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

Another summer day has come and gone away in Paris or Rome, but I want to go home cuz this place sucks. I should have I should have had That should have been the lyrics. Michael Bublé, 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 Darin, Dean Martin. I don't know why, I just do. Emulate them and then I would steal it all. Cuz 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 here until I break you. Hell, 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 a this point where I want to do something different. Michael, you're you're not going to 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 just 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 this 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? Michael, what do I need to know about your earliest context to understand the way that you are? Cuz you are a unique individual personality-wise, talent-wise, your life is full of uniqueness. So, where is the What is the oven? Cuz I always think about humans like an oven. Yeah. Um you know, they get cooked in this oven when they're young. What is that oven? What is that environment? 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 uh got way too much attention, you know, probably probably got told like, "You're amazing and you're good at every And like uh 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, you know, "I want to be a singer. This is what I'm going to do." At 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, "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 her 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 shipbuilder. Um my grandfather was a commercial seine salmon fisherman on a seine boat. Um That took him away a lot, right? Your father? Yeah, 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 lea- 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 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 it was you know, we passed that point. Got very lucky. So. How do you answer that question? Uh I answer it by Well, I don't just answer it with with language. I I answer it with action. So, um I have probably I've probably made my tours uh I would say financially 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 Peppo and me and my manager Bruce, and uh let's go through the calendar. So, when 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. I'm going to be starting a family soon and I'm going to be getting married. And it's interesting to hear from you about the tradeoffs you have to make and you have more experience in both sides of the cost and the benefit of those tradeoffs. Did you miss your father growing up? Oh, man. Of course I missed my dad. I remember used to And it's You know what's interesting cuz I am so lucky to 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. 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 I It's really strange to say this, but uh I did this thing. Have you ever heard of Calm? Yeah, yeah. The Calm app? Yeah, I know the founder, Michael. So, yeah, it's it's about like I So, I used to listen to this Calm app to go to sleep. My wife hated it. And um Same with me and my partner. I was on the Graham Norton show and Matthew McConaughey was a guest and 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 because my wife would hate it, but every night I 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 I I was like, "I listen to your Calm sleep story." And it became a you know, he He was very good sport and he thought it was funny. And then Calm called and they were like, "Hey, you wanted to do a sleep story?" I was like, "Hell yeah, I want to do a sleep story." 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. Oh, man. 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 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 uh 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, you know, pencils and and then you'd see the note. And uh I remember being like 7, 8 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 dad. Your granddad played a huge role in your life, didn't he? Yes, sir. Grandpa Mitch. 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 at to sing a song as a tribute to Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees in his induction and to 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 5 years ago yesterday. Oh, wow. 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 heartbeat in my ear. And uh 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. He was my hero, is my hero. Um 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 to How could other people not understand that Nat King Cole is that unbelievable. What's wrong? How could they How How does someone his age not hear Ella Fitzgerald and just [ __ ] a brick and realize that is stupid. That's just too good or that that gorgeous uh or castral arrangement of that song and those horns doing that thing and that that swinging real like I know hip hop is great, but no, that that beat that I just heard in that Dre song, that isn't close to being as fat as the one I just heard um backing up Bobby Darin 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 my the essence of me. Like I everything I did was music. Was just you know, 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? 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 it 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 [ __ ] kill Madison Square Garden and you know, know that the uh you know, that that crowd in the shower was just loving. Madison Square Garden? Oh, yeah, 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 cuz if I was 13, I would've been in the shower saying like, "Hey, Simon, check this out." Um Did you sound good at that age? Do you do you have recordings? Do you have like You know Yeah, man, I do. I do have recordings. Cuz I'm wondering how much of your a recording when I'm 14 and it tripped me out because I sound ex- I don't 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 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. They'd be I have one of my best friends, Brad, would be in the bus and he'd go, "There's Bublé singing with that fake voice again." There's And even today and he's still my one of my best literally one of my best friends and we're drinking beer and he's he's like, "Shut up, man." And he loves to sing, too, and uh But um I couldn't believe how much your grandfather and your father and your family supported you. Oh, yeah. I when I was reading that your grandfather would trade plumbing work Yeah, man. for for you to go and do singing lessons or you know, auditions etc. Mhm. That's that's unusual. Yeah. Cuz 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, cuz he loved me so much. Listen, dude, my grandpa did more than just trade his plumbing things. He took me to auditions. He would say I mean, 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 a 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. And what was the first song the first time you performed in front of people and got a reaction? The first song weirdly was uh yeah, as I I think it was a Christmas song. Really? Well, it was cuz it was Christmas Eve. We were coming home from uh This is I've told this story many times, but it's 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've 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 man." 