Robbie Williams has said he doesn’t think Taylor Swift “knew anything about [him]” when she invited him to perform with her in 2018.
The pair sang Williams’ 1997 hit single ‘Angels’ together during Swift’s concert at Wembley Stadium in London on her ‘Reputation’ tour.
During a recent interview with SiriusXM, Williams said: “I think the interesting thing is that Taylor, I think, knew the concept of a ‘Robbie Williams’ somewhere in the world but I don’t think knew anything about me.
“And I think maybe whoever she was dating at the time was English and said, ‘Hey, maybe you should get Robbie Williams’. I think this is how it went.”
Swift was dating British actor Joe Alwyn (Conversations With Friends) at the time.
@siriusxm @robbiewilliams on the reputation tour was too iconic
Hear Robbie’s full interview on @siriusxmhits1 at the link in the comments. #SiriusXM #RobbieWilliams #TaylorSwift
Williams continued: “But when I came up through the stage and the audience erupted, you could just see this thing in her face go, ‘Uh? Eh?’. And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m the mayor of this here’.
“I’m a big deal! I keep telling everybody I’m a big deal and she was like, ‘Oh, he’s a big deal!’ And yeah, it was a lovely moment.” Watch the clip above.
The ‘Rock DJ’ pop star has never made it big in the US, with his new biopic Better Man recently enduring a difficult opening weekend across the pond.
During a screening of the film in New York, Williams said: “This is a very important moment in my life. And yours, as well – you just don’t know it yet. A lot of you are from America so you are not aware what a big deal I am. This makes me very sad.
“But if you’re with anybody from outside your country, just tap them on their shoulder, ask them about me. I’ve a storied history of stuff and achievement and shit.”
Following her onstage collaboration with Williams in 2018, Swift wrote: “I’ll NEVER forget the sound of the crowd when Robbie Williams showed up to sing ‘Angels’, that was UNREAL!!
“Thank you to Robbie, that was such a spectacular moment and it meant so much to so many people, including me.”
Elsewhere in his conversation with SiriusXM, Williams said he “love[s] Taylor Swift”. He added: “There are levels to this stuff, and she is achieving levels that have been unreached, unmatched.”
Comparing her success to his time at the height of fame, Williams praised Swift for “navigating” her lifestyle “so well” and staying level-headed in light of any negative comments.
In 2022, he criticised Damon Albarn over his inaccurate past claim that Swift “doesn’t write her own songs”.
Meanwhile, Williams has recalled an awkward onstage error that saw him “berate” wheelchair users for not standing up at one of his shows. He’s also remembered “doing shrooms at Bono’s house”, and revealed why he turned down a performance at King Charles’ coronation concert.
Williams is depicted in the film by a CGI monkey (voiced by Jonno Davies) in Better Man, which was directed and co-written by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman). In a three-star review of the movie, NME wrote: “This is ‘Rudebox’ on film: some of it good, some of it very bad, all of it a bit of a mess.
“Still, the monkey musical is a big swing that no-one else would have taken. You can’t fault the chutzpah or the ambition. If it makes back its reported budget, we’ll eat $110m worth of bananas.”
Williams released a new single, ‘Forbidden Road’, from the biopic’s soundtrack last November. This month, he shared his thoughts on the song being disqualified from the Oscars 2025 shortlist.
The singer is due to head out on a massive tour across the UK, Ireland and Europe this year. The announcement came shortly after he’d hinted to fans that he would be hitting the road again “soon”. Find any remaining tickets here.
During an interview with NME last month, Williams responded to reports that Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi would be appearing on a track from his new “guitar rock” record. He has since expressed his desire to “make a new Rat Pack album”.
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