''The Heavy Entertainment Show'' is the eleventh studio album by English recording artist Robbie Williams. It was released on 4 November 2016 through Columbia Records. It features guest appearances from Rufus Wainwright and John Grant. The album was primarily produced by Williams' longtime songwriting partner Guy Chambers and Richard Flack, along with a variety of producers such as

Stuart Price Stuart David Price (born 9 September 1977) is an English electronic musician, DJ, songwriter, and record producer known for his work with artists including Madonna, Dua Lipa, The Killers, New Order, Kylie Minogue, DMA's, Example, Take That ...

, Johnny McDaid and

Gary Go Gary Baker, known professionally as Gary Go, is a British songwriter, producer, composer and media artist. He has written and produced songs performed by artists including Rihanna, Robbie Williams, Steve Angello, Benny Benassi, Gryffin, Take Tha ...

. The Heavy Entertainment Show was supported by three singles: " Party Like a Russian", " Love My Life" and " Mixed Signals", with the second topping the charts in Slovenia and Slovakia and being a top ten hit in five other countries. The album debuted atop the UK albums chart and stayed in the top 10 for three weeks. It also reached the top in 4 other countries. The album was promoted with "

The Heavy Entertainment Show Tour The Heavy Entertainment Show Tour was the twelfth concert tour by British recording artist Robbie Williams, to support his album ''The Heavy Entertainment Show''. The tour began in England and travelled throughout Europe in Summer 2017, extend ...

", which started on 2 June 2017 in Manchester and ended on 17 November 2018 in Mexico City.

Background

In May 2016, it was announced that Robbie Williams had signed a recording contract with

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

. Williams said in a statement: "They're ony Musicinspired, I'm inspired. I'm more ready than I ever have been and I'm totally convinced I'm in the right place. I look forward to working on this album, which is an album I'm immensely proud of, in this exciting new partnership with Sony Music."

Composition

Musically, ''The Heavy Entertainment Show'' is a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

album with elements of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing ri ...

, country and electro-pop. The third track "Mixed Signals" was co-written by all four members of the American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercia ...

band the Killers, who also perform all instrumentation.

Release and promotion

The album was announced on 25 September 2016, the same day Williams performed at the

Apple Music Festival The Apple Music Festival (formerly known as the iTunes Festival) was a concert series held by Apple, Inc. and inaugurated in 2007. Free tickets were given to Apple Music, iTunes and DICE users who lived in the United Kingdom, through localized ...

in London. He told the crowd: "Today I announced my new album, it's called "The Heavy Entertainment Show. It's out on the 4th of November and you can pre-order it now. Enjoy", and sang two songs from the album that he had already performed on the "

Let Me Entertain You Tour The Let Me Entertain You Tour was the eleventh concert tour by English recording artist, Robbie Williams. The tour began in March 2015 in Europe and continued into Asia and Australasia, with over 40 shows. The tour grossed $27.1 million with 235 ...

" and the " Swings Both Ways Live" tour, respectively: "Motherfucker" and "Sensational". On the same day, the album's title track "The Heavy Entertainment Show" was released on Spotify and as an "instant grat" through the iTunes Store. The album's first official single, " Party Like a Russian", was released on 30 September 2016. The second single, " Love My Life", was released on 20 October 2016. On 7 November, Williams announced a concert tour titled

to promote the album. It began on 2 June 2017 in Manchester, England and ended in November 2018 in Mexico City.

Critical reception

''The Heavy Entertainment Show'' received a Metacritic score of 59 based on 9 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic was highly positive in his 4-star review, saying "Aptly titled, Williams is entertaining as ever, a consummate showman until the end. The album is a grab bag of ideas, darting here and there in its pursuit of a hit. However, this isn't too much of a distraction, Mr Entertainment and his bombast do not disappoint. The Heavy Entertainment Show is his most invigorated album in years, a truer return to the pop realm than Take the Crown. Here, Williams dresses up his antics in expert production with plenty of cheekiness to spare." Kitty Empire from '' The Observer'' gave a mixed three-star review stating, "Cheek, swagger and schmaltz, the tunes that could only come from Williams make this record entertaining, if a little groan worthy. The could-be-anybody songs just don't stick in the memory." Tim Jonze from '' The Guardian'' gave a negative two-star review and said, "A lurching mess of styles, it lurches from one thing to the next, be that MOR balladry, glam rock or orchestral show tunes."

Commercial performance

Two days before the album was released in the Netherlands, Williams received a gold edition of the album during his appearance on ''

RTL Late Night ''RTL Late Night'' was a Dutch late night television talkshow. It was broadcast from August 26, 2013, to March 4, 2019, on commercial station RTL 4 on weekdays between 22:30 and 23:40. Background In the daily program, guests are seated at a tabl ...

'' on 2 November 2016 for over 20,000 pre-orders of the album in the country. It debuted at number 1 on the UK album's chart with combined first week sales of 67,000 copies sold.

Track listing

Notes * signifies an additional producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

!scope="row", Worldwide ( IFPI) , , 700,000+

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heavy Entertainment Show 2016 albums Columbia Records albums Robbie Williams albums