Robbie Williams News: Music

Released in late 2002 from Robbie Williams’ fifth studio album “Escapology,” the song “Feel” became Williams’ biggest international hit, selling over four million copies worldwide and reaching the top 10 in every European country. The video, featuring Williams and actress Daryl Hannah as on a western ranch, managed to attract attention in the United States, leading radio stations to play the track and allowing the song to become one of Williams’ rare top-charting singles on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Feel” was written by Williams and frequent collaborator Guy Chambers. The track was recorded as a demo, but when Williams started working on the album and tried to re-record the vocals, he disliked them. He included the demo version on “Escapology,” and released it as the first single.

“Feel” is a beautiful song – a mid-tempo ballad about a man’s desire to feel love. The lyrics are well-written, and the song itself is wonderful for those who are getting older and longing for soul mates and lovers. For readers who have heard about Robbie Williams’ success and music should definitely consider this song to be among his best, including “Millennium,” “Rock DJ,” and his signature song, “Angels.” Williams is currently enjoying success in the UK and other countries in Europe with his newest album, “Rudebox,” featuring the title track, “Lovelight,” and his current single “She’s Madonna.”

insidevandy.com

British pop star Robbie Williams may soon be working with rap star 50 Cent. The singer is considering a musical collaboration with the hip-hop artist, but admits he has no clue what the end result will sound like. The singer said, “I think me and 50 Cent might do something.”

“He called. Well, his people called. He’s someone I wouldn’t mind doing something with actually, thinking about it.” “He’s a bit like (Mike) Tyson – softly spoken, but could f**k you up. And I want friends like that. He’s like a teddy bear… with a gat.” “I can’t imagine what we’ll do though.”

netmusiccountdown.com

British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams seems to be at the last stages of his career. He seems to have run out of musical ideas, checked himself into rehab and most recently won the ignominious honour of worst album of the rear for his latest album ‘Rudebox’ by NME magazine.

But things were not always like this for him. At one time, after quitting the massively successful boy band Take That, he was Britain’s darling – its pride and joy.

What could be the most telling and consequential sign of his downward spiral in his life in general is that try as he might, the singer just could not break into the American market. And you cannot be really big if you don’t crack that market.

Not that Williams didn’t try. It’s just that America could care less. And it doesn’t seem like it is going to change anytime soon.

Williams started his career as a member of Take That in 1990. He was just 16 then. And till 1995, the year he decided to quit the band, they were hugely successful. He left the band under unclear reasons but it was clear that he felt he was constrained and suffocated.

He wanted to express himself more freely and his first release as a solo artist was a tongue in check rendition of George Michael’s hit ‘Freedom’.

He sold more albums in the Britain than any other British solo artist in the history. He won an impressive and yet unsurpassed 13 Brit Awards and has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide.

At the peak of his fame Williams wryly said that he’s ‘the one who put the Brit in celebrity’. At that time, it was not hard for anyone to believe that. But now Williams is beset with problems that seem to plague every aspect of his life.

But Americans just can’t take Williams seriously. At times he can seem very campy and ridiculous parody of himself.

Rocker Sheryl Crow, speculating on why Williams cannot make it in the US, said: ‘There’s a camp element to Williams that’s too threatening to Americans. American men don’t want to see anything that’s burlesque or vaudevillian, they want to feel their artist is brooding and macho.

‘Most of our male artists are so aggro they don’t even look like rock stars, they look like roadies. Williams’ songs are very melodic and I think he takes a lot of his inspiration from Elton John, which does not seem to be what kids in America are into right now.’

Yet another problem is that his musical style and persona is more appealing to gay men in the States. So, when Williams in most of his songs laments about dealing with his fame, it doesn’t make sense to people in the US who have never even heard about him.

Indo-Asian News Service / earthtimes.org

Robbie Williams is to record a duet with a Bollywood singing legend.

Robbie will feature on a track on the new album of Indian megastar Asha Bhosle, 73. The LP is titled ‘Asha and Friends’, but it is not yet known what the name of the song is.

He is said to be very “excited” about working with the two-time Grammy Award nominee.

A source said: “Asha has already recorded her part of the song. Robbie was keen to work with her after she was nominated for a second time for a Grammy Award.”

Asha – whose career has spanned over six decades and has provided playback singing for over 925 Bollywood films – has previously collaborated with Boy George and REM frontman Michael Stipe.

In 1997, British band Cornershop paid tribute to the singer in their hit song ‘Brimful of Asha’.

In 2001, Nelly Furtado’s worldwide hit ‘I’m Like A Bird’ included a remix featuring Asha.

BANG Media International / monstersandcritics.com

Robbie Williams has gone straight to the top of the album charts with his latest album Rudebox. Former chart-toppers Killers slipped from number one to number five, with new entries from My Chemical Romance, Meat Loaf and Rod Stewart. McFly topped the singles chart with Star Girl, closely followed by Fedde le Grande’s Put Your Hands Up For Detroit. Last week’s number one My Chemical Romance’s Welcome To The Black Parade, dropped to four, behind Girls Aloud.

