Imagine navigating the intense spotlight of superstardom without the constant barrage of online judgment – Robbie Williams reflects on how social media might have been a career-ender in the 90s!
After an incredible three decades in the entertainment industry, the one and only Robbie Williams is back on tour, ready to bask in the glory of his latest achievement. His new album, Britpop, has soared to the number one spot, marking his 16th chart-topping release and officially breaking the record previously held by the legendary Beatles. As his 'Long 90s' tour kicks off this week, Robbie is taking a moment to truly appreciate this milestone.
He candidly shares a common British trait: "I think as British people we're very good at piercing the balloon of our own success and undercutting it and devaluing ourselves. It's what we do best. In many ways it's why we're great." However, with this particular success, he's determined to embrace it: "But with this one, I really want to let it sink in and I really want to stand in the middle of it and go, 'OK, success, do your thing to me'."
The tour is taking him back to smaller venues, reminiscent of the early days of his solo career. The 51-year-old reveals that 'Britpop' is the album he always envisioned making after his departure from Take That. This project sees him collaborating with some familiar faces, including former bandmate Gary Barlow, Gaz Coombes from Supergrass, and the iconic guitarist Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath.
But looking back at the Britpop era itself, Robbie has a complex relationship with it. While it was a period of immense professional triumph, it was also shadowed by deep personal struggles with depression. He recalls, "I was going through my own mental illness and anything good that's happening to somebody that is in the throes of depression... they can't experience joy and there were lots of incredible things happening and I couldn't experience joy from any of it."
Yet, with the passage of time, his perspective has shifted: "But now I look back at it and think, what a decade. The last great decade for popular culture because everything since then has become quite vanilla. You don't know 2007 from 2023, but you know the '50s, you know the '60s, you know the '70s you know the '80s and you know the '90s and so I look back and with a wry smile and say that the '90s was an amazing time to have a bad time."
Robbie has previously been open about his battle with stage fright, admitting to experiencing intense fear before stepping onto the stage. He shares that a significant turning point came with the birth of his first child, his daughter Theodora, affectionately known as Teddy, in 2012. "The world started to make sense because I'd been running away from responsibility and I should have been running towards it. And when things stopped being about me and started to become about precious souls, I started to realise I've got the best job in the world."
Williams also expresses a profound sense of contentment being back in the UK, especially after navigating a challenging period with the British press during the early stages of his solo career. He acknowledges, "I think that everybody knows, because we've seen it countless times, that if you are on the crest of a wave, the media comes to bring you down and attack you and malign you at every opportunity they can. And that is heavy and brings its own problems." He contrasts this with his current reality: "But that was then, I'm in a different place now. I'm left alone just to put my songs out and be married. There isn't anybody at my door trying to get pictures of me 24 hours a day or trying to pop microphones and bug my house or trying to hack my phone. There isn't any of that stuff that's happening anymore. This is what I thought it would be like when I set out on my journey when I was 16, I'm having an amazing time."
But here's where it gets controversial... the singer points out that one significant stressor he didn't have to contend with back then was social media. He firmly believes it would have "seen him off." He elaborates, "I get way too invested in finding the negative things, everybody does. I wonder if there's something wired in us where we go, ‘let's find the problem, let's find a threat and then we'll negate the threat.’"
And then, of course, there's the perennial question: will Robbie ever reunite with Take That, the band that launched his career? The group, now a trio of Gary Barlow, Mark Own, and Howard Donald, recently had their success explored in a Netflix documentary. Williams has hinted at the possibility of them "riding again" and expressed his deep affection for the documentary, stating he had an "overwhelming feeling of how much I love the boys."
Interestingly, February 13th marks 30 years since Take That's initial split, which also happens to be Robbie's birthday. When asked what he was doing on that significant day in 1996, he humorously replied, "Buying a Scalextric from Harrods," a far cry from the rock 'n' roll answer one might expect!
Having already broken a Beatles record and amassed more Brit Awards than any other artist, what's next for Robbie? He envisions building hotels with his own venues and then performing in them. He also dreams of creating a "university of entertainment," complete with a syllabus he's already devised. He sees it as a form of "revenge on education for somebody that never left that left school with nothing higher than a D to go in and revolutionise education."
Sign us up for the University of Robbie Williams!
Britpop by Robbie Williams is available now, and The Long 90s tour has just begun.
What do you think? Was the 90s truly the last great decade for popular culture, or has music and entertainment simply evolved into something different? And how would you have handled the pressures of fame in the age of social media? Share your thoughts below!