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, And I think that was the first time they were like, "What the [ __ ] is that? Where did that just come from?" And uh What's interesting is I think if I really am honest with myself when I look back, that Bing Crosby was the first cuz 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 some of shag He had this like a green shag carpet and he had a a record machine that he would 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 I had a Walkman 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 songs for grandpa and grandma so I could come over the next day and I could I could sing for them. And I'd sit at the table with them and we, 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 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 like listen to the Mills Brothers and when I'm saying all of this, you probably have no idea sometimes what I'm talking about. Music. Yeah, the way the Mills Brothers sing, there was this weird "I want to buy a paper doll that I could call my own. A doll that other fella" or Nat. I 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 to realize, "Okay, I'm starting to Wow, grandpa, I'm starting 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 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 a obviously, you know, a huge fan. I've stolen so much from you and Bing and Frank and all of them." And he said uh "Good." He said, "Cuz 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 um 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 I love Um he would have died to know that his grandson was continuing the legacy of our heroes. You know, cuz 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." Yeah, he says there's a clip of him on a on a documentary. He goes, "No, I thought you'd be good, you know, maybe Vegas." Um 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. Like so it's not just you start singing at 30. 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 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 [ __ ] 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, 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, "Mhm." And uh 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 I I was in Toronto, I got I got, you know, connected to uh the Prime Minister of our country who their daughter was getting married and she asked if I would sing at the wedding and cuz I'd given an independent CD to another guy at some corporate gig I'd done. Um and um They said I I I was like, "Yeah, okay, you know, I 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 a 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 see me. But even then, after he saw me, this story didn't it wasn't like 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. Mhm. You know, I was I you know, man, I got I was good. I was going to 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 like and I remember he had this I have to say, Michael, I think it's very 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. Yeah. 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 the journey which is why does someone continue doing something for 10 years of their life when there's there's no Madison Square Gardens, there's no million dollar checks, and there's no fame and fortune. Like that that's the S cuz it's a it's a recurring theme on my show. Yeah. That these very very successful people, they they did something which is objectively dumb. Yeah. like they gave up their amazing chance of being an academic and they went and played magic on a restaurant card tables. I know. Comedians, you go you could have been a lawyer. Yep. And now they're you know It's funny I I was going to tell you today I got watched your show 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. Um over and over again and over again. Mhm. And uh I just continued to to go forward. These people seem like they had no choice though. And when I say no choice, I mean because of passion. Mike, listen to me, man. I'm going to say it's going to sound like it directly um 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 present and aware enough of how lucky I was, you know. 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. How do you know that's not delusion? No, no, dude. I 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 You understand this? I 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 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 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. He's a He's I get it." You one of your kids comes to you and says, "Dad, I know." And 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 as 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." Mhm. Yeah, that's I understand that that's But it wasn't. It was 10 years of um of I don't care if it was a shopping mall or a street corner or a night club or a bar or a wedding or a funeral, every room was the same. Every single room was the same. So why wouldn't 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. Um 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, you know, but I was like an indie act. It was a full-on indie act. It was like doing weird [ __ ] 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 many times that like Dave I said, "Dave, when you going to you know, 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 um 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 cuz 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 I got he got pissed with me cuz 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 Money. 