Robbie Williams | Explain This

Esquire

2/11/2025

Transcript

00:00People ask me, are the songs you're sick of performing?

00:02And then I tell them this song, which I'll tell you.

00:04And then they look at me disappointed.

00:06They say, you asked the f***ing question.

00:08Can you imagine if there was one that I said and they went, yeah, f*** that.

00:11Anyway, it's Millennium.

00:12In my head, I go, we've got stars directing our fate.

00:15And they're like, have we?

00:16And they're praying it's not too late.

00:19Are they?

00:19Because we know we're falling from grace.

00:22Are we?

00:23Millennium.

00:24It's just welded on at the end, isn't it?

00:26Nothing to do with the song.

00:29Hi, I'm Robbie Williams, and Esquire has asked me to explain a few things.

00:33Let's dive in, shall we?

00:40When was the last time you listened to a Take That song?

00:45I think probably the last time was the Progress album.

00:48Just recently, when I rejoined, which I think is mine and our best work.

00:54It's a really odd album for a boy band to do.

00:56If you break it down lyrically, it's full of conspiracy and dystopian weirdness.

01:02And that's not the MO.

01:03Take that back.

01:05All right, doo, doo, doo, doo.

01:07The CIA are up to something.

01:12You were at the heart of bit pop culture.

01:14What do you think was the magic of the moment in time?

01:18Cocaine and attention.

01:20Britain hasn't stopped being Britain.

01:21It just hasn't got the oxygen that it had at the time.

01:24And also, we were really mean and rude.

01:27We said mean and rude things as a matter of course.

01:31And it's not very good for the soul, but it makes great coffee.

01:37What's one event you wish you had a chance to play?

01:40To be honest with you, I've got so much wrapped up in the idea of being Robbie Williams

01:45and what that means, that there is an ego death.

01:48I play stadiums, right?

01:50If they took that away from me and I was in arenas, it'd be problematic for me.

01:54How mad is my life that arenas don't jive well because I want to be in stadiums?

02:00This is a problem because I'm 50 and I could do with just cutting that out.

02:05I get in the car and I turn up.

02:07I don't care where it is, as long as it's a stadium.

02:10Explain your strategy to stay positive.

02:12Marry a wonderful person.

02:14Before, either.

02:15Miserable, miserable, rehab, miserable,

02:18depression, anxiety, agoraphobia.

02:20After either, great.

02:21Since kids though, I'm on steroids when it comes to positivity

02:25because it's not about me anymore.

02:28He said, lying.

02:29You had your share of celebrity beefs, many of which you've moved on from.

02:33Which beefs are you happy are behind you?

02:35So here's the thing about these sort of things, right?

02:38I know nothing about fungus infested trees.

02:41I'm creating art, man.

02:42Do I need to know about fungus infested trees?

02:45No.

02:45Can somebody take care of that for me?

02:47Yeah.

02:47Do I find out about it by mistake when I'm on the internet one day

02:51and I'm like, have we got fungus infested trees?

02:53Yes, that also happens.

02:55The new film, however, will trigger a few people.

02:58I sent the first script to Gary Barlow and he read it and he phoned me

03:03and there's no shouting, but he's just like,

03:05Rob, I've come across worse than Darth Vader in the first Star Wars.

03:08I have to tell my story and I have to speak and think how I spoke and thunk,

03:12thunk, thunk back then.

03:14And it wasn't complimentary.

03:16And neither would his be to me.

03:18If the film was Robbie Williams' period from 2012 to 2024,

03:25it'd be a love letter to Gary Barlow, but it wouldn't be as interesting.

03:29What did you learn from some of the difficult moments you had with Liam Gallagher?

03:33How did you make peace with him?

03:34That I'm deeply sensitive and if you belittle me or bully me,

03:40it's name, palm death for you.

03:42Here's the thing about Liam Gallagher,

03:44the voice of our generation, charisma off the charts,

03:47wonderful to watch, incredible to listen to.

03:50The world is a better place for having Liam Gallagher in it.

03:54And how did you make peace with him?

03:55He tweeted me when there was a story about my parents being ill

03:59and it was very, very lovely.

04:01And in that moment, everything that I just said about him,

04:03that's the only thing that exists for me in my mind with Liam Gallagher.

