Robbie Williams has released his 13th studio album, Britpop, a record whose title makes its intentions fairly difficult to misunderstand. Read our full Britpop review for the verdict.
Released on 16 January through Columbia, the album includes the singles ‘Rocket’, ‘Spies’, ‘Human’, ‘Pretty Face’ and ‘All My Life’. The guest list reaches across several corners of British music, including Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes, Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Gary Barlow.
For Williams, the title is less about pretending he was part of a guitar band in 1995 and more about revisiting the period when his own musical identity was being formed. Britpop was happening around him as Take That became one of the biggest pop groups in the country and his solo career began to take shape.
Nostalgia, but not a museum piece
There is an obvious nostalgia play here, right down to the title, but the more interesting idea is an artist looking back at the music that gave him permission to imagine a different career.
The collaborators help underline that. Iommi and Coombes are not decorative names from the same genre; they represent different strands of British guitar music being pulled into a Robbie Williams record.
Whether Britpop ultimately belongs alongside the records it celebrates is another question. But as a statement of where Williams sees himself in the wider British music story, it is difficult to ignore.
