Robbie Williams has revealed that his new album ‘Britpop’ features a co-write with former Take That bandmate Gary Barlow all about Morrissey‘s stalker.
- Read More: Check out Robbie Williams’ exclusive ‘British Pop’ playlist for NME and new single ‘Spies’
The pop icon hosted an exclusive playback of his upcoming 13th solo studio album at central London’s infamous Groucho Club last night (Tuesday August 19), where he was interviewed by comedian Joe Lycett.
As well as announcing his “smallest-ever ticketed gig” at Camden’s Dingwalls – where he’ll be playing ‘Britpop’ in full alongside his classic ‘Life Thru A Lens‘ – he also revealed the album’s star-packed list of collaborators and shared details of a new song about Morrissey.
The Groucho was a notable choice of venue, given that ‘Britpop’ harks back to Robbie’s ‘90s roots, when the club was synonymous with celebrity hedonism. Pulp‘s Jarvis Cocker, Oasis‘ Noel Gallagher and Blur’s Alex James have all been members.
During the chat, Williams revealed that as well as Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi (who appears on previously released first single ‘Rocket’), the new album features “a couple of songs” with Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes and one with Coldplay’s Chris Martin.
He also explained that former Take That bandmate Gary Barlow co-wrote the new song ‘Morrissey’, which was confirmed to be on ‘Britpop’ when Williams shared the tracklist last month.
Asked what it was like to collaborate with Barlow, Williams replied: “I’ve collabbed with Gary on a lot of tracks, actually! It’s great because that particular track is a song made by Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow, about Morrissey.”
Social media wags have widely claimed that Williams looks like the former Smiths singer nowadays – with Williams also recently singing along to Morrissey’s classic ‘Suedehead’ on Instagram. Referring to Morrissey’s countless controversial statements, Lycett said of the track: “It surprised me because it’s really tender. You’re very considerate about him in a way that I wouldn’t be.”
Robbie replied: “Well, the reason I’m considerate about him is because I’m writing it from the point of view of a stalker. It’s somebody that’s stalking Morrissey and is completely obsessed and in love with him.”
Asked how he’s finding the European leg of his Britpop Tour, which Lycett described as “fairly relentless”, Williams replied: “It is fairly relentless but I am really, really ambitious still and I have a burning desire to be quite good at what I do, which is lucky because people pay good money to come and see me. I am full of purpose; I have a burning desire to not let me down and not let them down.
“By the applause at the end of the show, it feels like I’m not, so that’s good – and they might come back!”
This led him to announce the gig at the 600-capacity Dingwalls, which will take place on Thursday October 9, the day before the release of ‘Britpop’. A press release later described it as “the most intimate show of Robbie’s career”.
“I’ve been told it’s your smallest-ever gig?” Lycett asked.
“Smallest-ever ticketed gig,” Williams corrected him, “because there was lot of shows with Take That where it was one man and his dog, and they hadn’t paid to come – and neither were we! But yeah… I am going back to the start.
“I’m gonna play the whole of ‘Life Thru a Lens’ [his 1997 debut solo album] and then I’m gonna play the whole of my new album, too. So it’s lulling them into a false sense of security and then having to do the bit for me. It’s not for them – it’s for me.”
Lycett noted that it’s been said that ‘Britpop’ is the album Williams wanted to write and released after he left Take That in 1995, and asked: “In what way?”
“Well, I’ve kind of been musically a bit aimless for a little while,” replied Williams, “because I haven’t known, really, what to do. I’ve chased yesterday an awful lot, which happens.
“Fortunately for me, I was in the pocket for so long and my rise was so long. And then when commercial radio or whatever stops playing you, you think, ‘Shit! What was it that I did?’ And then you look backwards. I’ve just spent the last 15 years looking backwards.
“And I just think with this album, if I am gonna look backwards, I might as well just clear the decks, go back to the start and head off from there.”
At one point, chatting to members of the audience about their memories of the Groucho, Williams – who was formerly addicted to drugs and alcohol and has been sober for more than 20 years – quipped: “I’ve forgotten an awful lot about the ‘90s. The ‘90s was a good year.”
The ‘Britpop’ album cover features the famous photo of Williams at Glastonbury Festival in 1995, when he donned a red Adidas tracksuit and bleach-blonde hair, with one tooth blacked out.
“I’ve worn a lot of clothes – we all have,” Williams stated. “And you would think that out of everything I’ve worn, there would be several iconic moments. And it turns out there’s only one… For some reason, that has stayed in the hearts and minds of quite a few people that have seen it.”
Williams has proved something of a Renaissance man of late, having hosted a solo art exhibition, entitled Radical Honesty, at London’s Moco Museum.
Explaining the appeal of his art career, he said: “Back in the day when I used to frequent this place, my modus operandi was nihilism and hedonism, and hedonism just made me fat. I had to do something about that. My whole sobriety was actually based in vanity. There was also gonna be death, too, but it was vanity first, death second.
“I realised that I had the kind of makeup and the kind of mind that, left unattended and unguarded, its natural north is to do things that are very, very bad for me. So I have to train my brain to do other things – like an errant pet. So I create every day, all day.
“And that has been my modus operandi now… whether that be music, melody, poetry and… we’ll call it, loosely, art. It has to exist in a place called ‘art’. I don’t really see it as art, but the closest thing to it is the art industry.
He also shared a somewhat obscure desire to build hotels that encompass “a universe of entertainment”, adding: “I want the entertainment industry to be someone’s Plan A and Plan B.”
Williams is due to release ‘Human’, the third single from ‘Britpop’, tomorrow (August 21). “[It’s] a song that I’ve written about AI,” he revealed, “and what we are being told about AI and our fears about AI. We are being told that we are all about to be replaced and we need clothes and we need food, so there’s a chance that we will be removed. Whether it is a prophecy, we shall see…”
Before departing the stage, ahead of the album playback, he joked: “Am I paying for the bar? Enjoy!”
Unfortunately, it was all but impossible to actually hear ‘Britpop’ over the din of chattering media types, but it’s clearly very guitar-based, as Williams suggested it would be back in 2022.
Although largely fast-paced, the album also features mellower tracks such as one that sees Williams duet with a female singer over melancholic washes of synth and muted, downbeat percussion. There’s also a disco-style track and one on which he sing-raps, while there’s a lyrical callback to 1997’s ‘Angels’, his biggest hit to date: “It offers me protection.”
Last month, Williams shared an exclusive ‘British Pop’ playlist for NME, which featured the likes of Placebo, Morrissey and David Bowie.
Speaking to NME about his guitar-heavy new sound earlier this summer, Williams revealed: “I was playing it safe and I’ve not been driving my own car. I’ve not had my hands on the wheel through second-thinking myself and guessing what people like. I just wanted to do something that I like.”
After recently completing his summer ‘Britpop’ UK stadium tour as it continues to roll through Europe, Williams will headline Come Together Festival in Newcastle on August 20. Visit here for tickets and more information.
Williams will release ‘Britpop’ on October 10. Pre-order it here. Fans who pre-order the album will receive early access to future UK 2025 live dates