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 bought the money. We bought the check. And I went to David's in Malibu and said that we said uh "We got it. Here's the money." Um David's a massive producer. I think it was a hundred thousand a song. And uh I think for David I remember sitting up he had a 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?" It was 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 going he got Paul Anka. Do you Paul Anka? No. Okay, well Paul is I'll remind you 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 My Way. And now the end is near. Huge massive star. He is Justin Bieber, okay? Of course I know who that is. still a huge star. He's still a 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, 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 Humberto Gatica. He was a another massive producer. Beautiful guy and he said, he took me to the car. I was destroyed cuz I was this I I was there. I was making the record. It was I was four songs into 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 going to happen. Why didn't you quit like Neil told you to? Well, it was a big a big deal was Humberto and he said 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 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 Humberto parked the car outside and he looked at me and he said Okay, Miguelito. 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 3 days later uh David had brought me in hired me to do something I think it was for Kenny G and his wife at the time had a anniversary party. And I said, David, can I speak to you? And he said like, okay. And I took David to this other little room beside the banquet hall and literally regurgitated word for word you know, what Humberto had told me to tell this guy. You know, David was my hero, right? David is a scary guy. You you know, you 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 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. And wood building you know, look up on the wall and and it's Prince and Tom Petty and Madonna and Red Hot Chili Peppers and like you know, holy [ __ ] you know. And 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 that you know, the executive and you know, um I said 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 this is one of the first things he said. Sinatra on Reprise, what does that mean? Uh so Reprise was a subsidiary of of Warner that that Frank had started. Ah. And and they had Frank in 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 uh he sat, he listened to the four demos and then two days later I I had flown my grandfather down to LA cuz I I mean, I had it's funny when I walked out with David that day, I said, 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 means. 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 going to 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 in that little Westwood apartment and I was down in the on the treadmill. And uh the door sort of flung open and he and the manager at the time, Bev 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 I we took the elevator up and I grabbed the telephone and said, hello and David said, hey Mike, man. And I said, hi, David. 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 but 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. Uh he was known as the one of the greatest manager 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 not 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 a couple million records and my manager Bruce would call and he would say hey kid. You want to go to Germany? I said like, what's in Germany? Well, they they got a about eight journalists there and 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 [ __ ] man, go, yeah. And I did it, dude. I just went literally, man. I did that in all over Asia, Switzerland, Ger Pol dude, you name the country and I showed up and did a showcase and What age were you when you thought, [ __ ] this is you know, this is big now. Oh, probably probably 30. 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 normal Yeah, man. I I didn't know what it 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 there was a security guy he was like, don't go without me. And I was like, yeah, sure. And I went and went 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 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 never this is crazy. I feel like like a [ __ ] Backstreet Boy or something, you know, like they were they and then he I remember that he opened the curtain and this curtain opened and it was a building facing us and the dude, the full building was just my face. You're joking. Yeah, and I was like, oh [ __ ] I understand now. This is 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. There for sure there was, man. And does that result in workaholism? 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, but you know why? Because naturally everything that goes up must come down. No, there's no there's no crown given. 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 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 an incre- like 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 I wanted to be great, and it's scary to be in front of your peers. It'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 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. Of course not. Absolutely not. And by the way, there can be times where my fault self allows that to change. My fault self? Yeah, my fault self. My I would say the ego. Um I I you know, I I you know, I should read more Eckhart Tolle and Power of Now and he tells stories about the hockey team that I'm a part owner of, the Vancouver Giants. Talks about eight the ages, how how substantial that that is. But uh he's 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 fault self give you these negative messages and and um it was 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 a hold of me. One of my sort of deep, I think, existential fears is that I'm not going to have my priorities in the right order, and I'm going to find out too late. I've said this a few times on this show. Yeah. 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? I I listen, I had like I said to you before, this whole thing starts with family. And I uh 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 I don't want to get too deep into it because it's it's not it's not that it isn't comfortable for me, but my son has his own life and his own story. Um My son's cancer diagnosis rocked my world. It pulled a curtain from over my eyes, and um I don't want to 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 my family was always a love of, you know, I think I don't think I was a terrible guy, but um dude, it was the 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? Mhm. 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 This is it. This is what's important." Um and that's when that's when It's not like I thought about it. It 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 I just can't imagine. I just can't faith it's faith, family, and and A member of my family got diagnosed with um a very similar illness, and I remember where I was and where I was 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 I you know, Yeah. 