Sydney11

A really lovely post & nice pic .. Source https://x.com/jasminedotiwala

Those sales numbers are dreadful, the split & confusion with the release dates certainly did not help. Having said that I absolutely love the album & is definitely in my top 5 favourites , maybe even number 1, The album reviews have been absolutely amazing & totally deserved so I think Robbie has to be in a really happy place right now. So far my favourite track on the album is Selfish Disco & I am amazed that is it one of the one of the bonus tracks & did not make the main album, it's such a great song. I also love Morrissey , a song that has a lovely tempo & a chorus that sticks in your head . Both of these songs should have been singles imo.

Source Robbie Williams surpasses The Beatles with the most Official UK Number 1 albums ever | Official Charts

Robbie Williams surpasses The Beatles to make chart history with 16 No.1 albumsby Andre Paine January 23rd 2026 at 5:10PM Robbie Williams has made chart history in the UK with his latest No.1 album, Britpop (Columbia Records). Scoring his 16th No.1 as a solo artist, Williams surpassed The Beatles to become the act with the most UK No.1 albums ever. Williams tied with The Beatles last year when the Better Man OST debuted at No.1. He has now set the new record with 13th studio album Britpop, the release of which was brought forward last Friday (January 16). Britpop debuted at No.1 with consumption of 34,157 units (16,536 CDs, 2,510 vinyl albums, 13,791 cassettes, 672 digital downloads and 648 sales-equivalent streams), according to the Official Charts Company. Robbie Williams’ only studio album not to reach the summit is 2009’s Reality Killed The Video Star, which peaked at No.2. On top of his solo success, Robbie Williams has also topped the chart as a member of Take That, being a full member of the band when Everything Changes (1993) and Nobody Else (1995) were No.1, and rejoining them for 2010 chart-topper Progress. He also contributed to most tracks on their 1996 No.1 compilation Greatest Hits and some on subsequent (2018) hits package, Odyssey. So Williams could claim up to 19, 20 or even 21 No.1 albums. The higher total is beaten only by Paul McCartney (23, including 15 with The Beatles). As revealed in Alan Jones’ Music Week charts analysis, Williams’ career album consumption as a soloist totals 21,108,856 units, with his top titles being Greatest Hits (2,684,529 units), I’ve Been Expecting You (2,630,892 units) and Swing When You’re Winning (2,466,945 units). Of those units, 17,281,259 have accrued in the 21st century, making him the No.1 artist of the era, with Coldplay (15,809,980 sales) as runners-up. Among solo artists, Williams’ nearest 21st century rivals are Ed Sheeran (14,988,419 sales) and Adele (13,467,216 sales). Robbie Williams’ solo No.1 albums: · Life Thru A Lens (1997) · I’ve Been Expecting You (1998) · Sing When You’re Winning (2000) · Swing When You’re Winning (2001) · Escapology (2002) · Greatest Hits (2004) · Intensive Care (2005) · Rudebox (2006) · In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990-2010 (2010) · Take The Crown (2012) · Swings Both Ways (2013) · The Heavy Entertainment Show (2016) · The Christmas Present (2019) · XXV (2022) · Better Man (2025) "Britpop is the record I’ve always wanted to make, and seeing it become my 16th No.1 album means everything to me,” Robbie Williams told Official Charts. “Thank you to all the fans who have been with me every step of the way. You’ve made my dreams come true." Martin Talbot, chief executive officer, Official Charts, said: “There are chart records and there are chart records – and Robbie Williams’ achievement today in securing his record 16th UK No. 1 album is simply extraordinary,” said Martin Talbot, CEO, Official Charts Company. “Not even the confident young 16-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent would have believed this were possible when he joined Take That back in 1990, but here he is, on top of the world, the UK’s No.1 album artist – of all time!” PHOTO CREDIT: Robbie Williams Robbie Williams surpasses The Beatles to make chart history with 16 No.1 albums | Talent | Music Week

