé 1:02:44 ... 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.

Steven Bartlett 1:02:54 1927?

Michael Bublé 1:02:55 Yes, sir.

Steven Bartlett 1:02:56 Born at the fork of two rivers, Fraser and Thompson.

Michael Bublé 1:02:59 Yeah, and doesn't it just sound so good?

Steven Bartlett 1:03:01 It smells ... It sounds, the branding, you've nailed it because there's a-

Michael Bublé 1:03:03 (laughs)

Steven Bartlett 1:03:04 No, you have because there's a story there, and it's a-

Michael Bublé 1:03:06 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 1:03:06 ... very authentic story.

Michael Bublé 1:03:07 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 1:03:07 But the smell.

Michael Bublé 1:03:09 Yeah. You know what I really like? I, I actually pour out a little bit of the bottle, and then I take, like, this, uh, 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 'cause 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 had 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 we, even in my ticket sales-

Steven Bartlett 1:03:51 Oof.

Michael Bublé 1:03:51 ... he's like, "If, you know, son, if you just bring them, if you give them value for their money, they'll come back."

Steven Bartlett 1:03:56 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:03:56 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.

Steven Bartlett 1:04:02 Are you scared?

Michael Bublé 1:04:03 No, I, can I drink it a little bit?

Steven Bartlett 1:04:05 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Michael Bublé 1:04:05 'Cause you keep touching it, and I just-

Steven Bartlett 1:04:06 Yeah, have it from the glass.

Michael Bublé 1:04:07 Can we have a little?

Steven Bartlett 1:04:07 Ah, here we go with this guy.

Michael Bublé 1:04:08 Oh, high glasses.

Steven Bartlett 1:04:09 Look at this guy.

Michael Bublé 1:04:10 Am I scared of-

Steven Bartlett 1:04:11 Of, of-

Michael Bublé 1:04:12 ... getting wasted with you at the table?

Steven Bartlett 1:04:13 No, no. It's like a, a reinvention, isn't it? It's a new mountain to climb, building a, a whiskey company, so.

Michael Bublé 1:04:19 Dude, it is, it is, uh, what's nice is ... about brand, it's so me, dude. It's just like a ... 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.

Steven Bartlett 1:04:32 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:04:33 This isn't just me.

Steven Bartlett 1:04:35 This is a-

Michael Bublé 1:04:36 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 too-

Steven Bartlett 1:04:55 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 1:04:56 ... you know?

Steven Bartlett 1:04:56 I have a feeling it's, I have a feeling it's gonna do extremely well because it has all the core components of just a, a beautiful brand and product. It's, I mean, it's gorgeous in every respect.

Michael Bublé 1:05:05 Mm. I'm sorry, man. I, I don't even know what to say. There's a ... You know what? I hate selling shit. Can I be honest with you? I really do. I feel itchy.

Steven Bartlett 1:05:16 (laughs) But it's-

Michael Bublé 1:05:17 I just hope people will go and however they need to do it, get a free-

Steven Bartlett 1:05:23 What do you want them to-

Michael Bublé 1:05:23 Just to... I want them to just try it. I feel like if people just try it, they'll go like, "Bublé, Bublé, you don't suck."

Steven Bartlett 1:05:30 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:05:30 I actually, one of the first things I did was call Ryan Reynolds.

Steven Bartlett 1:05:34 Oh, yeah.

Michael Bublé 1:05:34 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, uh, just have fun, dude. Like, have fun." I was like, "Ryan, but I don't know what I'm doing." He was like, "Why didn't..." He goes, "You don't have to know. Let the, let the, let the other people that are helping make it, uh, let them know what they're doing." He said, "Just have ... Dude, just be yourself and have fun."

Steven Bartlett 1:06:00 It's

Steven Bartlett 1:06:01 really incr- 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.

Michael Bublé 1:06:14 I'm so sorry about that.

Steven Bartlett 1:06:16 And I'm so, I'm told it is one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century.

