WW L L INTERVIEW
AN INTERVIEW WITH ROBBIE WILLIAMS
From chart-topping anthems to cultural icon, Robbie Williams remains unapologetically himself. We sit down with the pop legend to talk legacy, reinvention and what still drives him today.
BY MARIE FITZSIMMONS
Robbie Williams has won more BRIT Awards than any other artist, and all but one of his studio albums have reached Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart. His debut studio album Life Thru A Lens, featured one of the biggest hits of Robbie ' s career, the million-selling Angels, which remarkably never made it to Number 1 but went on to be one of the UK ' s Top 100 best-selling songs of all time.
Following a string of Top 5 hits, Robbie Williams ' first solo Number 1 came in the form of Millennium in September 1998- the lead single from his highly-anticipated second studio album I ' ve Been Expecting You. Robbie went on to score seven UK Number 1 singles, and in January 2025 Official Charts announced that Robbie ' s 15th Number 1 album, Better Man, puts him level with The Beatles as the artists with most UK Number 1 albums in history. Wirral Life caught up with him ahead of his forthcoming tour.
The Long 90’ S 2026 UK tour will see you taking the new album Britpop on tour to smaller venues in February 2026, when was the last time you played in a small venue? 1997 I think was the last time that I had to do that! Thankfully I am choosing to, this is not where my career is at! It’ s been 30 years now since I put out my first album‘ Life Thru a Lens’ so I will be playing my first album beginning to end and then make everyone listen to my new album Britpop, which I will also play from beginning to end. I will be suckering you all in really, I will give you this but then I’ ll hit you over the head with this new stuff that I will make you listen to … Hopefully people will stay for the second bit!
How do you think you have evolved as are songwriter with your new album? I am a better lyric writer, melodically I’ m better and I should be, I’ ve had plenty of practise! My taste has got better over time, I think that when I started out in my solo career, I was a puppy with big paws that I hadn’ t grown into it. At the tender age of 51 I think I’ ve grown into my paws! I set out to create the album that I wanted to write and release after I left Take That in 1995. It was the peak of Britpop and a golden age for British Music. I’ ve worked with some of my heroes on this album; it’ s raw, there are more guitars and it’ s an album that’ s even more upbeat and anthemic than usual. There’ s some‘ Brit’ in there and there’ s certainly some‘ pop’ too – I’ m immensely proud of this as a body of work and I’ m excited for fans to hear this album.
What was it that wanted you to bring back the spirit of Britpop for the new album? I think I was playing it safe, I’ ve not been driving my own car, not had my hands on the wheel, and through second thinking myself and guessing what people like I just wanted to do something that I like! I recently met the guys from Soft Play, these lads appeal to the 14-year-old version of me that wanted to rage hard, be cool, shout and be aggressive in a kind way, which is what these guys are, I don’ t get to hang out with them as much as I would like to, but hopefully they can come on tour with me.
Your song Rocket features Tony Iommi. It’ s a brilliant track! How lucky am I to have him? The audacity, Black Sabbath featuring on a Robbie Williams song, God bless him for doing that and God bless me for my audacity!
Your song Desire is the official FIFA anthem! Music and football bring people together like nothing else, so I ' m beyond honoured to be the Official FIFA Music Ambassador. To perform ' Desire ' with Laura Pausini at the final of the FIFA Club World Cup™ and share that moment with fans in the stadium and all the fans watching from home around the world, will be a truly special moment. And it ' s just the start, I ' m so excited that my song will be a part of some of my favourite FIFA football tournaments in the coming years.
You won an Ivor Novello in May 2025, PRS for Music Icon Award. Was that a fitting honour? Yeah! I don’ t know which one of my fifteen number one albums did it, but if I look around and do brass tacks of the landscape of what I’ ve done and what I’ ve achieved; it’ s very interesting to be sat in a room where only you know that you do melodies and lyrics, bare your soul and be sensitive to the masses, and it’ s only you know which bit you’ re doing. I suppose over the years I haven’ t asked to be taken seriously and people have paid me in kind, so it is always very complicated when I win something that I’ m not known to really do. But I really do, I really do it!
You recently won AACTA Awards( Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards) for Best Film, Better Man. How did you feel about that? The story for these awards started for me in December 2024, I had been three of four months in the deepest darkest promo that would give a boyband member a nervous breakdown and in December I’ m halfway through, but the wheels start coming off on my quest. I heard the news that we had nominations that this award show had ever got, and it gave me the fuel to get through the rounds of what I was doing next; the aeroplanes, the countless interviews, the what’ s with the monkeys, the shaking hands, the passport controls and so on.
You made the film in Australia, didn’ t you? I feel very Australian and feel that my place of birth has been a mistake and I am Aussy and I should have been born there! I think the universe is yet again going,‘ yeah this is a story born in Stoke on Trent and features mainly Great Britian’, but it had to be made with Aussy hearts, Aussy minds and Aussy hands. That’ s perfect for me.
Your tour starts in February 2026, same month as your birthday. What do birthdays look like for you? Perfect birthday for me is waking up and the kids giving me a hug and the wife giving me a hug. After that just being left alone to my own devices is a perfect day! I also gave myself a present one year and got new teeth! I sort of smile downwards, like a smirk smile and because I had yellow nubs from all the years of amphetamine and ravers abuse and didn’ t open my mouth at all and now, I’ m smiling with my teeth all the time! wirrallife. com 29