04:07He's, yeah, he's a hero of mine.

04:10How did you feel the first time you saw yourself as a CGI monkey?

04:14It was really, really exciting.

04:16Michael Gracie, the director, came to me one day and he said,

04:19what's your spirit animal?

04:21And I said, lion.

04:23And he was like, really?

04:25I was like, monkey?

04:26And he was like, yeah, here's the idea.

04:28Everyone in the movie is human apart from you and you're a CGI monkey.

04:32Before we got to the end of the sentence, I was like,

04:34I mean, you don't even have to finish the sentence.

04:36Yes is the answer.

04:38Because you know that this idea hasn't been seen before.

04:41And to be lucky enough to be part of an idea that is a massive swing,

04:45it's either going to be a huge idea that's incredibly brilliant

04:49or a huge idea that's incredibly ****.

04:52And I like that.

04:54I like the gamble.

04:55Were you a fan of The Greatest Showman before you met Michael Gracie?

04:59Yes, I was.

05:00Michael, a long time ago, phoned me up and said,

05:03I need to come round the house and ask a favour.

05:05He comes round and he shows me the storyboards

05:07for this film he wants to make, The Greatest Showman.

05:10And in my head, I was like, can I ask me any?

05:13Can I ask me to do it?

05:14Then he plays me a song and I'm like, blows me away.

05:16Plays me two songs, blows me away.

05:18Third song.

05:19And I'm like, this is my entrance into the film world.

05:24And the answer is yes.

05:26And he said, will you ring Hugh Jackman and convince him to do it?

05:30I was like, OK.

05:32Yeah, crestfallen.

05:33I didn't tell him in the room that that's what was going on,

05:36but he's known since.

05:38What was the turning point that made you want to do a TV series and a movie?

05:42I'm an attention seeker for a profession.

05:45This is what we do, innit?

05:46And this is the oxygen that I need to prolong my career.

05:50It's as simple as that.

05:51Four hours on Netflix by Ridley Scott's company.

05:54Yeah, I need all of this for the wind behind my sails

05:57for the third act of my career.

06:00How did you feel about the costumes you had to wear

06:02during your Take That years?

06:03You know, beggars can't be choosers.

06:06I wasn't paid to have opinions.

06:09I wasn't paid at all.

06:10For the first 18 months, Nigel, don't sue me.

06:12We all know that's true.

06:14After that, whee!

06:16Do you think the Gallagher brothers will actually make it to the stage

06:19for their reunion?

06:20Yes, I do think that the Gallagher's will make it to their reunion

06:25and not only get to the reunion, complete the whole thing.

06:30Divorces make you concentrate, don't they?

06:32Who is the most underrated 90s artist?

06:35Gaz Coons from Supergrass,

06:37one of the best songwriters of his generation.

06:39Who is the most overrated 90s artist?

06:43Don't think there are many overrated 90s artists.

06:48You say Britpop and it sounds as though there was hundreds of bands

06:52in your mind.

06:53There wasn't.

06:53Oasis,

06:55Blur,

06:56Pulp.

06:56The ones that popped were these three.

06:59If you could only save one,

07:00which of your albums from your vast discography

07:02would you save from a burning building?

07:04Well, the only one that I listen to is the Christmas album.

07:07It's not a Christmas for us unless I'm narcissistically playing me

07:11around my house.

07:14Please explain why you store all your Instagram captions like this.

07:17Well, integritas e cacas is integrity and sh** in Latin.

07:23Pleasantries.

07:24There was a reason for that and I've forgotten.

07:26I think it was when you get on the phone.

07:28Hey, how are you?

07:29I'm good. How are you?

07:30We could dispense with that.

07:32I'm on the spectrum and phone calls are terrible for me.

07:34I don't like making phone calls.

07:36Hail Keanu.

07:37I had this competition where in this future world,

07:40all evil has gone and all bad has gone.

07:43And which celebrity would you most like to dispense with more good news?

07:48And Keanu Reeves won.

07:50So hail Keanu.

07:52I'm Robbie Williams.

07:53What you've heard in this interview will be in a few tabloids.

07:58Good reading.

Robbie Williams | Explain This

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