Well done Robbie ❤️❤️❤️

Source Rob's Insta

Album Review: Robbie Williams – Britpop3 min read Robbie Williams’ accolades are far too extensive to repeat in one simple introduction, but for people in the UK at least his career is one of legendary proportions. Seven number one singles, twelve number one albums, countless awards and world records, and a movie of his life, all leading to him becoming one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Putting aside his success, he is also a very savvy businessman, and his new album Britpop is another venture born from a talented man with incredible drive and determination. Rocket opens the record with an intensity not seen from Robbie since the early 2000’s. Its high octane, rip-roaring rock, brought up massively by Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi on lead duties. Following that is the other initial single Spies which, while not having the same drive, delivers a punchy chorus and excellent vocal performance all round. Pretty Face brings back the more typical Britpop melody, in some ways reminiscent of a riff from Suede but simpler in construction. Cocky’s groove pulls you into swinging along to the sleazy guitar riff and occasional honky-tonk piano passages, while All My Life takes a power-ballad approach and puts you at the centre of a stadium concert. It will certainly become a singalong for Robbie’s future sets. Human, featuring Mexican pop duo Jesse & Joy, is the softest song in the track list, washing over the listener. It’s a gorgeous tune, showing that even with a rigid theme for the album’s sound there’s still wiggle room. Morrissey follows, co-written by Robbie’s Take That bandmate Gary Barlow and featuring him on backing vocals. It manages to take the sound one step further, with a bubbling synth line and drum machine, Robbie singing very empathetic lyrics about the titular singer. You brings the guitars back, sounding like a hybrid of Fontaines DC and Fat Dog, while It’s Okay Until the Drugs Stop Working goes backwards, taking inspiration from the likes of Roy Orbison musically. Pocket Rocket acts as a lovely full-circle conclusion to the main album, a calmer version of the opener. Britpop on the surface is a departure for Robbie, but upon listening you quickly realise that all of his signature elements are present and correct. Witty lyrics, perfectly formed songs, performed with gusto. There’s rockier instrumentation overall, sure, but this just makes the tracks feel timeless. Robbie, as always, is on fine form. Album Review: Robbie Williams – Britpop

Robbie Williams – ‘Britpop’ Review: A Jubilant Celebration of the Sound That Made HimBy Philip LoganJanuary 22, 2026 When Robbie Williams declares his musical intentions, he rarely does so half-heartedly – and with ‘Britpop’, his thirteenth studio album, he delivers a full-throttle, defiantly joyous homage to the sonic era that helped define British music in the 1990s. Out now via Columbia Records, this record isn’t merely a nostalgic exercise; it’s a boldly executed collision of swaggering guitars, anthemic hooks, and Robbie’s irrepressible personality. Right from the opening surge of ‘Rocket’ – fuelled by explosive guitar work from heavy rock legend Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) – Williams sets the tone for an album that wears its influences proudly while stamping them with his own pop prowess. The track’s swirling riffs and unrepentant energy signal that ‘Britpop’ is raw, upbeat, and purposefully unpolished in all the best ways. But this isn’t a one-trick retro act. Tracks like ‘Spies’ and ‘All My Life’ swirl retro indie textures with Robbie’s unmistakable vocal charisma, threading a clever line between affectionate tribute and pure pop invention. Lyrically, Williams navigates themes from fame and mortality to self-reflection, showing a matured songwriter who still knows how to connect with an audience. Collaborations across the album – from Coldplay’s Chris Martin to a memorable reconnection with Gary Barlow – add rich layers of melodic and emotional depth. Standouts like the reflective ‘Human’, featuring Mexican duo Jesse & Joy, showcase an artist comfortable stretching beyond the expected, balancing bombast with sincerity. What makes ‘Britpop’ special isn’t just its homage to a glorious British musical tradition, but also its unpredictability and heart. Whether you’re drawn in by the rollicking hooks or the playful swagger, Robbie’s undeniable charm binds it all together, reminding us why he remains one of Britain’s most beloved musical icons. On reflection, ‘Britpop’ feels less like a standard album and more like a mission statement: Robbie Williams leaning fully into his influences, reshaping them through his own unmistakable theatrical flair, and reminding us that – even decades into his career – he can still surprise, provoke, and genuinely delight. Robbie Williams - ‘Britpop’ Review: A Jubilant Celebration of the Sound That Made Him - CelebMix

His Under The Radar albums were amazing but of course only sold through his website so no idea of units sold

