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What Robbie Williams Wants to Build Beyond Music
What Robbie Williams Wants to Build Beyond Music
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0:00
Hello, Robbie. How are you?
0:01
I'm good. How are you doing?
0:02
This is Robbie Williams: pop star, artist, and brand builder.
0:10
With more U.K. number one albums than The Beatles,
0:13
Robbie is one of Britain's most successful artists.
0:17
But he's not just focused on music anymore.
0:20
He's moved into art, launched a fashion label, and now wants to build businesses beyond the stage.
0:28
Here in London's Soho, we discuss career challenges.
0:35
It was the perfect storm to head to mental illness.
0:38
Triumph.
0:39
I'll take it and I'll grab it with both hands.
0:42
And why he's still pushing for more.
0:44
The ambition is still there. The drive is still there. I want to create big businesses.
0:50
CNBC Meets Robbie Williams.
1:00
I'm Tania Bryer and I'm in Soho, central London to meet British
1:04
pop legend Robbie Williams who's recently released a new album.
1:09
Robbie, it's great to see you. What are the emotions like when
1:13
you're releasing something new like this?
1:16
It just depends where I am in my career. You know, I always think that the event of
1:22
releasing an album, everything rides on it, because it sort of tells you I've got this
1:30
oil tanker of a career and these particular events tell you if you're going to crash into
1:37
the harbor or not, or show you if you're still relevant or how much it's declined.
1:44
I feel as though I've completed music. Still enjoy writing songs,
1:49
but I've got so many creative ideas and wants and desires that it's not the only finger in the pie.
1:56
But it's also the calling card to let people know that you still exist. It's the calling card to go,
2:02
"Here I am. I've got this thing. I'm also doing these other things. I want
2:06
you to have a look at all these other things and I hope you enjoy them too."
2:11
"Britpop" was Robbie's 16th U.K. number one album,
2:15
making him the artist with the most number one albums in U.K. history, surpassing The Beatles.
2:21
I feel as though there's been a glitch in the matrix with the whole of my success,
2:26
from Take That to solo success. It's felt like I've stolen somebody else's spot,
2:32
but I'll take it, you know, I'll take it and I'll grab it with both hands.
2:36
At just 16, Robbie joined boy band Take That.
2:40
Two years later, their cover of "Could It Be Magic" with Robbie
2:43
on lead vocals became their first UK top five hit, turning them into a national phenomenon.
2:59
But behind the success, those early years were far from stable.
3:04
It was kind of a perfect storm, the perfect storm to head to mental illness. And what was happening
3:12
at home, you know, what was happening outside home in my local area, what was happening with me and
3:20
my trainee-alcoholism and addictions, what was happening in the band, what was happening with
3:27
the band's management, what was happening in the sort of "Lord of the Flies" energy of the band.
3:35
Don't get me wrong, we loved each other, but there was "Lord of the Flies" stuff, and there would
3:40
be hundreds of girls that would arrive outside the house every day. There was also excitement.
3:48
In June 1995, Robbie left Take That.
3:52
How hard was that for you and how important was it for you to then have control of your own career?
4:00
I was so out of control by then, fully blown alcoholic, fully blown addict,
4:06
and how it went was I went into rehearsals as normal for this tour. Looking back now,
4:15
what should have happened was, should have come in and gone, "you're going rehab,
4:22
we'll get on with this tour, get yourself well." But we didn't know any of that stuff
4:27
back then. And nobody would have recognized what an alcoholic or an addict looks like.
4:32
And you know people would have just thought "he's enjoying himself." And then what happened,
4:38
I went into rehearsals one day, and I drank a bottle of vodka the night before and was in a
4:44
bad way and I wasn't learning any of the dance routines. And then at lunch Jay sat down with
4:49
the boys. "Robbie we've been having a think we want to try and do this as a four-piece."
4:56
And in my mind, it was just like relief. I can go. And then they said,
5:03
"What do you think?" And I said, "I think you should." And then there
5:10
was a bunch of vegetables that the lads were juicing and there was a watermelon,
5:16
and I stood up and I said, "Can I take this?" And I took my watermelon and left.
5:22
Robbie went on to build a solo career defined by hits like 1998's "Let Me Entertain You",
5:29
cementing his status as a global showman.
5:39
And entertaining is big business. According to Goldman Sachs, global live music revenue,
5:46
comprising ticket sales and sponsorship, was estimated to be worth more than $38
5:52
billion dollars in 2025. And they project that figure will grow to more than $67 billion by 2035.
6:01
In 2023, one of Robbie's companies generated more than $90 million dollars in revenue,
6:08
largely driven by live performances.
6:12
But despite that success,
6:14
music is no longer his only focus. He's now looking to build beyond the stage.
6:20
As well as becoming an exhibiting artist, Robbie launched a fashion brand called Hopeium in 2025.
6:28
I've got so many ideas, and I've figured out that if you can create music,
6:34
you're a creative. Therefore, shine your light, that creative light in the corner of the room
6:38
and there's art. Shine a light in another corner of the room and there is clothes.
6:45
I also feel because ADHD is a super-strength, that eventually if I wanted to go "I want to
6:51
beat Elon to Mars. How do we do this?" I obviously wouldn't build the rocket, but I'd have something
6:58
to do with it. And I know that's delusional, but I haven't got here by not being delusional.
7:03
I would like there to be something out there in the world where I create
7:07
clothes for me and I hope that the clothes for me, other people like.
7:12
Is there a strategy to grow the brand,
7:14
Robbie? Would you like to work with retail partners, or where do you see it?
