Life Thru A Lens

Yooo, it's the monkey biopic guy. I don't know anything about this him aside from that, but I feel like I'd like him; he seems like a genuine, down-to-earth guy, even through his lyrics. All that just to say that I didn't actually enjoy this album. This is one of the most derivative records I've heard in a long time; Williams really isn't bringing anything new to the table. And the fact that he's taking from '90s Britpop of all genres, a sound I'm generally not fond of, didn't help. I will admit that a lot of the similar-sounding Britpop albums from this list were far more underground than this, so I guess Robbie can be credited with bringing this sound up to the mainstream? Doesn't make it any more interesting but still worth mentioning. The massive song on this album, 'Angel', is probably my favourite, a sort of power ballad and, again, showcases William's pretty sincere edge. I get this guy's a big deal in the UK, but again this thing just lacks any sort of unique identity. It is admittedly a debut, so it could just be him trying to find his sound. Wouldn't be surprised if he appears on this list again, but for now, not a huge fan.

I didn't love it, didn't hate it either. Honestly I probably would've given it 3 stars if not for that bullshit 10 minutes of nothing between the last song and that poem.

The "love, dove, glove" is strong with this one. And musically it's like British whack a mole - a little Oasis, some Beatles via Oasis, some Queen, some Elton John, some dance pop. It comes off better than it should but still leaves a big hole where some actual substance should be. I will forgive Dimery for this one - a huge star in the UK that has had negligible impact on America save the inescapable "Millennium" from the late 90s. And since he kept it to just one Robbie Williams album I will count that as a blessing.

an average album by a former boy band member. nothing exciting or noteworthy. listen only if this is your genre.

Middle of the road here. There were some tracks that caught my attention, but I won't be seeking this one out in the future

The music itself wasn't bad but on the whole, it was painfully (and I mean painfully) British

forget monkey, this guy's a chameleon. good enough pop shapeshifting but idk, will never listen to this again

My perception of Robbie Williams as maker of shallow dance pop was absolutely shattered with this album. It’s no grand sweeping philosophical treatise but it’s an excellently catchy, just-deep-enough power pop album that had me audibly saying “Wow this is really good” multiple times.

4.3/10

Poppig rock. Let Me Entertain You och Angels hits man minns. Fler bra låtar.

Hits..

I feel the same about this as I did when it first came out. I shouldn't like it but I really, really do. There isn't a bad track on it - I think this might be a great album ...

Gówno nie mogłem tego słuchac

The only thing i know about this guy is how desperate he is to be remembered

This artist isn't new to me in the slightest. Neither is a few of the songs on this album. The hits are songs that I have heard before and I get why they are so much bigger than the other songs. The album as a whole is really good, its catchy and easy to listen through but the hits are so good, they raise the whole album a level above. A few more of those and this would be a perfect score for me.

Here's what I thought listening to this album: You know what I need? A biopic on this guy, who barely registered outside the UK. But instead of a normal biopic, let's make him an animated monkey. Yes, that would be amazing. To recap: A movie about a pop star who I've barely heard of, but as a monkey. It will PRINT money. Seriously, though, after listening through even I can't tell which of songs would have been the singles and big hits with the kids in Manchester and South London. That tells you all you need to know. EDIT: I looked it up and apparently Angels was the big hit, at least in the UK. Huh. You brits are weird.

If this was made more recently I'd say it was AI generated. It's the most generic 90s britpop I've ever heard.

Monkey!

Lo que me pasa con este disco es que yo no soy una chica pop Canciones favoritas: Angels, Life Thru a Lens, Let Me Entertain You

Favorite songs: Lazy Days, Life Thru a Lens, Angels, Old Before I Die, Clean

This is the monkey movie guy. He did a biography of himself as a monkey. It's true look it up. Thats all I know about Robbie Williams. Life Thru A Lens is way too poppy for me. Williams's singing is ok and the songwriting is meh. His voice is kinda harsh at times and nasally. There are some ok sounding songs but this album just doesn't do too much for me. There's just not that much here that this album does that many others don't. If I had to pick favorite songs, they'd be "Lazy Days" and "Let Me Entertain You" It's a 2.

The beginning of the songs sound pretty good but I feel like this album is literally everywhere 😭

Robbie Williams’ Debüt ist ein freches, charmant überdrehtes Pop‑Feuerwerk, das seine Unsicherheiten mit maximaler Attitüde kaschiert. Zwischen Britpop‑Restwärme und boybandfreiem Befreiungsschlag zeigt er schon hier die Mischung aus Ironie, Verletzlichkeit und Stadion‑Ego, die später seine Marke wird. Ein Album voller Ecken, Kanten und catchy Selbstbehauptung – überraschend rund für einen Neustart.