. Britpop: Robbie Williams Goes Full ’90s | Album Review MusicMusic Review Britpop: Robbie Williams Goes Full ’90s | Album ReviewBy Stephen Byrne Last updated Jan 21, 2026 Britpop as Boombox FantasyIn Cameron Crowe’s 1989 seminal coming-of-age teen comedy romance Say Anything, John Cusack declares his undying love for Iona Skye by serenading her with a boombox playing Peter Gabriel’s ‘In Your Eyes’. With Britpop, Robbie Williams has taken it one step further — as only he can — filling his boombox with songs he’s penned in the vein of Elastica, Supergrass and Suede. nods to Gary Numan, David Bowie and Nirvana and many others including Robbie Williams himself returning to the spirit of his debut Life Thru a Lens. But at its core Britpop is an audacious fun-filled Frankenstein’s monster of an album which repurposes lyrics and melodies from all of the above, unashamedly designed with winning the attention and approval of his idol Liam Gallagher. Chasing the Approval of Liam GallagherIn this sense Britpop finds Robbie Williams standing outside Liam Gallagher’s window declaring loudly and proudly that he wants to be more than just friends, he wants to be best friends. Britpop is an 11-track (stretching to 17 on the deluxe version) valentine, come audition tape for the approval and affection of the Oasis frontman. Cocky opener ‘Rocket’, featuring Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, could be construed as a shot across Yungblud’s bow that Williams isn’t prepared to pass his crown to him just yet, while ‘Spies’ sees Williams reminiscing about his wild days as a hard-drugging 90s pin-up. Homage, Pastiche, or Provocation?Standout ‘Pretty Face’ sees Williams revisit the type of radio-friendly man-band fare that propelled Take That’s reformation to the top of the charts on merit. Only here it pays homage to Kurt Cobain with a “hello, hello, hello” refrain and more than a hint of facsimile of a facsimile Elastica used to make themselves famous. Williams knows what he’s doing here. It’s a creative decision repeated throughout Britpop, designed to annoy the type of people who will never take him seriously regardless of what he does, while also highlighting that despite what you may think he actually a music fan who knows his tunes. Where Britpop HitsSongs like ‘All My Life’ and ‘Spies’ lean into his aforementioned love of Oasis, but unfortunately for Robbie Williams as much as he can write songs as good as Liam Gallagher can he can’t deliver them with the God given swagger Liam can, but on the basis of what’s on offer here Williams should clearly be giving the songs he writes that don’t suit his voice to other people be it Liam Gallagher, Styles or Capaldi. After all it would be a treat to hear Liam Gallagher deliver lines like “You talk to Jesus, but I talk to God”, Robbie not so much. Following some ill-advised rapping You’s chorus successfully moves along with the energy of a smooth, mid-paced Supergrass ballad, it’s little wonder then that Gaz appears on the appropriately titled ‘Cocky’. Where Britpop OverreachesWith the help of Take That’s Gary Barlow, Williams pokes fun at Stephen E. Morrissey with a Pet Shop Boys slice of euro disco on the outrageously fun unexpected gem ‘Morrissey’. Williams tackles orchestral pop on ‘It’s Okay Until The Drugs Stop Working’, which is an audacious monster mash of numerous songs — the title gives an obvious one away — before finally settles with the final flourish of Blur’s ‘The Universal’. Britpop concludes with ‘Pocket Rocket’, an orchestral reprise of the album’s opener. It’s far superior offering but highlights Williams’ versatility. The Deluxe Edition’s Winks and NodsThe Deluxe version of the album continues the overwhelming number of nods and winks to other artists. With lyrics such as “Another prick in the wall, a wonder wall”, ‘Selfish Disco’, which namechecks Buzzcocks, Blue, Siouxsie Sioux and S Club 7 (who does he think he is, CMAT?) starts as an ‘All The Young Dudes’-style ballad before repurposing the melody from ‘Rock DJ’ for the chorus, which is given a Scissor Sisters-style makeover. The other notable track from the deluxe version is rocker ‘No Comment’ which tackles trolls head-on in Williams’ own inimitable fashion. With lyrics like “in your comment section, your comment section, I type what I type, then I get an erection” it’s hard to know whether to laugh or applaud at the sheer no f***s given nature of it all but it perhaps best sums up this project. You’ll either love it or hate it but by God it’s hard not to appreciate the pure audacity of it all. Final Verdict on BritpopWhen Robbie Williams stays in his lane there’s absolutely nobody better than him but unfortunately Britpop sees Williams weaving onto the wrong side of the road far too frequently, but boy, do we like to rubberneck when he does. There’s something truly fascinating about it. An A for effort and a C for execution. Just like The Seahorses. How much more ’90s can you get? Score: 7/10 HeadStuffBritpop: Robbie Williams Goes Full ’90s | Album Review -...Robbie Williams’ Britpop is a bold, divisive love letter to the ’90s — packed with homage, ego, nostalgia, and undeniable audacity.www.headstuff.org

I was in HMV during the week & not a sign of the album. I get an email last night advertising the album & some of the those on offer are out of stock , The whole launch is a bit messy & those sales numbers to date are terribly low

Are pre-orders included in these sales figures as some sites are not shipping until FEB 6th. I find it confusing as to how it works.

