When Michael Bublé released his 2018 album, Love, he was still healing from the trauma of his son’s cancer battle. But today, Michael says he and his family are happy and healthy, and he’s just made his best album ever: Higher.

“My whole family are starting to heal and breathe, and this record was just me loving my life and me being in love with the music and…the collaborators,” Michael tells ABC Audio. “It’s a love letter, it really is. It’s just such a snapshot of where I am in my life, and I just have so much to be grateful for.”

Michael feels that way about Higher in part because he let go of his perfectionist tendencies and opened himself up to working in a new way, with new people.  Michael’s longtime musical director suggested he shake things up, and at first, Michael was insulted — but then, he was inspired.

“What ended up happening…was, I didn’t just make music that was fresh for the audience, I ended up making music that was fresh for me,” Michael explains. “And I think it came as a big surprise to me how much I enjoyed this process of letting go.”

One of those new collaborators was Sir Paul McCartney, who produced Michael’s version of one of Paul’s songs, “My Valentine.” 

“He’s so cool and so slick…he just really brought everyone up to his level,” raves Michael, adding that he asked McCartney to work on the record “not for all the things he’s done…[but] because of all the things he can do. And he did them!”

“And now I have the greatest music of my lifetime,” Michael concludes, noting that, after 20 years, “to come up with something that is easily my best work is pretty mind-blowing to me.”

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