Entertainment

Nick Lachey would rather not talk about his personal life at this time, thank you very much.

Which is understandable. If you'd starred in a reality show with Jessica Simpson that broadcast your every intimate moment to the masses, you might also grow a bit weary of the whole thing. Especially since said intimate moments went awry, resulting in the Newlyweds becoming no-longer-weds.

Olaf Heine

Nick Lachey

So it's better to talk about his work. Which, ironically, is about his personal life.

"I wrote eight of the 12 songs," on his latest album What’s Left of Me, he said in a recent phone interview. The tour for same comes to Nokia Theatre Saturday night.

He’s most proud that he could be so honest "during a difficult time in my life. For me it was a great release to be able to throw myself into the record and the lyrics. That’s the only way I know how to write — to speak from the heart and about things that motivate me in life."

So what's in his heart? Both resolve and regret. It doesn't take a psychic, for example, to figure out who the "you" is in his song "I Can't Hate You Anymore." A sampling:

"We built it up,
To watch it fall
Like we meant nothing at all
I gave and gave the best of me,
But couldn't give you what you need."

So that's sad. But Mr. Lachey is in a better frame of mind now, thanks in part to being on tour.

"I enjoy traveling," he says. "But more than anything, it's just the idea of being out onstage, seeing the crowd enjoying the show. I like the instant gratification of hearing their screams and applause."

He first got a taste for all of that in the '90s, as part of the boy band 98 Degrees. He has leftover fans from those days, "but I also see that the audience has expanded. My audience skews quite a bit older than it used to, and there are male faces in the crowd now."

Rather than relying on boy-bandesque pyrotechnics and flash, Mr. Lachey says his new show is more intimate.

"I want the show to be interactive," he says, "as opposed to people watching this spectacle happening in front of them."

During the song "Slave," for example, he picks a woman out of the audience to serenade. Most of the time, the lucky winner is picked at random, "unless there's someone in a specific city I feel like embarrassing," he says. (During a recent stop, he brought rumored girlfriend Vanessa Minnillo onstage.)

"Most people don't really know how to respond to it," he says of his up-close crooning. "I had one girl try to throw her legs over my head. It was all in fun."

Mr. Lachey takes most things in stride, although he admits that with fame, "you do lose a bit of your privacy." Not that he's complaining.

"One thing that happened as a result of the TV show is that people feel they know me, maybe as opposed to other celebrities, which is great," he says. And they do pretty much know him; he's tried to remain the same Nick Lachey he's always been.

"There's no way I want to be defined as just my career," he says. "My friends still think of me as the same guy I was 10 years ago. Which is exactly the way I want them to think of me."

After the tour ends, Mr. Lachey, who's a part-time actor, will be working on a couple of TV shows for pilot season. And speaking of TV: Now that brother Drew has won Dancing With the Stars, has the show offered him the chance to vie for the disco-ball trophy?

"Not officially," he says. "I think they know I'm not interested. My family has already paid that piper. I know my strengths, and they don't lie on the dance floor."

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