Michael Bublé 1:06:21 Isn't that crazy? You know what's cute? Yesterday, when I was on the bus, I was driving to the White House 'cause of the Kennedy Center Honors, my first time, you know. Uh, I think I was the only Canadian, and, uh, Sigourney Weaver was behind me. And I was sitting with Sheila Easton, and, uh, there was all these fancy people on the bus. And I got on the bus, and, um, and got to the White House, and the first thing that I heard was me going, "Have a holly jolly Christmas."

Steven Bartlett 1:06:49 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 1:06:49 "It's the best time." And I was like, "Oh shit. I am so sorry."

Steven Bartlett 1:06:54 Has that ever bothered you that you're so, you were so successful at, with that Christmas album-

Michael Bublé 1:06:59 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 1:06:59 ... that you hear yourself every Christmas everywhere?

Michael Bublé 1:07:01 No, it, uh, at first, do you know what's funny? Like, about seven years into it-... I was like, I was like... 'cause, you know, it, all I would get was calls at, like, especially through, come October, it was like, if you were a famous person with a movie or a, 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 hero's call. Are they gonna ask me to be in their film? Are they gonna... a duet?" And it would be like, "So we're doing a Christmas," and I'd be like, "Oh, shit."

Steven Bartlett 1:07:33 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 1:07:35 Um.

Steven Bartlett 1:07:36 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 1:07:37 I, it's actually funny. Jack, Jack Whitehall, you know Jack?

Steven Bartlett 1:07:39 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Michael Bublé 1:07:40 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."

Steven Bartlett 1:07:45 Aw.

Michael Bublé 1:07:45 And I was like, "Jack, uh, uh, I love it." Dude, um, it's interesting. We were talking about my son and that moment.

Steven Bartlett 1:07:51 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:07:52 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."

Steven Bartlett 1:08:09 Mm.

Michael Bublé 1:08:09 And, um, and there's kindness and goodness and that's... This is, I get to be a part of this?

Steven Bartlett 1:08:16 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:08:16 And then people invite me into their homes at a time that is, is everything to them, and their connection with the people they love and their memories and, and then I started getting deeper. And I was like, "Oh my God, oh my God. They're not gonna... The people aren't gonna remember shit when I die. They're not gonna remember Home or the duet or this whiskey."

Steven Bartlett 1:08:33 Home is my favorite song, excuse me.

Michael Bublé 1:08:34 That, yeah. Right, you know what I mean?

Steven Bartlett 1:08:35 You've said that 15 times today.

Michael Bublé 1:08:35 But like, it, it goes, you know what I mean?

Steven Bartlett 1:08:37 Today.

Michael Bublé 1:08:37 But I'm like, dude, 200 years from now when I am deader than dead, you know, people are gonna be singing, <<Have a holly, jolly Christmas>> I'm gonna be there. It's so cool.

Steven Bartlett 1:08:48 It's so fucking tight, it's so cool.

Michael Bublé 1:08:50 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 1:08:50 I associate you with great memories, good times. And, I have to say, Home is my favorite song.

Michael Bublé 1:08:55 Oh, dude, I love you. Thank you.

Steven Bartlett 1:08:57 I've, I mean, we were, we were... I was in karaoke before you came an hour ago.

Michael Bublé 1:09:01 (laughs)

Steven Bartlett 1:09:01 And I said, "Put the..."

Michael Bublé 1:09:02 Are you joking? Really?

Steven Bartlett 1:09:03 No, it's on video.

Michael Bublé 1:09:04 That's amazing.

Steven Bartlett 1:09:04 I was, I went, go on YouTube. I went, put on Michael Buble Home and I'm like lyric video. We're gonna do karaoke. And there was four of us. I was the only one singing and I can't sing.

Michael Bublé 1:09:12 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 1:09:12 But I sang... I know every word.

Michael Bublé 1:09:14 Good.

Steven Bartlett 1:09:14 I know every word of that song.