Better than I expected, man. A little too British but not so bad I guess. Kind of an Oasis thing going on but that’s probably a me problem. Didn’t really care for the softer songs whatsoever. 7/10

Bueno, conozco Angels y Let me entertain you.

The best he can do is sort of an Oasis-meets-Elton John/George Michael pastiche on Angels and the rest is extremely bland pop. I was honestly curious about this guy because he's so huge in England and completely unknown in the US... I think the Brits got this one wrong. The singles are kinda fun I guess

god, where to even start It's hard to press 1 here because this is competently made, well produced, ultimately fine pop music from a guy that clearly wants to be Oasis. Dude can sing! It's also unfortunately in service of some of the most embarrassing, amateurish lyrics and rhyme schemes. It's the kind of thing I'd respect more if it was worse. The combination of polish and talent with what it actually is feels like watching a child's play someone's overbearing parents threw way, way too much money into. It doesn't matter how talented these kids are or how well they made the sets, you still clap politely and wish you were better at saying no to people. My current vote for the most inessential album on the list, and I feel like I just wrote that in a different review less than a week ago. There is nothing of substance on this album.

6/10

I gave this an honest shot, but aside from one or two decent songs, it all sounded empty. Cheeky for the sake of cheeky.

Never really listened to Robbie before. I think I get it having come from that era. Angels is good and I love the showmanship of Let Me Entertain You

Is this the best album to use for this excersise? I guess you have to cover british pop music. Does this mean I should expect some Take That albums? All Saints maybe? This album is very mid, obvious hits, but the rest sounds like a fan of Oasis trying to hit it big

It was just so incredibly boring. It wasn't even interesting british pop! It's just mediocre. Angels isn't even particularly good?

09/27 Mediocre. Apparently this artist is supposed to be well known enough to where he had a biopic made where he's portrayed as a monkey. I'm gonna forget this album, artist, and the songs I listened to by tomorrow morning

I like the movie where a monkey plays him but I never needed to listen to his music.

Now that was some bullshit what the fuck.

Have I always hated the Brit-pop influence and I just didn't know that's what it was? I feel this commercial, too "pop", and not in the epic ways I could appreciate on occasion. Give me Lady Gaga before this, even Taylor Swift. Then again, I haven't given him a fair shot as a poet... The bits I've heard throughout this initial listen haven't been particularly amazing. 1.7/5

Meh

6.0/10

Am I entertained? Kinda.

🤮 honestly, what the fuck !?

This was more pop-ish than I would tend to choose to listen to on my own accord but it wasn't bad. I liked it and found it interesting enough that I listened the whole way through without skipping songs despite some pretty bad lyrics.

I had heard Angels before, and I know about a video where Robbie Williams rips off his skin. Anything else I know about him, I learned against my will. That being said, this is a REALLY good album. It did feel a bit disjointed, like he couldn't quite figure out a style, so he just threw all of them at the wall. So yeah, a couple didn't sit with me as well as the rest, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. That being said... could I have lived without hearing this album? Yeah. I don't see what this really did to dramatically alter the direction of popular music, or influence generations to follow. But it's really good.

Sehr gut

No thank you,

Listened before? No Familiar with the artist? Yes Thoughts: - Ok, this is the album with Angels on it so that'll get it a decent score from me. - Other than that and "Let Me Entertain You," there isn't much I'd come back to though. - it reminds me though that I still want to watch the monkey biopic 😅 Favorite track(s): Angels

monke man

Better than I imagined it would be. Slightly Indy sounding in places. Reasonably listenable but ultimately not my cup of tea

I mean, the singles are really good but oversaturated. Robbie is great though, if you weren’t around when this came out you should definitely listen to it. I’ll give it a 3/5, it’s a solid debut and a great evolution considering he came from a boy band. I’d also argue his solo work has aged far better than his boy band era (which is probably why he doesn’t tour with them anymore?)

2.5

It is not great. I am shocked Robbie Williams got an album on here. Probably the most British thing I have ever heard. 3/10 Top song... Angels

oasis za siromašne

rokahtavamman biisit toimii tosi hyvin! Hyvä levy!

I don't like RW that much - some really good tracks here and there but after 10 min I need to turn him off. Call me petty but..that's partly influenced by what a jerk he is as Jimmy Page's neighbor - he always comes off like a spoiled, fullofhimself a-hole so he gets a 2.

