Robbie Williams Tidbits
I’ve not had a chance to do another Robbie Williams deep dive since my last one, but will share a few tidbits for now.
I was in London during the last week of April and I had intended to visit Robbie Williams: Radical Honesty, his new exhibition at MOCO which was supposed to open on April 25 but got rescheduled to May 2. He attended the opening and I thought to myself if it opened in April, I may have spotted him in person at the gallery.
The Guardian didn’t like the exhibition.
I did, however, visit another exhibition when I was in London that featured Robbie Williams, and even bought this t-shirt. It was one of the items on sale in the National Portrait Gallery shop, for The Face Magazine: Culture Shift exhibition.
A day before the opening of Radical Honesty, a profile by Dylan Jones was published in The Standard.
Photo by Jason Hetherington.
In it, Williams says,
“How am I? I’m good. My story arc is at the other end. I’m now looking back and talking about what was. Now I get to explain myself. I am a journalist, and I have one subject and it’s me. And I’m reporting live from the scene, whenever I decide to turn the camera on.”
On May 21, his latest album Britpop was announced, which will be released in the autumn.
Loving the cover which references the famous photo of Robbie Williams at Glastonbury on 1995. It was painted by Kate Oleska.
The painting is based on the iconic photo of Robbie taken during the Glastonbury Festival in 1995 just before he left Take That. It was so much fun creating it and it was a challenge to keep it a secret! 😁 I had the privilege of being at the photoshoot for the cover as well and it was an amazing experience!
His latest tour, also called Britpop starts on June 6, in London and then across Europe till October. I will keep an eye on updates shared on social media.
The first single released from his new album is titled Rocket, with a music video directed by Charlie Lightening. Parts of the video were filmed in central London, and in areas I walk by when I’m on my way to or from one of the cinemas I frequently visit. Again, this felt like I somehow missed another opportunity to be within his vicinity.
What a time to be alive
What a time to be alive
What d’ya do with your big fat life
Are you gonna let it blow your mind?
It does have a bit of Dad Rock vibes, but who cares.
In the same week, on May 23, Robbie Williams was honoured at the Ivor Novello Award ceremony with the PRS for Music Icon Award. The Ivors specifically recognises and celebrates songwriters and screen composers, and based on his acceptance speech, he probably feels this recognition really matters, “The reason I keep shining is because you can’t stand it.”
He has expressed in the past how he doesn’t get credited enough as a songwriter, so good for him.