The Heavy Entertainment Show

Background

In May 2016, it was announced that Robbie Williams had signed a recording contract with Sony Music. Robbie Williams said in statement: "They're [Sony Music] inspired, 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." The track "Mixed Signals" features all four members of the American alternative rock band the Killers performing all the instruments, as well as writing the song.

Release and promotion

The album was announced on 25 September 2016, and the same day the album's title track "Heavy Entertainment Show" was released as an "instant grat" through 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. In 28 February 2017, Mixed Signals was officially released as the albums third single. The music video was posted the same day.

On 7 November, Williams announced a concert tour titled The Heavy Entertainment Show Tour to promote the album. It will begin on 2 June 2017 in Manchester, England and will end on 10 September 2017 in Moscow, Russia.

Critical reception

The Heavy Entertainment Show has been given a Metacritic score of 59 based on 9 reviews, indicating "generally favorable 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 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