Video will appear as you scroll through the story
Robbie Williams · S5 E5
Rudebox
The album that confused everyone — including Robbie
October 2006. Robbie Williams releases a single in which he raps over an electronic beat, and the British press declares him finished.
"Rudebox" official music video (2006). The title track and lead single that launched a thousand confused reviews. Williams raps, talks, and half-sings over a beat that sounds like it belongs in a completely different artist's catalogue.
Rudebox (2006)
Rudebox is not a pop song. It is a spoken-word piece layered over electronic production that borrows from 1980s electro, dancehall, and early hip-hop. The Sly & Robbie sample gives the track a skittering, offbeat pulse. This is the sound of a man who has stopped caring what anyone expects.
The Left Turn Nobody Saw Coming
Nobody sees Rudebox coming. After four albums of anthemic pop-rock with Guy Chambers and one guitar-driven record with Stephen Duffy, Williams delivers an album of electronic music, hip-hop beats, and spoken-word passages. It is the most bewildering creative decision of his career.
TAP TO REVEAL: How did EMI react when they first heard Rudebox?
She's Madonna -- Robbie Williams
A Rudebox highlight featuring Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant on vocals. A sly, synth-driven pop track that proves the album had far more craft and wit than the savage reviews suggested.
Despite savage reviews, where did Rudebox debut on the UK album chart?
Rudebox tanks, the critics celebrate, and Williams is left standing in the wreckage of his own experiment. The question now is not what he will do next, but whether he can bring himself to do anything at all.
0 XP earned this session