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 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 want to be kinder. I want to be more empathetic. I don't ever want to allow that ego and that fault self to take over. I want to 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 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 sort of lead me through and and carry me through these things, you know." Mhm. 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 then you think, "Fuck, what's what are all these gold coins worth?" No, but I had the Dude, it's funny, you know, we've all had those moments, too. Like, 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, Yeah. 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? Harmful. 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, Mhm. 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." Mhm. You know? I on this podcast so many times I've spoken to parents about about grief, but I've never really shine a shone a light on just the trauma of going through moments like that, and really the like blast radius of of knock-on effects 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. Um is doing great. 10 years 10 years old? 10 years old. 10 years old. Yeah. 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 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've had such great relationship with so many parents and people have not just gone through this. I mean listen, man, going through any kind of thing with like you know, you're got 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, so No, I'm not talking about kids. I'm talking about your siblings or your mom and dad or we're all going to 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. But men in the 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 can't I felt like I couldn't flinch. Yeah. You know? 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, 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. Mhm. That is off brand. Yeah, yeah. How do you How do you are you able to cuz you're in the wave, man, you're going to tidal wave is moving, but you're inside it. 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 you 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. There's some signal inside of me that goes, hey, you know, you you know, this isn't right. You know, especially if someone offers you a lot of money to do something and you're like, oh my god, oof, I know that's not me. So fortunately Go ahead. No, I was going to say for this show's a good example, which is a good question is what are the sponsors? The sponsors are companies that I are in line with my values, so Yes. you know, my We my my Zoe, my you know, Yeah. the products that I and also I'm a shareholder in these companies that sponsor the podcast and I'm in the team. That's a good example of it, whereas Yes. some brands aren't aligned. Yeah. I think what I meant even more than just brands is like, you know, I'm you know, I understand I'm I'm I'm two different people, right? Who's Who's the other guy? Well, the other guy is this is me. I'm Michael Bublé. Um I'm an idiot who is I think sweet and um So the guy I met? Little bit. Well, I mean the other guy from stage. Yeah, well, 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 you I'm your seeing Really? Even I'm I'm I'm a little bit more of the suit guy, right? Oh, [ __ ] Yeah, man, like Bigger? Um 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'm I can be goofy, but you know, um 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 that the whole world meets him. For 20 years I have done the same thing. It's It's been cyclical. Michael writes and um 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 for 20 years it has been write it promote it tour it and um and I feel like I'm at this point of my life and my career where I I want to do something different. I 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 being Mike. Being Mike, man, and and doing that whether that's in in movies or television or whatever it is, it has to happen now. Why? Cuz dude, this is 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 cuz I love the other stuff. I love touring. I love like 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? Uh well, just that I 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 like I got a pretty good voice and I can be good 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. For the challenge as well, for the pursuit of 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. The music again will always be there, 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 But is there a moment where you you something happens cuz I'm trying to put this into like my world or whoever's listening to the world. Is there a moment where you wake up then 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, I know. No, because man, honestly, genuinely um I love being out with I love making I dude, I just the music is just it fills me up with happiness, you know? So the second I mean I just did uh I did like a corporate gig the other night with my boys and this 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, 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? Well, when this tour started to wrap down and I was like you know what? I I want to have fun doing something 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 Yeah. 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, [ __ ] I'm a lawyer. Why am I lawyer again? Oh, cuz it paid really well and I good at it. Yeah. But that doesn't necessarily mean it will make you happy, right? 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. Mhm. It was like, you know, we want you. Yeah. We want Bublé. We want Bublé to do a a Bublé commercial or we want Bublé to show up and do an Asda commercial or we want you 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 stuff. 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 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 exactly I'm an [ __ ] who has no idea what I'm doing, but you know, egotistically you I am you know, um and he and he understood exactly what I was going for and we we laughed, dude. We had it was like it 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. 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? 