Michael Bublé 1:09:15 Thank you.

Steven Bartlett 1:09:15 What's your favorite song?

Michael Bublé 1:09:17 Of the Christmas stuff?

Steven Bartlett 1:09:18 No, no, no.

Michael Bublé 1:09:19 Oh, of anything?

Steven Bartlett 1:09:20 Yeah. No, of the, of songs that you sing and that you... Yes, songs that you sing.

Michael Bublé 1:09:25 Songs that I sing? Of the standards?

Steven Bartlett 1:09:27 Your own or s- someone else's?

Michael Bublé 1:09:29 Oh my God, there's so many.

Steven Bartlett 1:09:31 Just one.

Michael Bublé 1:09:32 It's impossible.

Steven Bartlett 1:09:34 Could you sing us Home?

Michael Bublé 1:09:35 It's impossible, man. It's impossible.

Steven Bartlett 1:09:36 Could you sing us Home for me?

Michael Bublé 1:09:37 Home?

Steven Bartlett 1:09:38 Yeah.

Michael Bublé 1:09:38 Oh, yeah. <<Another summer day has come and gone away in Paris or Rome, but I wanna go home. Bah, bah, because this place sucks.>>

Steven Bartlett 1:09:51 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 1:09:51 I shoulda, I shoulda, that, that shoulda been the lyric.

Steven Bartlett 1:09:54 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 1:09:54 I was, yeah. I, that's, uh, it's so weird, you know, like, not to get too deep into like-

Steven Bartlett 1:09:59 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:09:59 ... weird, but, uh, I have this friend, Dion, and I do his, I love doing his accent, he's South African. And, uh, before I wrote that song, um, I remember he used to say, "Oh my God, (Afrikaans) He's from South Africa.

Steven Bartlett 1:10:12 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 1:10:12 He'd say, "Oh my God, you know what? The greatest artists in the world just open up their mind 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, and I was thi- I was like, "You know what I'm gonna open up my mind to?" It's so weird, but I was like, "Hmm, you know, enter." And, uh, I think, weirdly enough, for whatever reason, I had like Canon in D-

Steven Bartlett 1:10:39 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:10:39 ... in my head. <<Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.>> And I just went, <<Another summer day has come and gone away, woo hoo, in Paris or Rome, but I wanna go home.>> And the whole th- literally, almost the whole... I mean, that and the pre, whew, in, in two minutes. And I remember getting out of the shower with a towel and, at those days, we didn't have the iPhone or anything, right? I had like a, one of those little tape recorders.

Steven Bartlett 1:11:10 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:11:10 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."

Steven Bartlett 1:11:17 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 1:11:17 And, uh, it was, it was cool. And at that point too, my record company, they were like, "We don't want original songs."

Steven Bartlett 1:11:24 Oh.

Michael Bublé 1:11:24 "You're the Frank guy, man. You're gonna sing, you're gonna do the standards." And I was like, "No, I think I can... I, I write..." It's weird. Even as I got on to writing other songs, the second record I wrote everything and Hold On or Lost, one of the songs.

Steven Bartlett 1:11:36 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:11:37 And, and I remember the president of the label, we were at the video shoot for Everything and he said, um, "Man, I wish I would've known that you wanted original music, 'cause we would've hired, we would've hired writer-"

Steven Bartlett 1:11:46 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 1:11:46 "... writers for you." And I was like, "Oh my God, this is terrible." Uh, but it's weird, man. Like, you know, like, it's... I'm, I live in a weird place artistically too, right? It's... You know what I mean? I don't belong, and 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-

Steven Bartlett 1:12:16 When you- (laughs)

Michael Bublé 1:12:16 Early on, I was like, "What, what, what am I? This is weird." Like, "I'm doing standards and yet my, you know, I'm on the radio do-" It was weird. Still weird sometimes.

Steven Bartlett 1:12:26 But I think about this when you say this, and I go, "But isn't not belonging how you end up d- doing these kind of numbers?" Because if you were more of the same artistically, vocally-

Michael Bublé 1:12:36 Hm.

