Multiplatinum singer, songwriter and “American Idol” judge Lionel Richie is also a “hopeless horticulturalist.” On Wednesday, he will release his second fragrance, Easy Like Sunday Morning, named after his namesake hit song from 1977 and filled with fruity and floral notes.
The inspiration? His garden.
“If you know anything about me, when I have my days off, I’m in somebody’s park or someone’s backyard,” Richie told WWD. It’s among the flowers where he finds inspiration for both his lyrics and perfumes. “I go into the garden and find fragrances that I love and bring them to the consumer. Bring them to people.”
Easy Like Sunday Morning was born as a “natural progression” of Richie’s creativity and perfume obsession. “I am probably the most involved person on the planet when it comes down to what it is going to smell like. How is it going to make me feel? And, more importantly, is it something that’s going to be able to attract people to where you go?” he said. “My songwriting, you know, I have three minutes and 45 seconds, I have to set a mood, and fragrance is the same way.”
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For Richie, a perfect Sunday morning smells serene, blissful and relaxing. The garden-inspired scent is similar to one that reminds him of his daughter Sofia Richie’s wedding. “Sofia’s wedding was so beautiful. I mean she had enough flowers that it could just kind of make a flower garden for the rest of my life,” the self-proclaimed “proud papa” said. “I remember she had more roses than I’ve ever seen before in my life,” Richie completed, revealing that the smell of roses will always take him back to the South of France, where the ceremony occurred in April.
Speaking of scent memory, Richie described the smell of King Charles III’s coronation, where he performed in May, as sophisticated and powerful. “You can’t get into more pomp and circumstance and more elegance,” he said. When it comes to Las Vegas, where the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is going back with his tour “King of Hearts” in October, Richie defined the smell of the city as sexy. “I won’t say it’s loud, I will just say it’s in your face. It’s…you know, everybody’s trying to be seen, heard.”
Richie shares his passion for perfumes with his “American Idol” peer and “metro brother” Ryan Seacrest. “We’re the ones that will come in with our oils and our creams and our…you know, and we were talking about ‘Oh my god, what facial lotion are you using?’” the singer said. “And then Luke [Bryan, co-judge] will walk in, and clearly he is the hunter-fisher guy, so you probably will never say ‘Oh my god, Luke, what are you wearing?’ in terms of fragrance because that’s not his thing,” he continued. With Katy Perry, Richie said there’s always a surprise. “Katy is trying something different every day,” he told. “We tease her by saying, ‘Katy, what is that you’re wearing? What’s that?’”
Easy Like Sunday Morning will be available on HSN on Wednesday, with a bundle set retailing for $49.95, a 3.4-oz bottle for $59 and a 0.33-oz rollerball for $20. The new perfume follows the 2019 release of Hello, Richie’s first fragrance.
Applying the logic of hit-songs-inspired fragrances, fans can possibly wait for All Night Long coming next. “I won’t give it away, but I’ll say to you, you’re on the right path,” he teased.
The Grammy Award-winning singer’s foray into the perfume market is part of a plan to expand his brand. In 2016, he released the Lionel Richie Home Collection. Now, the goal is to launch products inspired by his grooming routine, “where you kind of see the whole rollout of my lifestyle in terms of health care and preventive and maintenance of your skin and body and health,” Richie said, adding that the new line will be available “shortly.”