So the nominations have been announced for The Brits 2026 Will Robbie make an appearance as special guest on the night & sing All My Life in the presence of Oasis 🤭 BRITs nominees 2026: Olivia Dean, Lola Young, Jim Legaxcy and more | Official Charts

Thanks to JosephStyles Chart Update ... Friday Chart Predictions - Page 11 - UK Charts - BuzzJack Music Forum

Here's one happy guy 😊. I am really happy for him. Source Robs Insta

Another review Source https://www.youtube.com/@dansminialbumreviews

Album Review: Robbie Williams, BRITPOPBy Paul Nolan Album Review: Robbie Williams, BRITPOP | Hotpress Solid if unspectacular effort from pop icon. 7/10 Album cover photography by Julian Broad; painting by Kate Oleska based on the photo by Mick Hutson Now deep into middle age, Robbie Williams has shown an admirable intent to stretch his creative wings, albeit with mixed results – while he continues to fill stadiums and earned widespread kudos for a surprisingly watchable Netflix documentary, such successes were offset by the mortifying box office failure of the biopic Better Man. The singer was portrayed in the lead role by an anthropomorphic chimp, a quixotic move which perhaps contributed the film's grosses of just $22.5m, against an eye-watering budget of $110m. With new collection BRITPOP, Williams has stated his ambition to finally make the record he first intended to create in the mid-'90s, when he split from Take That and went solo. In cahoots with songwriting partner Guy Chambers, Williams at that time produced a string of genuine pop classics, including 'Rock DJ', 'Supreme', 'Strong' and 'No Regrets'. Alas, Williams' output has rarely scaled such peaks since Chambers departed the scene, a parting of ways explored in the Netflix series. BRITPOP opens promisingly with 'Rocket', a thumping punk number built around an uproarious riff from Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi', but the likes of 'Spies', 'Pretty Face' and 'Bite Your Tongue' lack the melodic flair of Williams' most legendary tunes. Co-written with the singer's ex-Take That bandmate Gary Barlow, the highlight proves 'Morrissey', an infectious electro number that offers a wistful reflection on the titular singer. It also belongs to an unlikely micro-genre of songs about the ex-Smiths frontman, a canon that further includes Electronic's 'Getting Away With It' and Manic Street Preacher's 'Dear Stephen'. Otherwise, BRITPOP is a straight-down-the-line collection of no-frills pop-rock, a placeholder until Williams resumes his stadium tour – in which environment he continues to be the most exhilarating of pop performers.

Correct me if I'm wrong. In the movie Better Man it was Jason that told Robbie that the band were going ahead as a four piece. I wonder how they came to make Jason their spokesperson . Does anyone think it affected him later, Jason comes across as such a quiet lad.. I would have thought it was NMS's job to tell Robbie & not a band member. Maybe the way it was portrayed in the movie was not accurate so hopefully it will be made clear in the documentary . It's not a big deal for me, just curious tbh. 🤷‍♀️