Steven Bartlett 1:12:37 ... you wouldn't have had 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.

Michael Bublé 1:12:47 I stream myself a lot, yeah.

Steven Bartlett 1:12:49 But I go, if you were, if you were like everybody else-

Michael Bublé 1:12:51 Yeah. (laughs)

Steven Bartlett 1:12:51 ... you wouldn't have those achievements and accolades.

Michael Bublé 1:12:54 Yeah, I, I don't know.

Steven Bartlett 1:12:56 I wonder if everyone-

Michael Bublé 1:12:56 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-

Steven Bartlett 1:13:07 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:13:08 ... all know each other from the functions they do on Broadway, and there was like cool pop people and like, and then there, there was like me.... and I was like, I saw Herbie Hancock, I was so excited. I love Herbie Hancock. And, but I didn't want to go when he, he was talking to Chita Rivera and I love her too, and I didn't want to be that guy that went... But, um-

Steven Bartlett 1:13:26 (laughs)

Michael Bublé 1:13:27 ... you know what I mean? I don't know where I, I mean, maybe I'll never know where I really belong.

Steven Bartlett 1:13:32 But I'm trying to say that that's why you're so special.

Michael Bublé 1:13:34 I don't know.

Steven Bartlett 1:13:35 I, even with what I do here, I absolutely don't feel like I belong anywhere. I'm not a journalist, I, I'm not qualified to do this.

Michael Bublé 1:13:42 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 1:13:42 I go to ... they don't invite me to the awards shows for journalists and media. I'm not invited to the-

Michael Bublé 1:13:46 Yeah. How, how does that work?

Steven Bartlett 1:13:48 I have no... I don't know. We... I don't know where we sit. I don't even know what we are. Are we are podcast? But it's on TV, it's on... This is on planes, it's on j-

Michael Bublé 1:13:55 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 1:13:55 So, you, you do have that sense of like, someone's gonna come up to you and tap you, and go, "What are you doing on the screen?"

Michael Bublé 1:13:59 Yeah. It's interesting 'cause I feel like I... If you ask me, if someone asked me about you, I would, I would, I would in a sentence be able to define what I, what I feel is-

Steven Bartlett 1:14:13 Please give me the sentence.

Michael Bublé 1:14:14 Oh, man. I, I honestly think watching you and watching this show, and... like I have for years, um, is a perfect mix of education and entertainment.

Steven Bartlett 1:14:26 Oh, interesting.

Michael Bublé 1:14:26 I don't know how else to say it. It's like, really, it really is, it's both things. I'm, I'm often highly entertained by what's happening.

Steven Bartlett 1:14:33 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:14:34 But at the end, I feel like I, I was educated. I learned something. Either something, um, that is, um, you know, e- either ideas or philosophies.

Steven Bartlett 1:14:47 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:14:47 Or sometimes it's literally, literally logistic science.

Steven Bartlett 1:14:50 Mm-hmm.

Michael Bublé 1:14:51 Where... You know what I mean?

Steven Bartlett 1:14:52 I can't tell you how weird that is to hear from you, someone that I've, I've looked up to since I was-

Michael Bublé 1:14:57 Aw.

Steven Bartlett 1:14:57 ... at s- like, a kid at home in Plymouth all those years ago, watching my TV.

Michael Bublé 1:15:00 Yeah.

Steven Bartlett 1:15:01 As you guys know, I'm an investor in a company called ZOE, and also they sponsor this podcast. And they're one of my favorite businesses, literally of all time. We're in December now, which is the season of gifting, the season of family gatherings and parties. But what I'll be doing this December is making sure I double down on my health because it's this time of year where I think it's easiest to get distracted and derailed. And that is where ZOE comes in. For many years, I thought we all had the same relationship with food, and now I know that every single person has a different relationship with every single type of food. And knowing the type of food that you have the best relationship with, the food that loves you back, can