15 August 2011 (released)
03 September 2011
Will Young’s enduring success is more of an exception than a rule for talent show winners of the last decade. His success is probably even greater than that of Leona Lewis or Girls Aloud, if not in sales then certainly in terms of songwriting (he’s co-written all but one of the tracks on new album Echoes). Such is his appeal he was recently given an hour special on ITV, on a prime time Saturday evening slot after X Factor (ignore the fact that the show turned out to be badly produced with some questionable choreography).
This elevated status for Young seems to have come at a time when he appears more and more confident with his image and music. Echoes sees him working with Richard X and moving to a more dance music style that some of his traditional housewife audience may find surprising. Gone are the twee pop songs like Leave Right Now, replaced with higher energy tunes like Jealousy, which you can easily see being mixed for clubs.
The transition has been a while coming, with this his fourth studio album; “I think the Groove Armada track (History, a corking 80s’ style dance track released last year) getting a good reception from people that listen to my music….did give me the final confidence to make the leap and do this album. If I’d gone from Leave Right Now to Jealousy it would have been a huge musical leap and too much. It just felt like the right time.”
Certainly Echoes is a change of gear, not dramatically but nevertheless impressive. However Young’s not spent time worrying about alienating his fans; “I don’t think I am worried. In order to do something properly you have to be fully immersed in it. I think if you’re in the creative process and you worry about how it will be received, you modify it and you end up with a half-mast result.”
Young’s Pop Idol victory saw the singer catapulted into stadium environments but his last tour saw him playing more manageable sized venues like London’s Hammersmith Apollo and seeming far more at home; “You do get more comfortable in your skin. Doing festivals like Glastonbury and T in The Park have helped. I really enjoy singing live, that’s where I cam from.”
We are chatting almost ten years to the day after his Pop Idol audition and the young man who first captured the nation’s hearts with a pop at Simon Cowell (after his Light My Fire performance) has obviously grown in stature and matured. But how does he see today’s X Factor compared with the relatively tame show he appeared on? “It’s funny watching Pop Idol, it almost feels archaic in its innocence and its naivety and there’s something quite sweet about it. You’re very lucky if you can be part of something when it first takes off.”
Young hints at the over produced, manufactured nature of the UK’s biggest TV show, calling Pop Idol “genuine” but sidestepping the accusation it’s all too staged; “I think you can talk up that aspect. We have a choice….if you don’t want to buy into it, you don’t have to.” But would he still take on Simon Cowell in the same way? “Yes, because I am fairly stubborn. What was nice about that moment was that sometimes you have to fight for what you want….and that’s what that was about and very defining for me.”
In a way Will Young is a very traditional pop star made in a very different era. His down to earth and seemingly genuine qualities are what keep him close to the hearts of those that voted for him over Gareth Gates a decade ago. Gareth who? Exactly.