7:20
Slowly, slowly catchy monkey, you know, it's just,
7:23
I've got one toe in it. This is going to be in a few places. If it sells through,
7:28
if it's exciting, then I will carry on and it will get my full attention.
7:33
The most exciting thing is me creating these things. If I'm creating these things,
7:38
if I'm drawing or if I'm making ideas for clothes, I'm not thinking about Radio Rob - my brain is,
7:47
I have a very complicated inner life, and if I set it tasks, it calms down.
7:53
Three decades being a household name, do you feel that Robbie Williams is a brand in itself?
8:02
It definitely is a brand. I only call it a brand because it helps to facilitate all these ideas
8:08
that I want to do. I haven't stopped being interested. I haven't stopped wanting and
8:14
needing. The ambition is still there. The drive is still there. I still have a ton of energy.
8:22
What I'm saying to myself is, "I'm the right key, I've just got to find the right door."
8:28
I've also got to busy myself and keep myself interested. There's never been more abundance in
8:33
the world. Never been more opportunity to actually DIY, do it yourself, create it from the ground up.
8:40
I want to absolutely smash and exceed anything that was possible. Already
8:48
done it. Now, there are other glass ceilings that I want to go through.
8:53
Which one of the glass ceilings? What's the priority for you?
8:57
I want to create big businesses. I want to create big businesses. I want my own hotels,
9:01
where I perform in my own hotels. I've got quite a few fingers in a few pies.
9:08
I'm watching my American counterparts do this with ease, owning small towns and then
9:15
extending on the towns. And I want to design hotels and create the interiors and exteriors.
9:22
So, I've got all of these ideas flowing out of me and we've not
9:25
been able to execute one of them yet, apart from me singing live and music.
9:34
In 2025 single "Human", Robbie explores the rise of artificial
9:39
intelligence and what it could mean for humankind.
9:48
What's your take on it, and how do you think it impacts creativity within your industry?
9:55
In the early noughties, maybe the late nineties,
9:58
the music industry as we knew it was over. We were kings, and then pretty
10:04
soon after that, we weren't. And everything disintegrated, and it's disintegrated still.
10:10
The horse had bolted. It had left the stable, there's nothing we could do about it.
10:17
Then Spotify arrived and all the streamers and all the download for free and all of that, and
10:23
recording money runs out of the record industry.
10:26
Now what we have is AI has arrived. The horse has yet again bolted. We've seen this.
10:35
A guy I know, 18 months ago came around with this
10:39
program that wasn't out there. Put a few prompts in. "Robbie Williams da da da",
10:43
pressed a button and a hit came out with my voice, and I was just like, "it's over."
10:54
And then, you know, because I write a lot of songs for my albums, and I'm finding that I
11:01
can't find that gold-plated what you would call "hit" hit. No arguments, evergreen, let's go,
11:08
this goes out, moves the needle, everyone's happy. Can't find them. And if you do, you might find one
11:13
or two as you write 80 songs. Press this button on this machine now and it just does it. It's over.
11:21
Would you use it?
11:24
I have used it for my writing. I write a lot for my Instagram,
11:30
and I write the thing first, and then I throw the thing into AI.
11:39
It now knows who I am, talks to me as Rob, you know, and it talks in my
11:45
voice. And I've thrown so much stuff at it now, it knows, it knows me back to front.
11:54
So, what I will do is, like I've written a piece for my Instagram for tomorrow. I will, you know,
12:00
like I'll just need an end. I don't know how to wrap this up. Boom. End. I'll take that
12:06
bit. I'll take that bit, ah that's good, and then I'll rewrite it myself. So, I would say
12:11
that the things I'm writing on Instagram, I can't spell, my grammar is terrible, they sort that out.
12:18
Do you feel a pressure or responsibility with making content every day and talking to your fans?
12:27
No, I see it as I'm an entertainer and my Instagram is my TV channel. It's like
12:33
this is where I go to be creative and entertain. And why wouldn't I?
12:40
I find no pressure, and I also find that how it actually feels in some crazy mixed-up world
12:49
is that I'm sharing with friends, and I'm genuinely interested to know their thoughts.
12:55
I have ADHD. I can only do things I'm interested in, and
13:00
with Instagram in particular, I'm mega interested.
13:03
Robbie, you've achieved so much success over the years.
13:08
Can you highlight one of your proudest moments within that time?
13:13
It's all about next. It's all about the next one. It's all about getting, achieving,
13:19
being. It's why I don't have any awards up in my house or anything that tells you I'm me.
13:25
It's like, I don't want a mausoleum to the past,
13:28
you know, I'm still hungry, you know, I don't want there just to be a 90s room.
13:36
You know, I've got many rivers to cross, I've got many mountains to traverse,
13:41
and I am delusionally optimistic that the best is yet to come.
13:46
What's your advice to yourself? Because you do inspire others, so many others around you.
13:54
I thought and hoped that I could fix myself without any discipline whatsoever.
14:00
I just thought if I waited around on my bare bones,
14:04
that I would get through the horizon and I would be happy and healthy and whole.
14:10
Unfortunately, the truth is, discipline is freedom, and you
14:15
have to do something every day to maintain your well-being, physically or mentally.
14:24
Discipline is freedom. I have to remind myself that if I become complacent.
14:31
Robbie Williams, thank you so much for talking to me today. It's been such a pleasure.
14:35
Thank you. Lovely to see you.
What Robbie Williams Wants to Build Beyond Music - Video học tiếng Anh
