It’s been a quiet start to the year in British pop music, but that’s about to change. In an unexpected move, Robbie Williams has surprise-released his new album, Britpop, three weeks earlier than originally planned.
The road to the superstar’s 13th studio album has already been full of twists and turns. First announced last May, the record was slated for release Oct. 10, though was then pushed back to Feb. 6 due to “scheduling issues.”
At an intimate show at London’s Dingwalls venue Oct. 9, Williams admitted that this was actually due to avoid the arrival of Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl (Oct. 3) and its subsequent chart domination. “We’re all pretending [the scheduling change] is not about Taylor Swift, but it f–king is — you can’t compete with that,” Williams said on stage. “I was worried about making [fans] all wait for the record. But then I was like, ‘F–k it.’ I’m sorry, but I’m f–king being selfish. How many times in your life do you get to have the most No. 1 albums the U.K. has f–king ever had?”
It was a shrewd decision: Swift’s record remained atop the summit of the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart for three consecutive weeks upon release. If Britpop hits the top spot on the chart dated Jan. 23, Williams will secure his 16th U.K. No. 1 on the Official Albums Chart, breaking a tie with The Beatles in the all-time rankings.
Now, the album has arrived overnight on streaming services with no prior warning from Williams. The 11-track collection is largely inspired by the genre it’s named after, centered around huge, guitar-driven hooks. Its artwork, meanwhile, nods to one of Williams’ most iconic looks: the red tracksuit worn to Glastonbury Festival in 1995 when he partied with Oasis at the height of the Britpop era.
“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,” Williams previously said in a statement. “There’s some ‘Brit’ in there and there’s certainly some ‘pop’ too – I’m immensely proud of this as a body of work.”
Britpop spans a multitude of lyrical themes, with musings on AI (“Human”) and fame (“All My Life”), plus “Morrissey,” a Pet Shop Boys-esque ode to The Smiths frontman, which Williams penned with his former Take That bandmate Gary Barlow. There’s also “Rocket”, a collaboration with Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi and the psychedelic “Spies,” which houses a chord progression similar to the Oasis classic “Champagne Supernova.”
The album marks Williams’ first set of non-festive original songs since 2016’s The Heavy Entertainment Show. He will support the release with a run of underplay shows across the U.K. Feb. 4-9, where he will play both 1997 debut Life Thru a Lens and Britpop in their entirety, hitting up venues in Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Wolverhampton.
