25 Days / Day 4 / Robbie Williams

12/05/2009 by Amy H. Johnson 5 Comments

WHAT IS THIS?

Who: Robbie Williams, former boybander, solo British singing superstar, the definition of “cheeky monkey”

Why: Love his voice. Love his poptastic music. Love his clever lyrics. Love his naughty sense of humor. Love that he may be kind of insane

When: Late 90’s-present

Level of Obsession: A co-worker was going to England a few years ago and I begged her to get me his album that was out then because you couldn’t get it in the states (it was a pre-iTunes world). She also brought me back a book!

“Ahhhh!” Moment(s): When heard I first the first few notes of No Regrets off The Ego Has Landed I said “I love this song. I love this guy. It sounds like London. I want it.” The sly, sassy, winking take on James Bond in the Millennium video

Robbie is a huge star in the rest of the world. HUGE! He was a boybander, he got fat and drug addicted, he got lean and sober, he sells out massive football stadiums in Europe several times over. Yet America does not get him at all. I saw him in a club in Boston and it was a phenomenal show. He’s an ultimate showman and when he sings Let Me Entertain You he’s not fucking around. He has brilliant lyrics that run the gamut from rude and hilarious, “What’s the point in hating me / You can’t argue with popularity / Well you could / But you’d be wrong” (Handsome Man), to the tender and poignant, “You see the trouble with you / Is you’re in love with me / What a strange thing to do / What a brave place to be” (The Trouble With Me). And the audience sing-alongs for his redemption song Angels will give you shivers.