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 don't know if it if it worked for me. Mhm. You know? Like it felt good to talk about stuff, Mhm. but then after about like four times, I was like am I just am I bullshitting right now? Am I just telling her something Mhm. just to fill up the hour because I sort of went through my my big stuff and it didn't and this therapy doesn't feel like it worked very well. Mhm. You know, hey, man, for me, listen, my relationship again with with the 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. Like I'm like, hey, dude, I'm not doing good with this thing and and and um she's like, well, stop being an idiot, you know? My point is I I think that's part of the role of being a a wonderful partner is that they they call you out on your [ __ ] 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 Yes, sir. you have built in a building with an incredible team of whiskey experts and nothing. They've told me that you're in you're driving this business and incredibly involved, which is atypical of you. mean, like I'm involved in in this this I'm you know But like what do I know about whiskey? No, I mean what you know about Fraser and Thompson. I mean, this is I I I know that listen to me. I know that if you don't know what you're doing you you hire and bring in the greatest people in the universe Mhm. who literally holds your hand and uh tell you what to do. And you know that when you find a guy like Paul Cerka, who's 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. But this Yeah. is you. You worked with Paul for the last three years, but this is you. dude. We worked three years three years. I'll tell you what, I worked three years because I wasn't going to 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 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 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 Cerka I you know I know who that is but he's a star. No, I read about him. Dude, three years and he we went we I I was a pain in the ass and I drove them all crazy. I've researched I was researching photos of you and Paul and seeing you down at the distillery and you said you were annoyed. I know. Um Fraser and Thompson, where's the where's the name come from? That's from my grandpa. Because when when I was a kid, my grandpa used to take us up to uh camping and we would go to we 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 glacial water. And they come together in this beautiful confluence. And um the truth is that it was a 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 Bublé and 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 some I would thought was like real cool and sophisticated they'd be like that one's taken. And uh 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 smell so good? It sounds the branding is you've nailed it. Because there's 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 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 cuz 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 cuz my dad as a fisherman, he talks about value all the time. Cuz we 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. Mhm. 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, I can I drink it a little bit? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cuz you keep touching it and I just So we have a little Oh, here we go. Look at this guy. Look at this guy. Am I scared of of of getting wasted with you at the table? It's like a a reinvention, isn't it? It's a new mountain to climb building a a whiskey company. So Dude, it is it is uh what's nice about the Dumbo brand? It's so me, dude. It's just like uh 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, too. You know? I have a feeling it's I have a feeling it's going to do extremely well because it has all the cool components of just a a beautiful brand and product. It's I mean, it's gorgeous in every respect. man. I I don't even know what to say. This is You know what? I hate selling [ __ ] Can I be honest with you? I really do. I feel itchy. But it's I just hope people will go and however they need to do it get a 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 Bublé. Bublé, 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, but just have fun, dude. Like have fun. I was like, Ryan, but I don't know what I'm doing. He was like, well, I didn't He goes, you don't have to know. Let the Let the Let the other people that are helping make it and let them know what they're doing. He said, just have Dude, 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 so I'm told it is one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. You know what's cute? Yesterday when I was on the bus I was driving to the White House because of the Kennedy Center Honors. My first time, you know, Paul. I think I was the only Canadian. And uh Sigourney Weaver was behind me and I was sitting with Sheila E and uh there was all these fancy people on the bus and I got on the bus and um 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 [ __ ] I am so sorry. Has that ever bothered you that you're so you were so successful with that Christmas album that you hear yourself every Christmas and at first, you know what's funny? Like about seven years into it I was like I was cuz, you know, it all I would get was calls at like especially, dude, 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 called. Are they going to ask me to be in their film? Are they going to a duet? And it would be like, so we're doing a Christmas and I'd be like, oh [ __ ] Um I I So actually funny, Jack 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 going to say Christmas, aren't you? And he was like, yes. And I was like, Jack, I love Dude, um it's interesting. We were talking about my son in that moment. Mhm. 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 [ __ ] Mhm. And um and there's kindness and goodness and that's this is I get to be a part of this 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 going to the people aren't going to remember [ __ ] when I die. They're not going to remember home or the duet or this whiskey. Excuse me. But you know what I mean? But they like it it goes, you know what I mean? But I'm like, dude, 200 years from now when 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. 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 I mean we were we were I was in karaoke before you came an hour ago and I was like, put that Are you joking? Really? No, it's on video. That's amazing. I was I went go on YouTube. I went put on Michael Bublé Home and I went 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 the of songs that you sing and that you Yes, songs that you sing. Songs that I sing are the standards. Either your own or someone else's? god, there's so many. Just one. It's impossible. It's impossible, man. It's impossible. Home? