Michael Bublé has good manners. He demonstrates this politeness within the first five seconds of our conversation, insisting that we get to know each other before we "go any further here." A consummate romantic!
"Let me ask you a few questions, Mattie," he says.
"Oh," I say, stunning wit that I am. "Okay."
I hadn't expected it to go this way, exactly. Bublé is an award-winning crooner whose voice I know best from movie trailers. He probably has so many trophies that some have just ended up in the bathroom. He only has so many shelves, probably! I am a writer who once cried because she wasn't given a solo in a school play and has only 20 minutes to probe him on his debut fragrance. By Invitation is out now. Buy it! But anyway, fine, Michael. Proceed.
Bublé wants to know what fragrance I wear and what I like about it. He shrieks when I tell him I've been loyal to the same Diptyque scent since high school. "You're messing around with me, Mattie," he exclaims. "You're joking with me."
I'm not!
Bublé loves Diptyque, too. That's why he's all worked up. He wears Diptyque Tam Dao for which there will never be a substitute, never a replacement, never a second choice. It's Tam Dao or it may as well be Drakkar Noir. He's serious! He means it! And I believe him, but it's odd that we've now spent four minutes discussing it because time is a-ticking and he's supposed to be telling me about By Invitation.
I ask him whether he'd swap Tam Dao for By Invitation.
"I'm gonna leave it," Bublé says. "I'm not gonna switch." Michael explains that his wife has already claimed By Invitation.
"And it cannot be my wife and [me] wearing By
Invitation," Bublé reasons. "It wouldn't be right."
A gentleman!
"By the way, that was a huge deal for me in our house—that my wife loved it," he says. And he could tell that she really did like it, because what Bublé loves maybe most about her is that "she's tough as nails and she tells it like she sees it, and there would be no way that she wouldn't be completely honest right off the bat."
The entire development process was "nerve-wracking" for Bublé, because he really cared that she like it. Relax! She did!
"It really helped me a lot, because, of course, I did my very best," Bublé says. And while Michael created it and used his favorite scents as points of inspiration, he has to admit that scent is "so personal" and "everyone loves different stuff."
Anyway, there were a few scents that Bublé knew he wanted in By Invitation. He's drawn to vanilla, rose, patchouli, and sandalwood. "And by the way," he adds, "sandalwood is one of the ingredients in Tam Dao, the perfume that I love from Diptyque." Same.
"I love those elements and, actually, I was surprised to find out when I went to the lab...that there were that many notes that went into a fragrance like this," he said. "There's up to 70-something notes. You know, it's really complex."
Luckily, Bublé knew what fragrances he didn't like. Not every scent can be a sandalwood! "I knew I never wanted it to be too floral. I really didn't," he says. "And I [didn't] want it to be too sweet.... Certain fragrances—you know what I mean?—they become aged. I don't know how to say it. I feel like they're defined by the age of the person wearing it and I didn't want something that would make me think of my grandma, nor did I want to have a fragrance that made me think of the first girl I dated when I was 14." She smelled "like candy," according to Bublé.
Once he'd chronicled his likes and dislikes, he let the perfumers do what they do best. They developed three different versions. He liked two of them and loved one. And that was that.
"So, let's say somebody is trying to set the mood," I say. "He wants to have a romantic evening. And he's a fan."
"Oh my god, please god, no," Bublé protests.
I go on: He curates a playlist of Michael Bublé tunes. He sprays the perfume. What else does he need for several hours of Michael Bublé-inspired bliss?
"By the end of that sentence, I hate Michael Bublé already," Bublé says.
"You know what, Mattie? I think empathy is romantic. I think humor is romantic. Kindness is romantic. I think those kind of gestures of caring and love are romantic. And truly, I don't think it's about music or flowers or scent, you know? I don't think that's truly what makes a romantic evening."
Now we're talking!
"I think laughter and stimulating conversation are the things that truly make a romantic evening," he says. "And if you want to throw on some Michael Bublé music and wear a little bit of By Invitation, that won't hurt."
Honestly, it sounds like magic.
By Invitation is now available for purchase at HSN.