The wonderful thing about Robbie Williams is that he has long since ascended to true heights of ‘don’t-give-a-f**kdom’, Alexander Larman In defence of Robbie WilliamsHe has a sort of British genius20 January 2026, 5:01am From Spectator Life (Getty) I write this piece while listening to an album that I suspect will be widely regarded as one of the best of the year. That it is by Robbie Williams may come as a surprise to many. After all, Williams has often been mocked as a cruise ship entertainer who got lucky, a Butlins redcoat who has somehow become Britain’s most successful solo pop star. If his new album, Britpop, goes to number one in the charts – and he deliberately delayed its release from last autumn so that it could avoid being trampled by Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl – it will be his sixteenth chart-topper, thereby setting a record that even the Beatles were unable to equal. The reason for Williams’s continued glory, however, is not some sort of national delusion that has lasted for the best part of three decades. It is because he is one of the finest musicians that this country has ever produced. Finally, he is starting to be recognised as such. While early albums of his such as Life Through a Lens, Let Me Entertain You and Sing When You’re Winning sold millions and millions of copies, they were looked down on as somehow being ephemeral and even naff. ‘Angels’, a ballad that has taken a place in our collective consciousness, has often been sneered at for being obvious, saccharine and basic. To which the only comment is, ‘yes, but it works’. Williams has never been someone who has tried to be at the cutting edge of fashion. (The one time that he attempted this, 2006’s baffling Rudebox, was his first artistic flop.) He is, instead, the anti-David Bowie, someone who is content to offer a single, consistent image throughout his career. And what an image that is; the cheeky chappie beset by self-doubt, that same Butlins redcoat but playing Hamlet. This allows him to take audacious risks which, more often than not, land. The recent biopic made about the star, Better Man, made the extraordinary decision to depict him as a CGI monkey. It perplexed many, who stayed away from cinemas, and it was a commercial flop in consequence. Those who saw it, however, were struck with admiration for the film’s daring and boldness. Compared to any number of identikit music biopics, it sang with energy, vitality and wit, all of which remained true to its subject. The wonderful thing about Robbie Williams is that he has long since ascended to true heights of ‘don’t-give-a-f***dom’, in a way that his peers could never manage. So, for instance, his new album includes a song about Morrissey, co-written with his one-time frenemy and Take That bandmate Gary Barlow, told from the perspective of an obsessed stalker. That the song is a perfectly crafted slice of electro-pop that would make the Pet Shop Boys weep with envy is a reflection of Williams’s often-overlooked skill as a great songwriter. That it is hilariously funny (the chorus contains the line ‘Morrissey is talking to me in code’) is a testament to his status as a true original: an oddball in an industry long since homogenised into focus-grouped blandness. It has long since become de rigueur for stars to talk about their mental health issues, their anxieties and depression. Williams, of course, got in ahead of the curve by writing a top five single about his own self-loathing as far back as 2003 – ‘Come Undone’ – which remains probably the only stirring, anthemic ballad to contain the lyrics ‘I am scum/And I’m your son’. But that is the joy of Robbie, who once declared to his listeners that he was ‘the only man who made you come’. A combination of the wholly unexpected and the hilariously inappropriate has seen him retain a place in the pop firmament for far longer than any of his peers, and long may it last. He once suggested on a pensive B-side that he would be ‘nobody someday’. On current evidence, that day looks as if it will never come. Written byAlexander Larman is an author and the US books editor of The Spectator Source In defence of Robbie Williams

EXCLUSIVE: Truth behind Jason Orange Take That exit - and the part Robbie Williams playedA new Netflix documentary focusing on Take That explains how and why Jason Orange left the iconic boyband, and it wasn't when first planned Mark Jefferies Showbiz Editor 07:00, 20 Jan 2026 A young Jason in archive footage from the Netflix doc(Image: Courtesy of Netflix)# Take That members managed to stop Jason Orange leaving the band thanks to one final trick. The trio who are still in the band - Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen - speak in their new Netflix documentary about the fact they knew Jason was happy with a Take That comeback but not for very long. The band began in the Nineties and had huge success as a boyband with fifth member Robbie Williams then split up in February 1996, a year after Robbie had quit.. But they were offered a lifeline in 2005 when Sony made a documentary about the band called Take That: For The Record. There was a premiere for the show launched at the end of the year, and the four members posed outside for the first time in around 10 years together to help create a buzz. Despite the documentary being quite staged and awkward in places, it was a ratings hit on TV and led to the foursome being offered the chance to reform and go back on stage.# “We didn't really know what reception it would have, whether anybody even cared,” Mark admits. After a night drinking together, and even performing the dance to Pray whilst tipsy to see if they could still do it, they agreed to say yes to the concert promoter and arena dates sold out in one morning.# Gary recalls: “I wanted to walk out on stage again. I wanted to sing again. I wanted that audience again. I was desperate for it all, but wanted it to be right for us all. I wanted it to be, to feel good for everyone. And I suppose that was new, because I didn't really care about anybody else in the 90s, I just wanted to be all right for me.” The Ultimate Tour was the first time that Take That had performed together since they split in 1996. It ran for a total of 33 shows and the four members - minus Robbie - reportedly banked over a million pounds each after tax, although their windfall is not discussed in the new documentary. After the comeback tour, the band made new music, including the single Patience, which was a huge hit. Jason insisted the band got split royalties for tracks, which was not the case before when Gary got all the songwriting cash. He says previously Gary had refused to contemplate it. Gary says: “When we came back…everyone wanted to write, and I realised this takes pressure off me. Now everybody's sharing the burden of being a creative in a band.” This was followed up by a Beautiful World Tour in 2007 and then Circus in 2009. Circus was a huge hit with fans and the band and featured stunts and animals. But by then Jason was weary of being on the road again and his appetite to continue was waning. The one thing that would actually keep him onside and on stage - was Robbie Williams. Gary said: “I knew this was enough for him. I knew Jason was leaving. I think he'd found it hard coming back. I feel like he'd enjoyed the success, but he didn't want it forever. I felt like to keep Jason, we've got to get Rob.” Howard adds: “Oh, Jason promoted it quite heavy. The fact that he wanted to do this thing with Robbie. He worked together, five of us back together, make everything hunky dory.” The band met Robbie in America and after a few false starts work on some music together and he joins them on the Progress tour of 2011. It was another huge success and it did stop Jason leaving - but only temporarily. At the end of this tour, Jason quit - Robbie went back to being solo - and the band become a three piece, going back out on tour a few years later. Gary says Jason told them “I just don’t want to do this,” and he was walking away. Howard recalls: “After that last(Progress) show, Jason sat us all down and said, Listen, I don't want to be the band anymore. And I think I'm done. But it was really sad, because Jason felt like one of my best friends. I felt like we had so much in common. We're from council houses and big families down to earth people. I'd had many laughs with and made me laugh so many times, but it was a scary time, because I almost felt like I was Going back to 96 again. It just was a very uncomfortable feeling. I didn't really know where to turn.” Mark adds: “It was a big, a big moment that for us, because now we've gone from five on stage to three of us. We've lost two members.” The trio did eventually decide to continue to enjoy touring, albeit without Jason who they had alongside them for so long. Howard said: “We’re not young whipper snappers anymore, but we're still out there selling tickets, and we're hungry.” Truth behind Jason Orange Take That exit - and the part Robbie Williams played - The Mirror

