What Robbie Williams Wants to Build Beyond Music

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0:00Hello, Robbie. How are you?

0:01I'm good. How are you doing?

0:02This is Robbie Williams: pop star, artist, and brand builder.

0:10With more U.K. number one albums than The Beatles,

0:13Robbie is one of Britain's most successful artists.

0:17But he's not just focused on music anymore.

0:20He's moved into art, launched a fashion label, and now wants to build businesses beyond the stage.

0:28Here in London's Soho, we discuss career challenges.

0:35It was the perfect storm to head to mental illness.

0:38Triumph.

0:39I'll take it and I'll grab it with both hands.

0:42And why he's still pushing for more.

0:44The ambition is still there. The drive is still there. I want to create big businesses.

0:50CNBC Meets Robbie Williams.

1:00I'm Tania Bryer and I'm in Soho, central London to meet British

1:04pop legend Robbie Williams who's recently released a new album.

1:09Robbie, it's great to see you. What are the emotions like when

1:13you're releasing something new like this?

1:16It just depends where I am in my career. You know, I always think that the event of

1:22releasing an album, everything rides on it, because it sort of tells you I've got this

1:30oil tanker of a career and these particular events tell you if you're going to crash into

1:37the harbor or not, or show you if you're still relevant or how much it's declined.

1:44I feel as though I've completed music. Still enjoy writing songs,

1:49but I've got so many creative ideas and wants and desires that it's not the only finger in the pie.

1:56But 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

2:06you 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,

2:15making him the artist with the most number one albums in U.K. history, surpassing The Beatles.

2:21I feel as though there's been a glitch in the matrix with the whole of my success,

2:26from Take That to solo success. It's felt like I've stolen somebody else's spot,

2:32but I'll take it, you know, I'll take it and I'll grab it with both hands.

2:36At just 16, Robbie joined boy band Take That.

2:40Two years later, their cover of "Could It Be Magic" with Robbie

2:43on lead vocals became their first UK top five hit, turning them into a national phenomenon.

2:59But behind the success, those early years were far from stable.

3:04It was kind of a perfect storm, the perfect storm to head to mental illness. And what was happening

3:12at home, you know, what was happening outside home in my local area, what was happening with me and

3:20my trainee-alcoholism and addictions, what was happening in the band, what was happening with

3:27the band's management, what was happening in the sort of "Lord of the Flies" energy of the band.

3:35Don't get me wrong, we loved each other, but there was "Lord of the Flies" stuff, and there would

3:40be hundreds of girls that would arrive outside the house every day. There was also excitement.

3:48In June 1995, Robbie left Take That.

3:52How hard was that for you and how important was it for you to then have control of your own career?

4:00I was so out of control by then, fully blown alcoholic, fully blown addict,

4:06and how it went was I went into rehearsals as normal for this tour. Looking back now,

4:15what should have happened was, should have come in and gone, "you're going rehab,

4:22we'll get on with this tour, get yourself well." But we didn't know any of that stuff

4:27back then. And nobody would have recognized what an alcoholic or an addict looks like.

4:32And you know people would have just thought "he's enjoying himself." And then what happened,

4:38I went into rehearsals one day, and I drank a bottle of vodka the night before and was in a

4:44bad way and I wasn't learning any of the dance routines. And then at lunch Jay sat down with

4:49the boys. "Robbie we've been having a think we want to try and do this as a four-piece."

4:56And 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

5:10was a bunch of vegetables that the lads were juicing and there was a watermelon,

5:16and I stood up and I said, "Can I take this?" And I took my watermelon and left.

5:22Robbie went on to build a solo career defined by hits like 1998's "Let Me Entertain You",

5:29cementing his status as a global showman.

5:39And entertaining is big business. According to Goldman Sachs, global live music revenue,

5:46comprising ticket sales and sponsorship, was estimated to be worth more than $38

5:52billion dollars in 2025. And they project that figure will grow to more than $67 billion by 2035.

6:01In 2023, one of Robbie's companies generated more than $90 million dollars in revenue,

6:08largely driven by live performances.

6:12But despite that success,

6:14music is no longer his only focus. He's now looking to build beyond the stage.

6:20As well as becoming an exhibiting artist, Robbie launched a fashion brand called Hopeium in 2025.

6:28I've got so many ideas, and I've figured out that if you can create music,

6:34you're a creative. Therefore, shine your light, that creative light in the corner of the room

6:38and there's art. Shine a light in another corner of the room and there is clothes.

6:45I also feel because ADHD is a super-strength, that eventually if I wanted to go "I want to

6:51beat Elon to Mars. How do we do this?" I obviously wouldn't build the rocket, but I'd have something

6:58to do with it. And I know that's delusional, but I haven't got here by not being delusional.

7:03I would like there to be something out there in the world where I create

7:07clothes for me and I hope that the clothes for me, other people like.

7:12Is there a strategy to grow the brand,

7:14Robbie? Would you like to work with retail partners, or where do you see it?

7:20Slowly, slowly catchy monkey, you know, it's just,

7:23I've got one toe in it. This is going to be in a few places. If it sells through,

7:28if it's exciting, then I will carry on and it will get my full attention.

