BREAK OUT THE BUBLÉ
After his son’s recovery from a major health scare, the Canadian crooner is on tour again and laughing over his wife’s reaction to his singing
WHEN rumors surfaced last fall that Michael Bublé would be retiring from music, the jazz-pop crooner was as shocked as anyone.
“It was a surprise, to be honest with you,” Bublé tells The Post. “I know the truth. And the truth is, I didn’t have a choice but to step away for a couple years there.” But after taking an extended break from music to focus all of his energy on his 5-year-old son Noah’s battle with liver cancer — which, after being diagnosed in 2016, is now in remission — the singer’s back in a big way: On Wednesday in Sarasota, Fla., he kicked off a nine-month arena world tour, “An Evening with Michael Bublé,” that hits Madison Square Garden Wednesday and then Prudential Center on Feb. 23. The concert trek, in support of his new album “Love” — a collection of romantic lushness that dropped in November — returns to the Garden in July.
“It’s nice to be back, that’s for sure, dude,” says Bublé, 43, over the phone from Tampa, Fla., earlier this week. “I’m emotional about it. It means a lot to me to be able to step back onstage and get to do what I do.”
And no, the four-time Grammy winner, who last toured the US in 2014, isn’t worried about dusting off any rust on hits such as “Home” and “Haven’t Met You Yet.” For him, that would be sweating the small stuff.
“I think what I’ve gone through has given me the perspective to understand how lucky I am, and I think that changes everything,” says Bublé, who, with his wife, Argentinian
actress Luisana Lopilato, has two other children, 3-year-old Elias and 6-month-old Vida. “I think that makes it a true joy for me to be able to go and do what I do.
“Very clearly, I know what’s important, and it really gives me an opportunity to enjoy myself even more,” he says. “Enjoying myself and being in the moment was never a massive issue. It’s just even more blissful now.”
Indeed, after his family ordeal, the swinging Canadian singer has been cutting loose and having some laughs. Bublé recently appeared with comedian Aparna Nancherla in a Super Bowl commercial for the soda Bubly that pokes fun at his own last name. (Don’t forget where the emphasis goes with that accent when pronouncing Bublé.)
In October, the singer had his “Carpool Karaoke” moment on “The Late Late Show With James Corden,” during which he and the host did a bit of George Michael’s “Faith,” complete with an homage to the iconic video. “He and I threw on the George Michael wig — you know, big hair — and sunglasses and the [leather] jacket and an earring each,” says Bublé. “It was a lot of fun.”
But while he’s celebrating life in general these days, he isn’t big on Valentine’s Day — even though he covers “My Funny Valentine” on “Love.” “I just had to ask my friend what day [Valentine’s Day] was because I’ve never had a great sense of occasion,” Bublé says. “Somebody said, ‘Hey, what are you doing for your wife?’ And I said, ‘For what?’
“Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever really celebrated on that commercial day . . . I just don’t love being told by the establishment that this is the day you need to be kind, or this is the day you need to be romantic.”
In fact, he says, he’s not the romantic that you might expect from his music and dapper image. “As I get older and I’ve gone through these experiences in life, I think I’m really nostalgic, I think I’m really sentimental,” he says. “But I don’t know if the word is ‘romantic.’”
Bublé’s sentimental streak definitely shows when it comes to his choice for all-time favorite love song: “Always on My Mind,” which he memorably covered on 2007’s “Call Me Irresponsible.”
“That [song] kills me,” he says. “I think it’s really emotional. I mean, talk about . . . all of these incredibly dramatic parts of ourselves. It’s a beautiful song, all wrapped within the most perfect melody. And we’ve all been there, man. We wish we could have that person back.”
One song he would probably never cover is “In My Feelings” — or any other tune by his fellow Canadian, Drake, maybe the hottest artist in the business. “I’m a fan of all of my fellow Canadians, and it makes me really proud that the guy is doing well,” says the British Columbia-born Bublé, who hosted the Juno Awards — Canada’s version of the Grammys — last year. “But I don’t know if I could name you [one Drake song], and I don’t know if he could name a song of mine. But we’re probably aware of each other.”
Bublé, now based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, isn’t the only musical one in the family: Lopilato, whom he wed in 2011, starred in “Rebelde Way,” a telenovela about a pop group that spawned several albums. “And it was huge in Latin America,” Bublé says.
But — sorry to spoil the fantasy, ladies — you’d never catch him serenading the missus: “No, I don’t think so. I think my wife would cringe if I did that.”