Yep, Bublé's still got it. It doesn't have to be either revolutionary or even remotely different from what has come before – Michael knows his niche and sticks to it.
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Who knew Canada had such a big impact on the music scene? Not only is teen pop sensation Justin Bieber dominating the world with a new bad boy persona, eighteen-year-old Shawn Mendes is already on his second album, Carly Rae Jepsen’s B-sides are still amongst the best pop of the year, KAYTRANADA is popping up with production work on album standouts for everyone from Craig David to Chance The Rapper in the wake of his own debut, and thunderous social commentary from July Talk is soon to tour the UK with Catfish And The Bottlemen. But none of them can beat the King of Smooth, Mr. Michael Bublé, whose succulent vocals could seduce the Virgin Queen or the most extreme homophobic men of America’s deep South.
Nobody But Me is Bublé’s ninth studio album and it’s safer than ever to say that he knows what he’s doing, for he is a veteran in the music industry compared to this breed of infants. Fortunately, you need not fear that his sound has either become boring or found itself in a rut, as Nobody But Me is a wonderful mix of new music and golden covers comprising the smoothest love ballads and the most upbeat pop. Rather ironically titled, to say that the album features nobody but Bublé would be extremely factually incorrect. For the first time ever (in ‘Someday,’ is a romantic duet with young Meghan Trainor and a mildly unnerving age gap) he sings an original song in which he played no role in writing, instead leaving those duties to Trainor and One Direction’s Harry Styles. (I’d love to hear that story.) He does, however, have writing credits on the two biggest tracks of the album: the groovy-for-all-generations title track and the heartwarming, uplifting opener ‘I Believe In You.’
Like much of the rest of the album, ‘Today Is Yesterday’s Tomorrow’ is good fun and easy listening, although far from revolutionary, and ‘The Very Thought Of You’ is as smooth as honey on the ears, transporting you back to the most romantic of memories. With rich baritone showcases like his cover of ‘On An Evening In Roma (Sott’er Celo De Roma),’ his wife’s favourite track, Nobody But Me will easily gift romantic restaurants some new serenades for their Spotify playlists and, just in time for Christmas, the path is clear for this winter to once again be Bublé’s own.
Nobody But Me is out now via Reprise Records
