Back in the country after 20 years, Robbie Williams wants to 'real Brazil' for the first time

Singer Robbie Williams
Jason Hetherington/Disclosure
Robbie Williams will return to Brazil for a unique show in São Paulo on October 13th, at Allianz Parque. And the singer will live the experience of being in the country "as if it were the first time".
This is because the pop star came to Brazil for the first time two decades 20 years ago. More precisely for a show at Praça da Apoteose, in Rio de Janeiro, on October 18, 2006.
In an interview with g1, when remembering his view, he describes a passage without any notable moments.
"I didn't experience anything other than the hotel and a plane trip", he summarizes.
Now on g1
At that time, Robbie Williams came to Brazil with the "Close Encounters" tour, which mixed his main hits with some singles from his most recent work, "Intensive Care".
One of the biggest stars in the world of music, Williams was going through dark times in 2006. Psychological problems and a toxic relationship with alcohol and drugs were central themes in his life off stage.
"It was a very strange time for me. I was the main character in a film that the whole world was watching. The main character, in this case, had mental health problems, fear, very high anxiety, and addiction problems", he explains.
"Trying to understand what was happening to my life at that time specific was terrifying. And fun. And also a little traumatic."
In fact, many of these problems are present in the great biopic "Better Man" (2024), where the main character (yes, Robbie Williams) is played by a monkey.
Now, at 52 years old, living a "family man" phase where music occupies a formal work space, but with greater freedom, the singer returns to Brazil wanting to live the experience of getting to know our country better. people.
A local, with a tattoo in honor of Stoke-On-Trent, a small city of around 250 thousand inhabitants in the West of England, he says that being successful on another continent is "like being successful on Mars". "I want to experience people, what it feels like to be Brazilian, the feeling of enjoying Brazilians in general. I'm looking forward to it."
Robbie Williams, the troll
On January 16, 2026, taking the world by surprise, Robbie Williams released "Britpop". The name draws attention due to its reference to the historic musical movement among the British in the 1990s, mainly by the bands Oasis and Blur.
But, in reality, Robbie Williams was just trolling a group of people with the name.
"I chose that name because I'm British and because I make pop music", he told g1, frowning and remaining silent for about 10 seconds before continuing with his response.
"I also wanted to make fun of myself, because I wasn't part of the movement britpop back in the 1990s. And, at that time, no one wanted to be involved with this movement. So, I took the opportunity to make fun of people who believe that I can't be associated with something like britpop today."
The singer has a point. Back in the 1990s, he and his group, "Take That", were more like an electronic pop boyband.
In "Britpop", Robbie Williams threw himself into the rock of his "colleagues", the Gallagher brothers, who last year joined hands and traveled the world on tour with Oasis.
The album gave the singer a great record: he became the first artist to have 16 albums at the top of the UK charts. The previous record was held by the Beatles.
And what does he feel when he hears that he has surpassed the Beatles?
"I feel a lot of things. One of them is shame. They are the Beatles and I am Robbie from Stoke-on-Trent. But also, I can breathe a sigh of relief because nothing bad has happened along the way. There are 16 number one albums. What happens if you come second? I don't want to find out."
Williams says that the new job gave him a musical opportunity to work with references that he would have liked to have used back in the 1990s - but he wasn't able to take advantage of any of them with Take That.
"I was in a boyband when I was 16. Around me, people were making music with guitars, the opposite of what was happening to me. If I borrow something from that time, it's just a memory of what I liked musically."
Speaking of the 1990s, the singer often repeats in interviews that that time was a last great period of cultural innovation, including in music.
When talking about his vision of the past decade, he begins his answer by mentioning people's lack of attention today.
"In the 90s, there was time to breathe. Something happened, we accepted it and then we lived with it. And nowadays, something happens, and a second later, something else happens. Now everything is based on dopamine from one second to the next. I don't know if that was your question, but that's my answer."
The question was about that, but the answer has a "hidden" point, which he decides not to address in the interview.
Robbie and his wife, Ayda Field, are campaigners for UK government restrictions on the use of social media by children.
The "raise the age" campaign asks local authorities to charge platforms to a new age limit for access to networks - moving to 16 years old. The couple has four children between 12 and six years old and, obviously, is directly affected by one of the main technological problems of the 21st century.

Source: G1