Out Now: Stream Robbie Williams’ New ‘Britpop’ Album, a Flashback of a Record Featuring Tony Iommi and MoreBy Adrian Garro | January 19, 2026 | Robbie Williams 'Britpop' (Photo: Jason Hetherington) When Robbie Williams set out to work on a new studio album titled Britpop, the global pop superstar made clear that this was going to be a different sort of record. The English singer has long made a name for himself in the pop realm with soaring anthems like “Angels,” putting himself out there as a singular pop star after going solo from the ’90s boy band Take That. But with Britpop, he embraces the sort of sound he might have explored back in the mid ’90s had he not leaned into the whole pop thing. The first song shared from the album, “Rocket,” dives headlong into that approach, even featuring Black Sabbath‘s Tony Iommi in an unexpected guitar cameo: (To be fair, some of Williams’ early work with collaborator/colleague Guy Chambers was rooted in the ’90s Britpop sound, guitars turned up and exhibiting an alternative/rock sensibility.) “Pretty Face” is among the most direct Britpop attempts, its video a visual flashback to 1995 performance on a TV show that didn’t actually happen, but exists in a sort of parallel universe: Said Williams in a statement: This is my “DeLorean Moment” back to 1995 .. The Word was the late-night gateway to so many – Nirvana, Oasis, Happy Mondays… If BRITPOP is the album I would have made, then THIS would have been the TV show…. now a (virtual) reality. After a delay in its release presumably so it wouldn’t coincide with Taylor Swift‘s The Life of a Showgirl — so Williams would have a better chance of obtaining his 14th No. 1 record in England — Britpop turned up on digital streaming platforms on Jan. 16, with a Deluxe Edition with bonus tracks surfacing a few days later. For those who’ve listened to Williams’ music for years, Britpop does offer a bit of a fresh approach on a handful of tracks. There are some big pop swings, of course, with pre-release single “Human” hitting that mark, with other songs such as “It’s OK until the Drugs Stop Working” showcasing some of Williams’ affinity for orchestral flourishes and frank lyrics “Morrissey,” co-written with Williams’ Take That band mate Gary Barlow, is a synthpop salute named after the enigmatic Smiths front man: In all, Britpop is an interesting set of songs from Williams, who definitely does venture out of his comfort zone for much of its runtime — all the while finding his characteristic self-deprecation and reflective lyricism on display. Check it out if you’ve ever found any of his music intriguing. This new musical era for Williams comes on the heels of the 2024 film Better Man, a quirky biopic of the singer and his cheeky personality. The film, directed by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman), was a critical darling, amassing an 89% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie’s innovative concept — Williams is portrayed throughout as a chimpanzee thanks to actor Jonno Davies and some cutting-edge special effects — and slightly offbeat take on the classic “biopic” concept was refreshing. And while Better Man didn’t quite resonate with audiences at the box office — especially in the United States, where Williams has never quite caught on as a pop star — the film is a great time and is well worth a watch for anyone remotely interested in its concept. It’s also perhaps even better suited for those who DON’T consider them Robbie Williams fans, because its storytelling and quick wit ought to appeal to anyone. \https://youtu.be/KVeH5T4wxkE?si=Gkks731mJeYz4V9y Rock Cellar Magazine - Out Now: Stream Robbie Williams’ New ‘Britpop’ Album, a Flashback of a Record Featuring Tony Iommi and More

