Has Robbie Williams finally lost it? “These are nervous times for him and his people,” claim the Daily Mirror’s 3AM girls. What’s their bugbear? A breakdown, a drug scandal? No, his new single. “Atrocious . . . unspeakable . . . ,” they whinny about Rudebox. The Sun’s Victoria Newton declares it “THE worst single EVER”. Williams has described it as “a floor-shaker”. The floor may shake, but probably to the sound of people leaving the dancefloor in bewilderment.
Williams, who is on a sellout UK tour, does not seem to mind: he says the song is the sound of a housewives’ favourite cutting loose. “I’ve lost the fear of where I should be in my head as a populist artist,” he adds. “I can just go and do wonky pop now, which is all I really wanted to do.”