  On his upcoming third CD, Call Me Irresponsible, Michael Buble is aiming to show his growth as an artist and a person without alienating his many fans.
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On the surface, Vancouver crooner Michael Buble's new album, Call Me Irresponsible, doesn't sound that different from his first two records -- 2003's self-titled debut and 2005's It's Time.
Call Me Irresponsible -- in stores one week from today -- is a mix of covers of standards (like the title track), modern classics (Me & Mrs. Jones, Leonard Cohen's I'm Your Man, Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight) and a couple of originals (the first single, Everything, produced by Bob Rock, and Lost, co-written with Jann Arden).
But Buble, who has two Grammy nods and 11 million in album sales under his belt, insists it was harder for him to record this time out.
"It's been the toughest record I've done by far," he said during a stop in Toronto earlier this year. "I have higher expectations for myself. I, now more than ever, am very clear on who I am and what I want. And I happen to work with a guy (Canadian David Foster), who's one of the greatest producers alive and one of the most musical people I've worked with.
"And he has a strong opinion as well, (as does Foster's partner and co-producer) Humberto Gattica. We fought a lot. It's not like we had fistfights, but stuff where I'd really feel strongly."
In particular, Buble wanted the standards to "be authentic ... Like on the ballads, I sing live off the floor and of course that's probably not David's way to do things. He likes to get in the studio and you sing eight tracks and he pieces it together and therefore he gets this perfection. He get this very slick sound.Well, I wanted to trade that slick sound for emotion."
DISAGREEMENTS
Buble said there were also disagreements about his choice to have the less than hot Boys II Men join him on a duet of Mel Torme's Comin' Home Baby.
"I think, basically, my concept for this record was growth without alienation," said Buble. "I want to grow as an artist and as a person but at the same time I want do that without alienating all of those people that enjoy the kind of stuff I do. I don't want to just decide, 'Okay, guess what? Now I'm going to do this.' The truth is for me to do all originals, I wouldn't have been happy. This is stuff I've done my whole life. I wasn't a failed rock singer or someone who went, 'Oh, I bet you if I do this kind of record people will go crazy and buy it cause standards is the thing.' It was always what I did."
As for the originals, Lost is about Buble's breakup with longtime girlfriend and fiance Debbie Timuss while Everything sums up his feelings about new girlfriend/actress Emily Blunt.
"I'm in love with Emily and I'd like to marry her one day," Buble said. "I found a little tough girl who has the capacity to love me as much as I love her. And she has a wonderful family and she's so grounded.
"But with Debbie, I'll always love her," Buble said. "How can you just discard your feelings, just because you're not together? I'm a romantic dork."