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Another summer day has come and gone away in Paris or Rome, but I want to go home. Cuz this place sucks. I should have I should have had I should have been the lyric. I was yeah, I that's uh it's so weird, you know, like not to get too deep into like 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, "Eh, my god, poach it." He's from South Africa. He'd say, "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 and I was think I was like, "You know what? I'm going to open up my mind to this." So weird, but I was like, "Hm, you know, enter." And uh I think weirdly enough, for whatever reason, I had like Canon in D in my head. Then I just went, "Another summer day has come and gone away. In Paris or Rome, but I want to go home." And the whole literally almost the whole I mean that and the pre boom in in 2 minutes. And I remember getting out of the shower with a towel. In those days, we didn't have the iPhone or anything, right? I had like a one of those little tape recorders. And I remember singing the tape recorder and listening back and going, "Oh, no, no, I've most definitely stole this from somewhere. I stole this from somewhere." And uh it was it was cool. And at that point, too, my record company, they were like, "We don't want original songs. You're Frank Sinatra, man. You're going to sing you're going to 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, I the second record I wrote everything in Hold On or Lost are one of the songs. 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 have known that you wanted original music, cuz we would have hired we would have hired writers 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 the classical thing and I wasn't in a jazz thing. And so many times I was like 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 It was weird. Still weird sometimes. 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. myself a lot, yeah. But I go, if you were if you were like everybody else, you wouldn't have those achievements. Yeah, I I don't know. I wonder if it's because 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 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 in it. He was talking to Chita Rivera and I love her, too. And I didn't want to be that guy that went But um You know what I mean? I don't know where I 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. 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. Yeah. I go to they don't invite me to the award shows for journalists and media. I'm not invited to the Yeah, how how does that work? I No, I don't know. We 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 a This is on planes. It's on Yeah. So, you you do have that sense of like someone's going to come up to you and tap you go, "What are you doing in this place?" cuz 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 Please give me the sentence. Oh, man, I I honestly think watching you and watching the show and like I have for years, um 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 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 um that is uh you know, I either ideas or philosophies or sometimes it's literally literally logistic science. Where you know what I mean? I can't tell you how weird that is to hear from you, someone that I've I've looked up to you since I was a kid at home in Plymouth all those years ago watching my TV. Yeah. 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 quite literally change your life. And that's where a Zoe membership comes in. So, if there was ever a time to become a Zoe member, it is right now in December. That rhymes. Huh, should have been a rapper. For a limited time only, you can get 50 pounds off your Zoe kit with code CEO 50. Keep this to yourself, okay? And this might be the last time that that code is available. Use it while you can. Four kids, Michael. I know. God. They come to you now, line up in front of you here and they go, "Daddy, listen. Um just need some advice on this thing called life. Yeah. You know, you've 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 going to say Jesus Christ. I have to believe and I say Dude, I 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 Messi, Mhm. that's not rich. Um 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 to explain it, you know. Those are all be 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 know, you got a bunch of stuff." But it doesn't take long to realize that life has nothing to do with stuff. 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 that was this if today was that day? Nothing, my friend. Not a thing. Not one thing. Not one thing. I have lived a beautiful life. And uh I have been so blessed. And I don't even think it was like I made this. Thank god, you know. I got great family. I got beautiful you know, my wife is the best thing ever loved me. And I got kids. I look at my four kids. I was scared to have the fourth one. I was like, "Oh my god, I'm How are And then I 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 like this gorgeous little fat little beautiful personality. Like what I you know, not a thing. I I 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. Um 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 I mean the perseverance at the heart of your story and where you coming from and the fantasizing um about the life that you now live, 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. Yeah. May maybe they're Michael at you know, 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 that playing the piano or starting that business, um is it too late for them? And No, dude. This is going to sound so cheesy, but um dude, it is. I say this to people all the time. I just did a um a master class thing for these beautiful kids these underprivileged kids basically it was in Orange County and um they didn't have any music programs in their school and the first thing I said to all of them was uh I talked about Neil deGrasse Tyson. And I said you know the greatest scientist on the planet will tell you uh that not nothing cannot make something. Something cannot come from nothing. I mean I don't care how many times they run the experiment it 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 you're magicians and Listen we will be crushed in relationships. Our partners will break our hearts. We will have businesses that fail. We'll be have doors shut on us and 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. You know it'll stay loyal to you and to me it's a it's a massive gift and it's funny I it's a going to sound like a really strange transition. But I love Tik Tok. And my wife said to me go on Tik Tok. I said like I'm too famous to go on I'm Tik Tok and she was like you you are Tik Tok. 