Michael Buble is a singer and not a dancer. However, when it comes to his music videos, he likes to add a little bit of everything to the mix.
This meant when he wanted to have a lot of dancing in his music video for Higher, he called the one person he knew could help him more than anyone.
What he didn’t expect was that person, Dancing with the Stars legend Derek Hough, would break him.
Michael Buble said Derek Hough broke him
Michael Buble had another major dancer in the music video with him, as he danced with Hayley Erbert. As fans know, Derek and Hayley have been dating for a few years now.
What Michael had in mind was to create some choreography that would impress even the Dancing with the Stars judges. That meant calling in Derek to help him put this music video together.
“They broke me,” Michael told Entertainment Tonight, “Seven days of rehearsal, lifting her, and she’s a tiny thing, but lift her over and over again? And, about two days in, I went like, ‘Oh, Derek, my neck is a little bit sore.’ And I could see he looked at me weird.”
Michael said he worked through the pain. That turned out to be a bad idea.
“Now I know, months later, that when he looked at me weird, that look was, ‘Oh, s**t, you’re in trouble, Buble,” the singer said. “Tomorrow, I go get my second MRI.”
Michael said that the intense work and not stopping caused him to tear a bicep – but he doesn’t blame Derek at all.
“It’s my fault, man,” Michael said. “He kept saying things like, ‘No, no, no, don’t lift. Don’t lift with your legs, just let’s keep your legs.’ And I was like, ‘How do I lift?’ But I kept doing it.”
Michael finished by laughing it off, calling himself an “old, feeble man.”
Michael and Derek reconnected on American Idol
Derek Hough showed up on American Idol as a mentor, someone who could really help the singers know how to position themselves when they perform on stage.
While working with Christian Guardino, Derek knew that the singer was struggling with confidence. He pulled out his phone and said he wanted a friend to hear Christian sing and then called up Michael Buble on Facetime.
It was all it took to give Christian the confidence he needed to continue.
Dancing with the Stars is on hiatus. The dancing reality competition series will return in late 2022 to its new home on Disney+ streaming.