Robbie Williams didn’t need BritpopThe singer’s new album is a tribute to the “golden era of music” – in which he never really belonged By Kate Mossman Photo by John Nacion/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures After leaving Take That in the mid-1990s, Robbie Williams was sucked into the orbit of Britpop. He emerged from a culture free from irony – boybands – and started to flirt with a genre defined by it. His debut solo album, Life Thru a Lens, was released at the height of Cool Britannia, but at a time when the music itself was already on the turn. It always seemed as though he and his songwriter Guy Chambers were uniquely placed to stand outside the movement. “Millennium” – his first number, with its James Bond strings – is a fitting text for sociology students; the only true fin de siècle pop song. While Prince foresaw one big party at the end of his song, 1999, Williams wrote, “When we come, we always come too late / I often think that we were born to hate…”. He performed it on Top of the Pops in a crocheted dress. Looking back, it’s nice to think he was ahead of the game, toasting Jarvis Cocker, Damon Albarn and Liam Gallagher on their sinking ship from his own little lifeboat. But his new album, Britpop, is a tribute to this “golden era of music”, he says. Perhaps his songs embodied a painful sense of being left out of the club. The artwork for Britpop is a vast portrait of Williams in a gallery, wearing an Adidas jacket in 1995, with bleached hair and a missing tooth, as pink paint is thrown at him by a group of Just Stop Oil-style activists – in this case, sporting T-shirts reading “just stop pop.” It is quite YBA. The album bursts forth in three-minute bursts of songs that sound unmistakably like Robbie Williams. Yet there is little of the Britpop we have come to expect. Ever since “Let Me Entertain You”, Williams, with his velvety flicker of a voice, has made music like a late-1970s glam rocker. While many Britpop bands drew on glam influences, Williams embraces a driving, punky bassline just as much as a plod. I listened to half of the opening throbber, “Rocket” – which features the guitar great Tony Iommi, now 77 – before making a cup of tea, and was already whistling it as the kettle boiled. “Spies” – about late-1990s paranoia – has a Gallagher-style middle eight, while “All My Life” starts out as a Williams song before morphing into an Oasis one. In both, there is more happening melodically than in the music of Liam and Noel, even if it sometimes leads to curious swerves of style. The rather pompous autobiographical opening of “All My Life” led me to assume it was the track co-written with Gary Barlow; in fact, that song is “Morrissey” (“Come here, let me hold you for the rest of your life!”) – an apparently satirical number that could easily be taken literally by someone not paying close attention. The main value of “Morrissey” is that it offers a kind of unedited access to Williams’s mind – a man once straitjacketed by the industry who is now settling into his own strangeness. “Human”, featuring the Mexican duo Jesse & Joy, is a dreamlike song about AI – or death – taking the themes of his mega-hit “Angels” into an eerier space: “I like what you’ve done with the place, God / Grandma? Great finishes. Wonderful lighting!” “It’s Okay Until the Drugs Stop Working” initially seems to flash back to The Verve, but sonically it evokes Phil Spector, with a soaring 1960s-style string section and the feel of the West Coast. All this is to say that most of the songs on Britpop could have been written at any point in the last 50 years, and the title tells us more about Robbie Williams than it does about the music he has made here. What does it mean? Was he a victim of Britpop? Is that the point? In retrospect, he was a maverick solo rockstar in an era when solo rockstars had little place – when bands, and one dominant sound, ruled the waves. Robbie Williams didn't need Britpop - New Statesman

Some folk will believe that anyway Laura & refuse to think otherwise. I have seen lots of favourable comments as well from Morrissey fans who are very happy with the song.