It is the eighth chart-topping album for the former Take That star, who is currently on tour in South America. Last month Williams, 32, called off the Asian leg of his world tour in November, citing stress and exhaustion.

news.bbc.co.uk

Your least favourite popstar’s gone electro and it’s – whisper it – good. With his Take That past coming back to haunt him, tabloids sharpening their knives and missed appearances, clearly all is not well with Williams. And yet he has claimed that this is the first musical venture where he is being himself. The stakes are extremely high. Luckily, ‘Rudebox’ is the best thing he’s ever put his name to. From a career of trying on different ill-fitting identities (CampPop Robbie, Fat Dancer Robbie, Swing Robbie, Stadium Robbie) he has finally found one that fits. Fucking about on laptops with the likes of Lily Allen and Pet Shop Boys, he has hit on a fun, frantic, pisstaking mixtape of crystalline ’80s electropop, Skinner derived rap-ups and lazy skank pop.

Lyrically, Williams has always been a very British mix of redcoat self-deprecation and zeitgeisty, chemically-enhanced moodiness, but on ‘Rudebox’ he continues this without falling into the previous pratfalls of whininess or navel-gazing. There’s the double-headed autobiography of ‘The 80s’ (currently at the centre of a legal dispute) and its follow-up ‘The 90s’, the clattering ‘Vogue’ rap in the LA tale ‘The Actor’ and ‘She’s Madonna’ – possibly his most bonkers song ever. ‘Rudebox’ is not ‘Robbie Williams the serious artiste’, but it is an amazing pop album. It remains to be seen if it will be his undoing with the mainstream and those tabloid hacks. But it seems, musically at least, he’s just getting started. And, if you leave your preconceptions at the door, you might just love it.

Priya Elan, nme.com

Robbie Williams is collaborating with seven different filmmakers to create seven original short films using the tracks from his new album Rudebox.

Now he is inviting all the independent filmmakers out there to provide the eighth for his track The 80′s. The winner, chosen by Robbie Williams and other industry greats (to be announced shortly), will win a £7,500 prize. There is a further prize of £7,500 for the winning film as voted by the public.

“This is the record I’ve always wanted to make. It’s reignited how I think about what I can do with music myself, ‘Rudebox’ was done in a guerrilla way, no plan of action, it just evolved into what it is naturally.

That’s what I like about film today and why I wanted to do this project and competition. Just like in music, you can create a masterpiece out of an i-book and some digital footage, as much as you can in a fancy studio. That’s how ‘The 80s’ began life itself, in my bedroom in LA with my friend Jerry messing around on my Mac. I’m very excited to see what the film makers can come up with.

robbiewilliams.com/rudeboxshorts

Robbie Williams will release his new single ‘Lovelight’ on November 13th on Chrysalis. Taken from his highly anticipated forthcoming Rudebox album which precedes the single on October 23rd.

‘Lovelight,’ recorded with NYC based uber-producer Mark Ronson earlier this year is a spectacular cover of Lewis Taylor’s criminally unknown soul-anthem. Together they have taken it from its warm soul roots, and transform it into a building euphoric disco anthem featuring a full-on falsetto vocal performance that ranks amongst one of his most dynamic and definitive singles to date.

“I wouldn’t have known about Lovelight if it hadn’t have been for Tom Middleton’s ‘The Trip’ album – he put it on there, and I fell in love with it instantly…I can’t believe how big that song is and no one knows it,” says RW.

“I’d never heard that and Rob came to me and said “I want to cover this.” It’s an amazing, obscure English soul record, and he’s delivered a great classic blue-eyed soul vocal in the lineage of George Michael, Andy Gibb or Hall & Oates,” adds Ronson.

The single is backed by a spectacular mix package, with new re-workings courtesy of Soulwax, Kurd Maverick, Soul Mekanik and Ronson himself, that look set to follow previous single ‘Rudebox’ into club charts across the world. The single is also backed by a spectacular and iconic new video shot recently whilst in Vienna during a break from touring, which can currently be viewed exclusively on www.robbiewilliams.com.

On that front Robbie has just completed the monumental European leg of his record breaking ‘Close Encounters’ World tour, culminating in a massive 5 nights at Milton Keynes Bowl and playing to over 2.5 million people along the way.

Alongside his work with Ronson, ‘Rudebox’ finds RW collaborating with an array of musical mavericks including his heroes the Pet Shop Boys, King of ambient William Orbit, fellow Stoke natives Danny Spencer & Kelvin Andrews AKA Soul Mekanik, disco-house icon Dave ‘Joey Negro’ Lee on both new original compositions and covers of some of his favourite tracks that through its 16 tracks mark out and charts his musical loves and life. Lyrically it is very broad; humorous, historical, honest and revealing, a rollercoaster that takes you from introverted to extravagant, the break up to the make up, this is perhaps the most definitive Robbie Williams opus to date.

‘Lovelight’ is released on November 13th 2006 on Chrysalis / EMI Records. ‘Rudebox’ – The album is released on October 23rd.

ilikemusic.com