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VANCOUVER - Sitting on an expensive yacht with a roomful of journalists is a long way from Michael Buble's humble beginnings as a lounge singer in a small Vancouver nightclub.
The performer admits that he is feeling both fortunate and reflective during this press conference, one designed to announce his upcoming tour and to debut his newest music video.
"This is a trip," he laughs, scanning the opulent boat filled with video cameras and microphones. "There's 40 people here! Six years ago, I was calling you guys to come down and see me at Babalu!"
It has been quite an incredible journey since his "good old days" at the B.C.-based Cuban-themed lounge he refers to. Over the course of a half-dozen years, Buble has recorded three studio albums, sold 15 million CDs and just recently finished a sold-out U.S. tour.
Mere months after releasing his new disc Call Me Irresponsible, Buble is in great spirits, happy to reflect upon recent successes, to discuss his new music and also to debut the video for his new single "Lost", a track co-written with fellow Canuck Jann Arden.
Buble's dry wit is given away by the twinkle in his eye when asked to elaborate on his experience of working with Arden.
"It wasn't easy working with Jann," he states, sardonically. "We went on tour together. It wasn't easy, only because there was a definite sexual tension there, and it was honestly only one way. I was barred from her dressing room a couple of times, I would call her in the middle of the night and say things like 'this isn't Michael Buble but what are you wearing?'" He smiles wryly, then continues sincerely. "If you are lucky enough to know Jann, she's an incredible person with an incredible story, she's I think one of the few real triple threats in the world, she's got the most incredible voice - one of the most incredible voices I've ever heard - she's charismatic and self-effacing and funny, and at the same time, she can be that way and a second later interpret a song and make the audience cry just after they were laughing. Unless I had a meet-and-greet to do, I would watch her every single night, I would just trip out and think 'my god, this is one of the greatest and here I am on the same stage as her!' It was a treat every night getting goose bumps. I learn a lot just watching her."
Buble admits that his recent songwriting experience with Arden's left him nothing short of awestruck.
"I basically sat down in Australia and was on the piano and wrote the melody for 'Lost.' Conceptually I had a strong idea exactly what the song would be about and I said to her 'here's what I want to do. I've got the first lines and a little bridge thing, do you wanna work on it with me?' She said 'ok' and I figured that maybe by the end of the tour we would have something. The next morning she said 'here' and I fell in love with what she had to say. I felt like they were words that would come out of my mouth."
Buble is excited about the choice of that original track as the second single and also admits to being proud of some of the non-obvious choices of songs that the big band crooner has included on his newest disc.
"I was nervous; I really wanted this record to be great. I didn't want it to be safe. Instead of just taking a song because it was easy, I wanted to take a song that I felt I could breathe new life into, take a chance and do a dramatic, heavy song like [Leonard Cohen's] "I'm Your Man" or do something with Boys ll Men's "Comin' Home Baby" that weren't big hits or big standards, but songs that I could make my own."
The singer admits that he was excited for the opportunity to take a new approach when recording his latest disc, thanks to the encouragement of producer David Foster who encouraged him to record the vocals live in the studio. "David was very kind with me: he said 'kid, when you sing it live, it is going to be tough for you because you are going to hear moments that aren't perfect and it is not going to be as slick, as smooth' but I was glad that I traded that slick feeling for emotional truth. There are some tracks like "Always On My Mind" or "Lost" and know that I was feeling it, I know I was honest about how I felt in that moment. When people hear it, they can hear me smiling or hear that I'm sad at that moment."
Buble also hopes that those emotions can be felt in the delivery of the music video for the song; his affecting performance in the video spurs on a question about whether this contemporary Brat Pack-style singer has a desire to - like heroes Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin - move from singing to acting?
"I do have acting desires; that will come, probably. I look at a lot of singers and they all want to be actors, and all these actors want to be singers. Sometimes I think, well, maybe concentrate on one thing and be great at it. I think it is an extension of who I am, but more importantly, I've got a vision and I have a goal to see even beyond that. I would love to lie to you and tell you that I don't want to be an icon; I want to be the greatest entertainer. I want to be his biggest act," Buble says, pointing to manager Bruce Allen sitting nearby. "That's not to say that I'll ever catch up to Bryan Adams or Anne Murray or BTO but I want it, I'm hungry for it. I was hungry for it when I was 16, 17 and I was playing bars here. I want to be huge. Until I'm satisfied, I probably won't change my focus."
Michael Buble's cross-Canada itinerary will be formerly announced this Monday; the tour officially kicks on January 10th in Victoria, BC, and has stops planned in Halifax, Moncton, Montreal, Ottawa, London, Sudbury, Toronto, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna and Vancouver.