and servicewomen tell me that they’ve gone through scary things and been away for long amounts of time in places that were obviously not comfortable for them, and that songs like ‘Home’ brought them a ton of peace and got them through a tough time. I think when people say things like that to you, as an artist, it gives you a sense of understanding that what you do matters. I don’t mean ‘matters’ in a sense of being more important than the jobs of other people. But when you’re missing people and you’re away from your own family, there is power in music. There is power in sharing songs like that and allowing people to interpret them in their own way. I’ve heard the same stories from people who have gone through terrible breakups and people who have been legitimately lonely. They’ve said to me, ‘The song ‘Haven’t Met You Yet’ is getting me through.’ And then Christmas comes up and I’ll hear from people that that’s all their kids listen to in the car, or it makes them think of their grandfather who they lost. It’s a testament to the power of music. Melody is the voice of God, I think.
Is Christmas important to you? I love Christmas. I’m really sentimental about it. My parents made it awesome for us, and we were allowed to be kids for a long time.
14
So what started you off on your musical path as a modern day crooner? It was probably stupidity. I mean, thinking that I might have success was probably naivety. But honest to God, I think I was blinded by the love of the music. And by the way, I love all kinds of music. I love rock, R&B and rap. For me, if it’s good, it’s good. It doesn’t matter who did it or where it came from. I hoped that I could trust my instincts.
So to what do you attribute your huge success? There is a Canadian writer [Malcolm Gladwell], who wrote a book called ‘The Outliers’. His whole premise was that to truly become great at something, you need to put in 10,000 hours of work. And if you find anyone who’s become truly great at what they do, they have put in that amount of time. There is that mixed with the practical application of doing things enough and focusing enough. You learn by osmosis and your experience helps you to grow. Then by the time you get your opportunity, you’re ready. I think that probably had a lot to do with it for me. Number one, I loved it. I had a passion for the music and the songs, and all of that. But I did the work; I practised, I sang, and I studied. I took it all in and I digested it as much as possible and downloaded it as much as possible in every kind of genre.
What do you think of your army of fans? That word ‘fan’ is derogatory, I don’t like it. I think it’s sort of fanatical, and these people are not fanatical. They’re my family, and my equals and they’re the reason I have everything I have. I think these are beautiful human beings who need as much love, and who give as much love, as anybody else.
How do you feel when people say your music has affected their lives? It allows me to have an even greater sense of fulfilment when people come up to me and tell me how my music has impacted or affected their lives. More than anything, I have had servicemen
And what are your thoughts on fatherhood? I love my boys and I’m close with my boys, but it’s not the same as with my daughter. Everyone told me it would be different, and I was like, ‘No, no it won’t be.’ And it’s different. She looks at me with those big blue eyes and I’m toast.
Is it true you have an ice hockey rink in the basement of your house? Yes, I love it. I hate going to the gym but when you skate, it’s exercise, it’s just a lot more fun.
You are reported to have had a bit of a career crisis. Tell us about that. Yeah, you know, it’s funny. I think I didn’t want to let people know but I wasn’t good. I think I lost my love of all of it. I’m just talking about a sense of the profession. I had lost my perspective, really lost my perspective. And the joy and the ease and the sort of this thing of everything was getting bigger and bigger, I think I started to…I don’t know how to say it, I was having no fun. None. Zero. When I say no fun, I could enjoy like anything… but my decisions artistically whether they worked or not has nothing to do with it, but were based on fear, the fear of losing it, the fear that it was going to go away, that it wasn’t going to be as big, that I felt like I started to… I cared about what people thought, what they were saying, what the internet was saying, what the critic was saying and I just kind of lost my way a bit. And if I hadn’t gotten the diagnosis [his eldest son Noah was diagnosed with cancer in 2016], if it all hadn’t ended, I don’t think it would have ended well anyway. Does that make any sense? I think I was headed for a great downfall.
Tell us about Noah’s diagnosis. Yeah as I was having this career crisis, the diagnosis came and all of a sudden it was like I was sitting in like another dimension and this crisis I was feeling, all of a sudden this film that I had over me just popped. And this clarity, I was like, ‘What are you worried about asshole? You’re worried about this? What the internet said? Or some fan? Or how many tickets or if the song is number two
LIVE24-SEVEN.COM
CE L EBRIT Y INTERVI EW MICHAE L BUBL É
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