Like riding in a Waymo. You’re locked in and then it gets lost in a cul de sac. There were times i wasn’t sure if we had GPS, or not.

Meh. Morrissey with a bit more of an attitude.

I remember one of these songs. It’s not terrible but just pop rock

I didn't realize that Angel song was him. There's a few more rock-forward songs on here that are good, but the pop songs are kinda lame for the most part.

Fairly unremarkable brit pop. Top 10000000 album at best

Few bangers mixed with pure filler

The type of music they played during my elementary P.E. class. The "hidden track" poem was bad.

What is up with his glare on that album cover? It’s hard to believe that’s the face of a guy making poppier music than NSYNC.

This is a stereotypical late-1990’s pop album. It’s entirely predictable, right down to the melodramatic and sappy lyrics. I can’t explain why this is in the challenge — I could hear this at any college cafe open mic night. A 1.

The singles from this were unavoidable in the late 90s, and they are decent tunes, but I steered clear of this album on account of what a monumental bellend Robbie Williams was, and because this did well, he was similarly unavoidable. It has to be remembered this was in the era before we were all in our silos, this was a time where media was collective, people watched the same TV shows which were on at set times, and internet shopping hadn’t got off the ground so if you wanted something you had to physically go and get it, which meant being in shops and hearing pop music played in them, which meant hearing the singles from this a lot. The singles are decent pop and the reviews saying this is just a standard ‘pop star goes single and does rock to be different’ album, yes it is, and he was probably the first to do that so it is list worthy even if it’s not ground breaking musically. Like this review though, it’s just too long.

The album is good overall, it is well put and produced, but I don't consider I absolutely needed to hear before I die. 2.5/5

Despite how huge an star, and how big the singles were from this album, I'd never listened to it before & I can't say i had missed out, it's fine & he's a good entertainer but it's not going into any of my play lists

Putting the pop in BritPop, a pleasant enough album but a must listen??

Remember that Robbie Williams video where he takes his clothes off then his body parts and is a dancing skeleton? That was weird.

Late 90s dance-pop. First album after Take That. Lovely Britpop, Robbie is kind of corny.

This was so normal? Fine once but not something will return to. With the rest of the better options for Britpop here it begs the question as to why this was added to the list. The ten minutes between the last track and the truly moving spoken word “Hello Sir” was so fun to skip through. Some people do better in the boy bands Playlist add: “Lazy Days”, when I started this album I had hope in my heart that the rest could be as cutesy

Perfectly fine pop-rock. Easy to get through even if it wasn't exceptional. 3.4

Well, I was surprised by how much better this album was and how completely different it sounded from what I was expecting. Don't ask me why, but for some reason I was really hesitant going into this album because, for whatever reason, I thought Robbie Williams was some male pop star who would basically be the male equivalent of Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears. Instead, I got Britpop, which is another genre I'm really not too crazy about. But I have to admit, this album was much better than I expected. This is actually one of the better Britpop albums I've heard, especially when it comes to the more commercial, radio-friendly side of the genre.

Angels is a banger (though I do prefer the Jessica Simpson cover).

Pretty decent Britpop

This is the guy they made into a monkey in that one movie. With that in mind, I wasn't expecting this to be so mundane. Really, I am probably too harsh on it because there are so many albums in this brit-pop subgenre on the list.

What a strange choice. I love Robbie but seems this is his only album on here, and apart from the three great singles it's pretty mediocre. And that's before the puerile and unpleasant hidden sign off. But he learnt quickly. The next four albums (at least) are way stronger. But where are they?

Well well well. Look what take that dragged in. I'm just kidding, THE HATERS ARE WRONG this album slaps and if you don't like Robbie Williams you are exactly the sort of snob he's talking about on a Life Thru a Lens. OK some of the album tracks are a bit filler-y but let this guy live! Here he gives us Angels AND let me entertain you! Thank you Robbie I am entertained.

Robbie owes the Gallagher brothers a lot. Sounding like a slightly more poppy Oasis record, the album works the same territory that Brit Pop mined at the end of the nineties. Is it genius - no. In fact much of this nonsense is recycled Take That ditties. What really distinguishes the record is that there are times when Robbie actually sounds like Liam but more emotionally invested in the songs. This is particularly evident on the ballad Angels. I will note that this is an album that is backloaded. The tracks at the last half are better than the first and worth discovering. 3/5

Never was too familiar with Robbie Williams to be honest. This was pretty fun, maybe over-produced and too Brit-poppy at points, but still a fairly easy listen.

