HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Michael Bublé knows better than to mess with a winning formula.
The 34-year-old Canadian crooner is back with his fourth studio album, this time mixing in two original songs to go along with 10 takes on such classics as "Cry Me a River" and "Georgia on My Mind." While he's sticking to the same script that has helped him sell more than 22 millions albums worldwide, Bublé insists fans will hear a difference on his new release, titled "Crazy Love," which drops on Friday.
"I started this record knowing I was going to record it differently than my previous ones," the Grammy-winning artist says. " I dug way deeper and was more introspective on this one. Basically, I sang the truth — made each song autobiographical — and you can definitely hear the difference."
To get there, Bublé says he leaned on history.
"I went back to the way my idols made their records. I wanted an organic feel — so people could feel like they were in the studio with me," he says. "The musicians and I all sat in the room, recorded it right from the floor and we let the sounds all come together and bleed into one another. It's not contrived. Not too perfect. It just feels really good."
The first track off the album, the original single "Haven't Met You Yet," offers up playful melodies with an optimistic message. Much of the rest, you could say, is true Bublé — plenty of heartbreak and lamenting over love, perhaps with an assist from his summer 2008 breakup from actress Emily Blunt that happened during recording.
"One of the great challenges of a song stylist is to take highly familiar songs like 'Stardust' and 'Georgia On My Mind' already recorded by hundreds of artists and ask myself, can I bring something special to this song? Otherwise why waste everyone's time in the studio — just go get drunk and sing at a Karaoke bar — and I've done that too!"
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