Robbie Williams has admitted that his new album ‘BRITPOP’ was delayed to avoid clashing with Taylor Swift‘s ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’.
- READ MORE: Check out Robbie Williams’ exclusive ‘British Pop’ playlist for NME
In mid-September, Williams broke the news that his highly anticipated new album ‘BRITPOP’ – his first in nearly a decade – was being pushed back from an October 10 release until February 6 next year. The album was due to arrive a week after Swift’s 12th studio album ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’.
At the time, Williams’ team wrote on various platform at the delay was due to “scheduling changes”, leading fans to speculate that he was pushing the album release to avoid being caught in the same release window as Taylor Swift.
Speculating on X/Twitter at the time, one fan noted how the delay could be related to the charts, as reaching the Number One spot with ‘BRITPOP’ would mark a huge milestone for Robbie Williams.
“Robbie Williams’ BRITPOP has been delayed from October 10th to February 6th 2026. Likely to avoid clashing with Taylor Swift,” they wrote. “And to secure his 16th #1 UK Album, which would allow him to overtake The Beatles as the biggest UK Artist in history.”
On October 9, Williams played his smallest-ever ticketed show in London, where he ran through his debut album in full, as well as performing his upcoming record ‘BRITPOP’ in its entirety. During the show, Williams admitted to those in attendance that the album was delayed in large part to Swift’s ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’.
“We’re all pretending it’s not about Taylor Swift, but it fucking is. You can’t compete with that” Williams told the crowd. “Here’s the truth: I want 16 Number One albums. Taylor then decided to put her album out the same weekend as me.”
“I was like, ‘For fuck’s sake! I’ll put it out the next week’, and they were like, ‘She does these other deluxe versions’. I was like, ‘Fucking hell! Can I put it out the week after that then?’ They were like, ‘Oasis might be around then’… ‘For fuck’s sake! Let’s do it in fucking February when no one’s got an album out’.”
He continued: “I was worried about making you all fucking wait, and then I was like, ‘Fuck it! I want a 16th Number One album!’ I’m sorry, but I’m fucking being selfish. How many times in your life do you get to have the most Number One albums the UK’s ever fucking had?”
For more of what went down at Williams’ intimate gig on October 9, check out our coverage of the show here.
As for Swift’s ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’, the album has scored a three-star review from NME: “To seek escapism is not a sin, but the best pop music makes the personal feel like life or death. ‘Speak Now’, ‘Reputation’, ‘Folklore’: her greatest works could be genuinely transformative. For the first time, ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ sees Swift not catalysed into artistic growth by love, but merely comfortably secured by it.”
The album has also been met by criticism from fans – some of whom have called it her “worst” record yet, while others condemned the “cringey” songwriting on tracks like ‘Wood’. Swift has since stood her ground, saying she’s unbothered by the criticism: “I have such an eye on legacy when I’m making my music — I know what I made, I know I adore it. I know that on the theme of what the Showgirl is, all of this is part of it.”
