Robbie Williams (article)
- mwoldridge02
- Oct 7
- 5 min read
Published by Mason Oldridge, 7 October 2025
Let him entertain you! Starting at the age of 16, Williams has gone from the so-called “fat dancer from Take That” to solo superstardom. While the boyband may be the chilled 90s music your mum listens to, the Stoke-born singer broke free some three decades ago and created his own image as a pop rock legend. As he prepares to release his thirteenth album, we take a look back at the solo career of one of Britain’s biggest stars.

Williams’ debut single was a cover of George Michael’s Freedom in 1996 before releasing debut album Life Thru a Lens in 1997. Singles Old Before I Die, Lazy Days and South of the Border demonstrate how the record was largely inspired and defined by the Britpop sound of the 90s era, with grunge-esque production and whiny vocals. However, it also contained what would become one of the most famous songs of all time: Angels. The emotional ballad was a change in sound to the rest of the tracklist, with a reduction in pace and less reliance on guitar. In association with themes of death, afterlife and remembrance, its universal relatability was the key to its success, with millions establishing different personal meanings and attachments to the anthem. Finally, Let Me Entertain You also inhabits its own style, leaning more into glam rock with fast-paced instrumentation, Kiss-inspired aesthetics and fun lyrics full of double entendres.
Follow-up I’ve Been Expecting You, released in 1998, features the glitzy and glamorous Millenium, the partly acoustic Strong and the darkly sinister No Regrets. Meanwhile, piano ballad She’s the One is actually a cover that outperformed the original and served as a double A-side with FIFA 2000 soundtrack It’s Only Us.
Third album Sing When You’re Winning was released in 2000 and would see Williams really come into his own here, ditching the now-dead Britpop and welcoming the post-millennial pop rock sound. The record would birth the feelgood anthem Rock DJ, accompanied by its graphic music video. Kids is a heavy duet with Kylie Minogue, Supreme incorporates sampled strings and Let Love Be Your Energy is epic from its opening beats, with the inspirational titular message as its heartbeat. Slow ballad Eternity spotlights Williams’ more emotional side, while its other A-side The Road to Mandalay, a simplistic tune, closes the album.
He released the swing album Swing When You’re Winning the following year in 2001, containing original song I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen and a duet with Nicole Kidman on Somethin’ Stupid.
In 2002, fifth album Escapology was released. Lead single Feel opens on delicate piano, while its guitars usher in an enchanting melody. Come Undone tells of the downside of fame and cocaine withdrawals, while its controversial music video depicts a hedonistic lifestyle, notably Williams engaging in three-way sex. Something Beautiful is much more innocent with its playful keys and trumpet, while Sexed Up is an emotional acoustic offering.
Williams’ first greatest hits compilation was released in 2004, containing two new songs. Radio is energetic, heavy and fast-paced whereas Misunderstood is much slower and contains harmonica.
Intensive Care is the sixth album, released in 2005. Lead single Tripping is an innovative track described by Williams as “something like a mini gangster opera” in which he reaches falsetto on the chorus, whereas Make Me Pure is an acoustic track. Advertising Space is a ballad which sees Williams emulate Elvis Presley and Sin Sin Sin is a joyous offering of liberation that feels somewhat like a 00s sequel to Pet Shop Boys’ It’s a Sin.
Rudebox was released just one year later in 2006 as his seventh album. Featuring a mix of original songs and covers, the record would lean more into dance and, despite relative success, marks a flop in quality. The title track is primarily a rap from Williams, which isn’t his forte, and contains several cultural references, while the most successful of the covers is the electronic Mark Ronson-produced Lovelight. Elsewhere, She’s Madonna is an ode to the singer and features the Pet Shop Boys. While a lot of the music has aged poorly, some tracks can still be enjoyed on face value, though there is an underlying novelty effect among them.
Reality Killed the Video Star is his eighth album, released in 2009, and marks a return to form with his pop rock sound. Opening track Morning Sun features harmonica and was influenced by the death of Michael Jackson, lead single Bodies tackles self-confidence and religion with a desert-set music video and You Know Me is a more smooth offering and has an Alice in Wonderland inspired MV.
In 2010, Williams reunited with Take That for a new album and embarked on the groundbreaking Progress tour as well as releasing Shame, an acoustic duet with Gary Barlow focusing on their troubled relationship, and another new song Heart and I on his second greatest hits compilation.
After then leaving his boyhood band for the second time, Williams released ninth album Take the Crown in 2012. Lead single Candy leans into pop and the joyous track was commercially successful. Other singles include baroque pop song Different and pop rock track fused with synth and saxophone Be A Boy.
The following year, he released a second swing album Swings Both Ways in 2013. It contained a mix of covers and original songs (notably Go Gentle) and featured many duets with existing stars.
Eleventh album The Heavy Entertainment Show came in 2016. Lead single Party Like a Russian comments on the partygoing lifestyle of Russian oligarchs and incorporates strings so its sound compares with its subject, while Mixed Signals is written by The Killers, which shines through in its production. Following a turbulous career marred by drug abuse and mental health issues, Williams’ life became more settled with support from his wife Ayda Field and this is reflected in the single Love My Life.
His most recent studio album was in 2019 with The Christmas Present, a festive album again featuring a mix of covers and original songs with many duets thrown in and headed by the lead single Time for Change.
During the interim between then and now, Williams released XXV in 2022, featuring reworkings of his greatest hits to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his debut album and in 2024, a biopic of his life called Better Man premiered, with Williams portrayed as a motion captured chimpanzee, a bizarre reference to feeling like an outsider.
Williams’ upcoming thirteenth album is called Britpop in relation to the subculture in which he began his solo career. We’ve heard a trickle of singles from it but, however the final product may sound, rest assured Robbie Williams is already one of the most successful solo acts to grace the British music scene in general!