It's not up online yet so I'll have to type it out.

 

 

Is reality TV LIBERATING?

From Pop Idol to theatre star to autobiographer: Will Young is the master of reinvention. Lauren Laverne hears how it all started with just wanting to find his voice.

 

It's January. Readers might be thinking about making changes. So I thought I'd ask you about going from Pop Idol to starring in Cabaret at The Soho Theatre. A big jump. How does it feel?

 

Amazing. I'm now exactly where I wanted to be 10 years ago. I've done the record bit, which I'm really proud of, that was mainstream, but also credible. I'm part of a West End show that is also mainstream, but credible. That's the challenge of my job. Because I am - I want to be - a mainstream performer, but I want to do something that I find believable, exciting and interesting, and also I want as many people as possible to see, hear or read it.

 

What advice would you give to someone who wants to change their career?

 

I think it's all about intention. If your intention is right and honest and comes from a great place, you'll always get the best out of it.

 

Did people find your transition to acting easy to accept?

 

No. The other day I read 'former pop star now excelling in Cabaret'. People put you in a bracket. It's just the way it is.

 

Cabaret shows a different side to you - the MC you play is wild...

 

Mental. I have a breakdown on stage. I could do anything to the audience, it's liberating. As a pop star, you have to watch yourself - I don't now. I had to burp last night because I'd just had an egg sandwich. I just did it to the audience. right in their face, front row.

 

It's also a chance to reveal your witty side. As is your new autobiography, Funny Peculiar. What do you hope people take away from that?

 

A more honest version of what it is to do my job. So many people sit there saying, 'I don't have any insecurities, I don't mind if I win, or if I'm asked to this party or not'. It's bollocks! I've gone through thinking certain things were important - being devastated when I wasn't papped! [Laughs] Having said a year previously, 'My life is not my own!' I wanted to write something true. It's funny, but real life. A third of the proceeds are going to go to depression charities.

 

Was becoming famous overnight hard to deal with alongside your depression?

 

I took me five years, but there was no way I was going to let the job go. Even though I was working out all this other shit, I always knew the most important stuff was what I wanted to do with my career.

 

I can't imagine you being on today's X Factor.

 

God, Pop Idol looks like Eurovision from the 1970s!

 

What are your thoughts on reality TV?

 

It's what you make of it. I'd never sung with a microphone! Within me was somebody desperate to sing, to have a voice. That's very apparent in the book. I was like a child holding a microphone in my first live audition thinking 'This is fantastic'. It liberated me.

 

Is onstage the place you feel happiest?

 

Yes, it's changing now, though. At work I can say, 'No, that's not happening', and I don't walk away and think 'Should I have done that?'. But in other areas I think, 'Should I have said that? Was I rude to that waiter?!' Work was always an area I had 100% belief in.

 

That's probably what's carried you through.

 

I think so. There's always been this need to express things. I don't know why, though. I've done a lot of therapy and I still don't know why.

 

There is one quarter page piccy of Will sitting on the back of a seat, and three smaller shots in a film strip format of him and Lauren. This was Tweeted by Lauren at the end of last month:

 

@laurenlaverne def. need to give the musical genre a go with will young in cabaret pic.twitter.com/jxa8wOHl

 

I notice she's got the theatre wrong :rolleyes:

 

The other day I read 'former pop star now excelling in Cabaret'.

 

I remember that one! Thought he didn't read reviews :lol:

 

A third of the proceeds are going to go to depression charities.

 

I do hope it sells well.

Thanks for taking the time to type the article out munchkin.

 

Credibility is very important to Will isn't it?

munchkin - thanks for typing that lot out. :D Like you I didn't think he read about himself in the press, and I hadn't realised that a 1/3rd of the proceeds of FP will be going to depressive charities. As you say I hope it sells a shedload.

 

Editing to say I love that piccy - adoration from Lauren :lol: :wub:

Edited December 5, 201212 yr by chrysalis

Thanks for taking the time to type the article out munchkin.

 

Credibility is very important to Will isn't it?

The dictionary definition is:

"Worthy of belief, trustworthy".

 

So, yes, I can see why he wants credence for his work, as he has had to fight hard over the past 10 years for the respect he now gets. And yet he seems to be the only alumnus of talent shows who hasn't tried to shake off his start.

 

I see Olly Murs is still banging on about not being given the recognition he considers he deserves, blah blah blah and reckons XFactor may be holding him back from getting that.

 

If I am honest, I don’t really get the credit or the adulation or respect I deserve.

 

‘There are only a few male artists in this country who have done as well in the past two or three years, and yet they are the ones who are getting all the awards and adulation. I just get the label “He’s from The X Factor”, which is quite sad.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...l#ixzz2EBW4MChp

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Well, if that's the case, then bloody leave the show and all it's promotional opportunities Olly and go it alone. :rolleyes:

Thanks munchkin :D

My heart bleeds for him. :lol:

Will is still called "Pop Idol" even after all these years, but I've never heard him really complain, nor have I heard Will "blow his own trumpet". And it's taken all these years' hard work, and all the knocks, for Will to finally reach the point where he has credence.

 

 

My heart bleeds for him. :lol:

Will is still called "Pop Idol" even after all these years, but I've never heard him really complain, nor have I heard Will "blow his own trumpet". And it's taken all these years' hard work, and all the knocks, for Will to finally reach the point where he has credence.

 

Absolutely. As he has said many times - respect can't be demanded it has to be earned.