7:33The most exciting thing is me creating these things. If I'm creating these things,

7:38if I'm drawing or if I'm making ideas for clothes, I'm not thinking about Radio Rob - my brain is,

7:47I have a very complicated inner life, and if I set it tasks, it calms down.

7:53Three decades being a household name, do you feel that Robbie Williams is a brand in itself?

8:02It definitely is a brand. I only call it a brand because it helps to facilitate all these ideas

8:08that I want to do. I haven't stopped being interested. I haven't stopped wanting and

8:14needing. The ambition is still there. The drive is still there. I still have a ton of energy.

8:22What I'm saying to myself is, "I'm the right key, I've just got to find the right door."

8:28I've also got to busy myself and keep myself interested. There's never been more abundance in

8:33the world. Never been more opportunity to actually DIY, do it yourself, create it from the ground up.

8:40I want to absolutely smash and exceed anything that was possible. Already

8:48done it. Now, there are other glass ceilings that I want to go through.

8:53Which one of the glass ceilings? What's the priority for you?

8:57I want to create big businesses. I want to create big businesses. I want my own hotels,

9:01where I perform in my own hotels. I've got quite a few fingers in a few pies.

9:08I'm watching my American counterparts do this with ease, owning small towns and then

9:15extending on the towns. And I want to design hotels and create the interiors and exteriors.

9:22So, I've got all of these ideas flowing out of me and we've not

9:25been able to execute one of them yet, apart from me singing live and music.

9:34In 2025 single "Human", Robbie explores the rise of artificial

9:39intelligence and what it could mean for humankind.

9:48What's your take on it, and how do you think it impacts creativity within your industry?

9:55In the early noughties, maybe the late nineties,

9:58the music industry as we knew it was over. We were kings, and then pretty

10:04soon after that, we weren't. And everything disintegrated, and it's disintegrated still.

10:10The horse had bolted. It had left the stable, there's nothing we could do about it.

10:17Then Spotify arrived and all the streamers and all the download for free and all of that, and

10:23recording money runs out of the record industry.

10:26Now what we have is AI has arrived. The horse has yet again bolted. We've seen this.

10:35A guy I know, 18 months ago came around with this

10:39program that wasn't out there. Put a few prompts in. "Robbie Williams da da da",

10:43pressed a button and a hit came out with my voice, and I was just like, "it's over."

10:54And then, you know, because I write a lot of songs for my albums, and I'm finding that I

11:01can't find that gold-plated what you would call "hit" hit. No arguments, evergreen, let's go,

11:08this goes out, moves the needle, everyone's happy. Can't find them. And if you do, you might find one

11:13or two as you write 80 songs. Press this button on this machine now and it just does it. It's over.

11:21Would you use it?

11:24I have used it for my writing. I write a lot for my Instagram,

11:30and I write the thing first, and then I throw the thing into AI.

11:39It now knows who I am, talks to me as Rob, you know, and it talks in my

11:45voice. And I've thrown so much stuff at it now, it knows, it knows me back to front.

11:54So, what I will do is, like I've written a piece for my Instagram for tomorrow. I will, you know,

12:00like I'll just need an end. I don't know how to wrap this up. Boom. End. I'll take that

12:06bit. I'll take that bit, ah that's good, and then I'll rewrite it myself. So, I would say

12:11that the things I'm writing on Instagram, I can't spell, my grammar is terrible, they sort that out.

12:18Do you feel a pressure or responsibility with making content every day and talking to your fans?

12:27No, I see it as I'm an entertainer and my Instagram is my TV channel. It's like

12:33this is where I go to be creative and entertain. And why wouldn't I?

12:40I find no pressure, and I also find that how it actually feels in some crazy mixed-up world

12:49is that I'm sharing with friends, and I'm genuinely interested to know their thoughts.

12:55I have ADHD. I can only do things I'm interested in, and

13:00with Instagram in particular, I'm mega interested.

13:03Robbie, you've achieved so much success over the years.

13:08Can you highlight one of your proudest moments within that time?

13:13It's all about next. It's all about the next one. It's all about getting, achieving,

13:19being. It's why I don't have any awards up in my house or anything that tells you I'm me.

13:25It's like, I don't want a mausoleum to the past,

13:28you know, I'm still hungry, you know, I don't want there just to be a 90s room.

13:36You know, I've got many rivers to cross, I've got many mountains to traverse,

13:41and I am delusionally optimistic that the best is yet to come.

13:46What's your advice to yourself? Because you do inspire others, so many others around you.

13:54I thought and hoped that I could fix myself without any discipline whatsoever.

14:00I just thought if I waited around on my bare bones,

14:04that I would get through the horizon and I would be happy and healthy and whole.

14:10Unfortunately, the truth is, discipline is freedom, and you

14:15have to do something every day to maintain your well-being, physically or mentally.

14:24Discipline is freedom. I have to remind myself that if I become complacent.

14:31Robbie Williams, thank you so much for talking to me today. It's been such a pleasure.

14:35Thank you. Lovely to see you.