Robbie Williams – "Britpop": Breaking news! When the world was still in order!Status:01/19/2026, 03:46 PM By: Max Dax Robbie Williams. © Jason Hetherington The new album "Britpop" by Robbie Williams seems like a journey through time. What do Robbie allow? Announced in advance for months, postponed several times, most recently to February, finally released last Friday without further comments: The new, the darn 13th album, the not really necessary new, not really eagerly awaited new album by Robbie Williams, which seems unnecessarily dated due to the fact that the title, "Britpop", and the cover as well as some tracks had already been known for months. Cover of the new album by Brian Williams. © Sony Music A word about cover and title: These are the names and looks like records that some design offices design in such a way that they (hopefully) cut edge surf the zeitgeist. In the cinema, one would speak of blockbuster posters, which is a learned sign language under which it does not work. Robbie Williams then comes up with a motif that shows two "Just Stop Pop!" activists smearing a portrait of Robbie (with a gap in his teeth) in a tracksuit, which hangs next to old hams in a dignified, public picture gallery, with pink paint (and documenting this process in portrait format for TikTok with their smartphones). When Robbie Williams released his first solo album "Life Through a Lens" in 1997, almost 30 years ago, this decision manifested the break with the boy band Take That, with which he had become famous. It was an attempt to free oneself from a golden cage and to emancipate oneself from an expectation that had already inscribed its expiration date. He went all-in, cut the ties to the cow, which could have been milked for years to come, and hoped for an equally golden future. It could also have gone wrong. But the calculation worked. Today, his hits, especially "Angels", are played before, between and after finals at the World Cup and the Champions League. In mainstream pop, this is the greatest accolade an entertainer can earn, the end of the ladder, the place where the air gets thin. Correcting the pastAfter the initial success, Robbie Williams lurched for three decades. Although his commercial success remained largely true to him, many of his albums released since then have seemed like second or third infusions of his first smash hits. Swing albums with a big band, Christmas albums and the obligatory recordings with symphony orchestra didn't make it any better – his career began to resemble that of Eros Ramazzotti, who has been chasing his own successes for decades. So now "Britpop" or the attempt to remind us in the wake of the beer- and nostalgia-filled Oasis reunion that there was once an unsympathetic, yet extremely successful pop trend in the 1990s, which even when it was new at the time, seemed unpleasantly nationalistic, backward-looking and conformist. In fact, Williams' debut at the time was an extremely successful attempt to establish himself as a solo artist in the wake of this wave. "Britpop" consists of eleven songs and has a running time of 38 minutes. This is the classic length of a vinyl album, when vinyl albums were still the measure of all things, and hints at what Robbie Williams may have been up to here: With between 75 and 100 million records sold behind him, without time pressure and without a real agenda, to briefly correct the past. So this includes, in a way in a journey through time, to return to the sound of that time and compose a series of songs that could also come from the carefree, hedonistic 1990s in terms of arrangement. The sensation of hearing "Britpop" can be compared to the experience of taking the dusty CD version of a Britpop album from the 1990s out of a moving box, stripping off the dust and playing the record loudly – just like back when the world was still in order. In fact, Robbie Williams collects more good songs on "Britpop" than on the last dozen albums before, even if it doesn't contain any uber-hits like "Angels" or "Let Me Entertain You". So he shows what he can do, but he also shows (involuntarily?) what he may no longer be able to retrieve – like a former world footballer who can then perform all the tricks and step-overs again in Canada or Saudi Arabia in the autumn of his career because he is no longer really attacked. Consequently, the whole undertaking has a bizarre, sometimes out-of-the-box lightness, which brings many convincing and quite surprising songs with it due to the quality of the songwriting and production. One example is the wall of sound of the opening song "Rocket", which Williams wrote together with Tony Iommi, the former Black Sabbath guitarist. The power ballad "All My Life" sounds like Oasis with Robbie Williams as singer, but with self-deprecating lyrics that are rather missing from Oasis: "My life is based on a true story, one of love, chaos and audacity". Finally, for the sake of all good things, just three songs as an example, "Morrissey", a synthipop ballad about Morrissey, the forerunner of Britpop when Britpop was still called The Smiths, and whose career recently imploded into controversy, mainstream and nationalism. Robbie Williams actually wrote this song together with Gary Barlow, his comrade-in-arms from the time of Take That, and goes down like butter. When listening to "Britpop" repeatedly, however, the suspicion increasingly arises that chance after chance to write real pop songs for eternity has been missed. This feeling that makes music "as if" here, with the handbrake slightly on, which sometimes gets in the way of one's own cleverness (or that of his spin doctors), and which is nevertheless one of the best things he has ever achieved – this is the culmination of a feeling that one seems to have always had with Robbie Williams: This darned, this great art, which seems to be within reach right behind the mainstream, simply can't get a grasp. Robbie Williams surfs the Oasis nostalgia wave with "Britpop"