Bublé can craft songs, now he’s trying hand at fragrances
Michael Bublé comes on the line speaking a string of Spanish before turning his attention to the media call with his hometown newspaper that has just been patched through to his Argentina home via a contact at a U.K. press office.
The slightly comical irony presented by the long-distance workaround is not lost on Bublé.
“I find it completely fascinating that I just had to call London just so they could return the phone call all the way back to my hometown,” he says. “Of course, instead of me just calling you.”
We’re only 15 seconds into our interview and two things are apparent: The Burnaby-born crooner is busy juggling his roles as a husband, father of two and an international superstar; and, these days, he’s keeping a critically close eye on how his time is being spent.
“Having kids gives you a different perspective on life, I think. And in a very basic way, it gave me a sense of what was important for me in my very personal life,” he says. “But there was something I felt deeply about the trajectory of where I was going in my career. I’m very proud of where I came from, but I was very deliberate about where I was going.”
That deliberate path has led him to releasing a new album, his first studio release in three years, and adding a new bullet point to his resume, one he never expected to add: Perfumer.
“It wasn’t really something I was jumping at the chance to do. I fought doing it, to be honest,” Bublé says of his foray into fragrances. “If it wasn’t done correctly, it would be tacky.”
If he was going to create a fragrance, Bublé says he had to be in complete control.
“I know there are a lot of fragrance deals out there where a company calls and they’re licensed to a celebrity’s name and the celebrity gets the money and they smile, and then they sell the product. And I had no interest in any of that,” he said. “If I was going to do this, it was going to be for solid reasons.”
So, what was the motivation behind creating By Invitation?
“Number 1, it was a great opportunity in a changing landscape in a business where it’s just harder and harder to connect with your audience. Everything has become so diversified and it was a great chance to be invited into the homes and lives of many people who may not know about me or maybe haven’t had the inclination to give my music a chance,” he says. “And secondly, the fact that I could be in control.”
Crafting a fragrance seemed somewhat familiar to Bublé.
“I actually got to go to a laboratory with perfumers and I actually got to create the fragrance,” he says. “The creative process wasn’t that different from writing songs, to be honest with you. When I write a song I take many different notes and combinations and I take these wonderful notes and I try to complete a harmony in the hopes that something complex sounds effortless.”
Described in a news release as “a glamorous floral oriental gourmand, encompassing the iconic flowers of love,” the fragrance includes top notes of red fruits and bergamot layered over heart notes of lily of the valley, wild jasmine and peony, all on a warm base of sandalwood musk and vanilla.
“I’ve always been a fan of something that wasn’t too strong,” Bublé said. “I never wanted something as a women’s fragrance that was so floral it made me think of my grandmother. Nor did I want something that was so sweet that I mistook kissing my wife for being in high school.”
The resulting scent is alluring at first spritz with a candied undertone that’s sweet but not sickly. As it warms and develops on skin, its musky, unisex base wears in a pleasantly complex way.
“I want women, and don’t misquote me, I want women to feel confident, sexy and alive,” Bublé said. “That’s how I want women to feel every day of their lives — and that’s without a fragrance.
“I hope they think my fragrance is pretty. But I don’t expect it to change lives.”