I haven't heard so many monosyllabic rhymes since the Kid Rock album. The same way that Pink Floyd is an album band, this is 100% a single artist. Most of this album is rough while a couple of songs stand out as being catchy. I kept thinking of that movie that came out where he was represented as a monkey since he said he always felt like a dancing monkey. It's funny since it feels like a monkey's paw type of situation too. He gets to be a heartthrob and a success and people get to idolize him and listen to his music, but there's really not much behind it for anyone and the shallowness makes it fall into background noise in a grocery store vs anything that would truly stick with someone in a time that matters. Angels is the strongest song and fits well into the karaoke world.

When it started playing in my car I had a second where I questioned why my car was on a lame radio station, then remembered that it was my album of the day. I don't believe this album does anything. He will not entertain me. It is a good representation of the business side of the music industry. I don't think it's very good. There I said it. Take that!

First time hearing any of his music. Absolute crap. Caught myself rolling my eyes listening to some of the lyrics. Sorry, but that Angels song sucks too.

2 - just lame

Oh, right, this list sucks. Just like this shitty Brit pop turd.

2,5

Didn't mind the songwriting all that much but that auto-tune is very aggressive

2/5 https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/robbie-williams/life-thru-a-lens/ I’m as much of a sucker for Angels as the next guy, but come onnnnn this album is NOT worth listening to. NO ONE will think ‘ah shit I missed out on Life Thru a Lens’ right before they die.

What’s this about ivory towers now

What? I have to listen to Robbie fucking Williams?! I actually don't mind him as a personality. I enjoyed Heat magazine, back in the day. His journey from Take That to Glastonbury was great tabloid story. The monkey film was a cool twist on a biopic. He is clearly a charming man. And Angels is an undeniable modern classic. But this is absolute shit. Reeks of insincerity and cynicism. Britpop by numbers. Lyrics are absolute bobbins. Sound like musical theatre troupe doing The Bluetones. Like Northern Uproar on a million pound budget. It reminds the listener that the 90s often crap and oasis weren't necessarily a good thing for Britain. And the key change in "Hope I'm Old Before I Die" is a fucking war crime.

It's like he's trying too hard to get Walmart to play his shit over the PA system

Not really my thing

Regardless of the size of this guy's ego, he somehow managed to take the worst parts of bands like Pulp, The Charlatans, and some Oasis, throw them together, and turn it into this garbage pop. There's some catchy stuff here, but overall I found it incredibly hard to take seriously. It feels like manufactured British pop with just enough rock and piano thrown in to make it seem more important than it is.

2/5

Like oasis, only worse.

More pop-y than I was expecting

Oh fun... Britpop. /s Pull quote: The best moments of this album are when you squint your ears and it almost sounds like Oasis. Is that Jackée Harry on the left side of the cover? That looks like her, doesn't it? I googled and was unable to find anything about it being her. I am pretty sure I am only familiar with the name Robbie Williams because of the monkey movie he made a couple of years ago. I try to listen to all of these albums with an open mind, even if I expect to dislike them for whatever reason. I don't HATE this - it's not objectionable on its face - but I definitely don't like it. It just sounds generic to me. It surprises me a little bit that as popular as he got he never made it onto my radar screen AT ALL, but I guess the peak of his popularity was a time when I was not at all tuned into the media/places I would have seen or heard him. "Old Before I Die" is what prompted the Oasis comment above. This just doesn't move the needle at all for me. Easy 2-star rating.

It’s pop music, it’s not that serious of an album. Some cringe lyrics and Angels is so burnt out at this point. Nonetheless relatively listenable and a nice break from some more alternative/indie albums.

Well, this has the 2 hits. The rest of the somgs are just fillers to be honest. It sounds like every mediocre song from that period. I gave this a 2 just because of Angels and Let Me Entertain You, those 2 are actual bangers.

Man knows how to sing, but it is pretty standard pop of the time. Not bad, I just don't have much to say about it. Don't really know how this has changed the pop landscape in a meaningful way,

It's an album by Robbie Williams I struggle to say much more about it. It is actually good, the man knows how to sing and it is well produced, it also isn't really my thing and it feels very much like an album of its time.

Ha only vaguely knew who this guy was, but I had heard of him before the monkey movie. Which... interesting idea. Also assumed he was more pop, though this has an oasis gallagher snarl to it, and was apparently intentionally britpop. Some real nice songs though.