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 Tik Tok and I I and you know I did a dumb whatever it was the first Tik Tok. And then like I started to like I was like oh you can go it's not just about making the Tik Tok which I cuz I'm an idiot it was fun. It was about oh wow you can go through Tik Tok. And then the addiction began and the addiction wasn't wasn't uh about seeing stupid Tik Toks. The addiction was finding those people you're talking about. Mhm. And that was like oh my god like like if I I don't know where my phone Here's my phone it's in my butt. I could go on to Tik Tok and can I just May I do this? This is going to be weird but um okay here's a good example. There's a girl named Julia Michaels voice that's what she goes under. I think she was making Tik Toks from like her her maybe her parents house or something I don't want to but like I heard her voice and I was like oh my god you're she has a beautiful voice like and I never would have you know in the in the way that our structure of business used to exist And the 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. Um Adam Rose who is an actor who is Anyway I like I deeply love that I can go on Tik Tok and it's exactly what you're talking about where I like see these people and I'm like oh my god you are you are tremendous like people need to know like they and it's funny cuz 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 [ __ ] get your [ __ ] together and go get a real job and stop messing up. like I think it might be in this business it might be changing a little bit with with um platforms like Tik Tok 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 like I love oh my god dude that is hilarious or people making fun of me. Like can I show you one that I just saw that just Seriously people would think it's your like agent or something that's what you say to your manager. Let's see if this can work. I'm not 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 Mhm just feel all alone. I want to go home. Let me go home. I don't want to sing cuz people are listening. Let me go home but cuz I want to dance even though this I feel fat in these pants. You couldn't remember the rhyme. I'm so sorry that this is Here it is I found it. Um 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 heading says when you change When you change when you change the radio station at the wrong time. Santa Claus is coming Uh that was a long lead up but We said That's a nice window in it. But like 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 I didn't know I needed. Can't imagine getting a message from Michael Bublé when when you've made something so so like ridiculous. That's what the coolest part of that Tik Tok is is that it isn't about you. No one gives a [ __ ] about me and by the way I don't even belong on Tik Tok and no celebrity really does. I think the only way you belong on Tik Tok is if you understand what Tik Tok is and Tik Tok is about a community of creators and like supporting and laughing and and being inspired and It's the platform that you spent 14 15 years fighting for which you know you know what I mean before we had social media there were people like you just singing at restaurants and singing here there and everywhere. Man just knocking on doors pulling someone into a back room in a banquet and now you don't need to go and No. you know attack David in a back room. No. I think it's funny cuz it started like I remember Bieber Justin talking to Justin about how how it you know what I mean or even Ed even Ed um it was uh you know it wasn't Tik Tok but it was YouTube and Bieber. Ex- exactly. Yeah back in the day that's where I first saw Justin. It's so different now man and it's like uh 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 cuz what's really weird is like even talking with my record company it's like oh they just 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 they don't tour no they don't 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 used the same platforms to build a show and I Do you know what'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 2 hours. They know who they are I won't name them cuz it will cause issues. or it was One or it was BBC or it was I I won't say which one it was. okay yeah. And I I went there and I did I knew somebody. 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. The I'm in there for 2 hours doing these fake phone calls. I leave the radio station this was only like 3 years 3 4 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 we'd love you to come in and do like a little guest thing to promote your book of 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 so They really did? Yeah they really did cuz they sent me an email asking me to come back and do some like guest appearance and I said I was like I I came they were asking me to like a guest show or whatever and I said I'm I came and did an audition and I still haven't heard back and it's been almost 2 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 did why did why was he the gatekeeper? What did he have that and now it's like no no no now nobody likes you but the people like the people get to choose right? And 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. Yeah that's a vote isn't it from that? Yeah. Michael thank you. Thank you. We're done? We're done. Okay. Fine. I just 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 more 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 uh and then I'll speak to all the people that I trust and uh and I'll I will weigh what everyone says and then I'll they'll help me make the decision. It's coming. Michael you're you're not going to quit music are you? No. No, I'm not. Never. It's impossible. That's like saying, are you going to are you going to stop breathing, dude? No, no, no. I like to breathe. And music is is is my breath. I can't I can't stop. You made me a little bit concerned that's all when you said that. Oh, no, no. Don't let it be like that. It's a good thing. Oh, okay. It's just a big, you know, just a big decision. Interesting. We shall wait and we shall see. Yeah. Michael, thank you so much. I appreciate I leave my question for the next guest? In the book. so excited. I've got so many. Thank you so much. As you'll know if you've listened to this podcast before, I'm an investor in a company called Huel, I'm on their board, and they sponsor this podcast. And I have a very exciting announcement to make. This product called Daily Greens is one of the most highly requested products at Huel, but it's never been sold in the UK before, until now. I've tried a variety of the different greens products that are out in the market. And this one, of course I'm biased, but if you try it, I think you'll understand why I'm saying this. It is maybe, and I I have to give this a little bit more thought, but it's maybe my favorite Huel product ever, for all the reasons I've described. Delicious, 91 nutrients, vitamins, minerals, quick and easy, and it serves to fill one of the most important parts of my diet, which is getting the greens into my body. I've received hundreds of messages from you about Daily Greens, asking when it's going to launch in the UK. The good news is that it launches in January. The link is in the description below. You can sign up now so that you have access when it launches. Because of the demand, I'm pretty sure it's going to sell out. 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.