Michael Bublé is back with a new album, and we’re incredibly thankful for it, since there was a time not too long ago when he believed he would never sing again.
The superstar told HELLO! Canada that recording his new album, Higher – which is out now – helped him rediscover his love of performing after what had been a difficult last few years in his family life.
Higher is the first album Michael has released since his eldest son, Noah, 8, was declared fully recovered from liver cancer. Following Noah’s illness and recovery, "I was completely wrecked," Michael said during his and wife Luisana Lopilato’s first joint interview with Editor-in-Chief Alison Eastwood. "I didn't think I was ever gonna come back again. I never wanted to sing again. It just didn't matter to me anymore. And I didn't want any of it."
Healing takes time and asking for help from those we rely on can get us through when things are rough. When Michael was struggling, it was Luisana who helped lift him up, he said.
© Photo: CustomMichael and Luisana share an unbreakable bond. Photo: © Christopher Morris
"Somehow, she carried me to a point where not only was I OK, but I was better than I had been before," he shared. "We all go through hard things and we are all given perspective, and sometimes... sometimes it breaks you. And that's OK. Either way, it's the human experience. We're very lucky. It sounds so simple, but you find out who people are when [things get tough].”
Co-produced by Canadian legend David Foster – who discovered Michael – and the great Paul McCartney, “Higher” features original songs along with tracks composed by Paul, Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan, Duke Ellington and Henry Nemo, along with a guest appearance from Willie Nelson.
Those are already some spectacular career highlights, but it gets even better: Noah wrote the hook for the title track.
WATCH: The brand new video for "Higher" was released the same day as Michael's new album
"My boys... just love music," Michael said of his sons. "They love it like I do. And I was giving the kids a bath – we were in the shower doing a steam and I was doing shampoo and conditioner, and Noah said to me, 'Pappi, I wrote a song.' And he sang me the song, and he sang the hook. And it was really good. And I said, 'Wow, that's amazing, dude!' And we would sing it in the shower, and we'd sing it in the car."
Months later, he and Ryan Tedder were writing songs, when Michael said he told the OneRepublic singer and producer about the tune.
"Ryan, who's an incredible musician... turned and said, 'Wow, that's something, man. That's really cool.' And within 35 minutes we had it, you know?"
Noah’s other big highlight on the album is lead single “I’ll Never Not Love You,” which has an adorable music video featuring Luisana recreating scenes from beloved movies such as Love, Actually, The Notebook and more.
WATCH: Michael's video for "I'll Never Not Love You" features him and Luisana paying tribute to some epic movies
As for Michael, he told HELLO! Canada the Sam Cooke track, “Bring It On Home to Me,” is his favourite he’s recorded to date. It features a choir of voices the superstar describes as "better than I could ever be," whose presence pushed him, shall we say, higher in the studio and helped him reconnect with what he truly loves doing.
"I gave it all I had and I put myself completely into it, and the recording finished – we did five takes – and after the fifth or sixth take I said to them, 'Do you guys want to go in and listen to what we did?'" he heartwarmingly shared. “So we all put our masks on and we all went into the studio and we played it. And when I tried around, there were people crying."
Recording Charlie Chaplin’s "Smile" made him feel similarly, he said. The multiple award-winner first cut the track for Captain Tom Moore, the British Army officer who raised nearly $65 million for the U.K.'s National Health Service before his 100th birthday.
"It started from a place of hope and healing and love and passion and all of those," Michael shared about the song.
"I wanted to have an anthem that brought us hope and gave us chills and had this cinematic scope, and it just happened," he revealed. "It worked. I fought for it. I was so... ambitious and I felt, ‘I'm alive again. I'm alive.’"
You can pick up Higher in stores and online now!
